Citizens/Society State

By: Matt Ball, Prayag Pershad, Chandler Brown, & Mackenzie Skipper

• Mexico is in stage 3 in the Demographic Transition Model (moderate growth)

• Medical practices that were introduced in stage 2 are now beginning to affect the population

• More people are more likely to live urban areas rather than on farms due to industrial jobs

Population Pyramid

• Crude Birth Rate is beginning to drop due to more women in the work force, medical advancements and decline in the Infant Mortality Rate

• Crude Death Rate begins to drop due to medical advancements introduced in stage 2

• Number of elders increasing (a refelction of transition from stage 2 to stage 3)

• Dependency Ratio (ages 0-14 and 75+) is increasing which means the people in-between have the burden of supporting those people

• Sex ratio is even

Freedom House Information

• (definition) Freedom House: an organization that studies democracy around the world, ranks countries on a 1 to 7 freedom scale, with 1 being the most free and 7 the least.

• Mexico is rated a 3.• PRI has monopolized the government and politics, it has

also left little to criticize the government or influence public opinion.

• The government started to reward media companies that supported the PRI.

Freedom House Information

• Mexico is becoming more democratic since the PRI has lost some power in the 1980's.

• Citizens now have access to a broader range of political opinions and freedom of expression.

• Some other info Freedom House provided: 116 million people live in mexico, 9420 USD GNI and PPP

CLEAVAGES

Cleavages

• Cross-cutting (conflictual): divide society into many potential groups that conflict on one issue and cooperate on another

• Coinciding (reinforcing): every dispute aligns the same groups against each other

• Current trend: cross-cutting becoming coinciding

Coinciding Cleavages

Urban, middle class mestizos (European and Amerindian blend) from north

VS.

Rural, poor Amerindians (indigenous Mexicans) from south

Mestizo v. Amerindian

• Blend of European and Amerindian

• Wealthier• Urban residents

• Indigenous people• Poorer• Live in rural areas• 30% of population

Urban v. Rural

• 75% urban• Less-inclined to

support PRI (Institutional Revolutionary Party

• Receptive to political and economic reform

• PRI controls peasants• Camarillas (patron-

client system): Political support in exchange for small favors from politicos

• Politicos: traditional chiefs of camarillas

Social Class

Middle Class-Rich

• Top 10% earn 35.6% of Mexican income

• Growing middle class• More likely to support

PAN (National Action Party)

• More likely to vote

Poor

• Bottom 10% earn 1.6%• High infant mortality rates• Low levels of education• Shorter life expectancy

Gini coefficient: indicates economic inequality . Mexico’s is .48 (high disparity).

North v. South

• Dry and mountainous• Prosperous from U.S.

trade• Mostly Mestizo• Higher incomes• High education levels

– 8.1 years avg.

• Supportive of free market

• Subtropical• More rural influence• More Amerindians• Lower avg. incomes• Low education levels

– 6 years avg.

• Source of Zapatista Movement– Rights for natives

Changes• If poor continue to increase incomes faster

than average, they may join the middle class.

• Spreading job opportunities to new regions may reduce regional/ethnic cleavages.

Political Participation

• Revolutions and protests characterize much political participation

• Mexicans used to be ruled by elites in an authoritarian system

• Now, there are regular elections that are becoming more and more legitimate.

Political Participation• Patron-client system/patron-clientelism

– People received political support in exchange for favors

– Stems from caudillos from the early 19th century and warlordism

• Caudillos – leaders had supporters who he granted favors to

– The groups made camarillas, which were hierarchical networks where the exchange of offices and other benefits occurred

– Patron-clientelism is still important– Many citizens do not trust government

officials

Political Participation• Protests

– The government usually responds to protests by giving in to demands and by including citizens in the political process through co-optation

– After government soldiers killed over 200 student protesters in Tlatelolco Plaza in 1968, the next president recruited many student activists and increased the government’s spending on social services.

Political Participation• Protests (continued)

– Zapatista Movement was a protest that represented the Amerindians

• Voting– Before the 1990s, elections were controlled

by the PRI– Patron-clientelism caused high voting rates

Political Participation• Voting

– Influenced by 3 main factors: region, education, and income

• Region– North – 47% for Felipe Calderón (PAN), 27% for Roberto

Madrazo (PRI), & 24% for Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (PRD)

– South – 29% for Calderón, 27% for Madrazo, & 40% for Obrador

• Education– Higher educated citizens were more likely to vote for

Calderón – 42% of those with a college education voted for him

– 38% of college grads voted for Obrador and only 14% voted for Madrazo

Political Participation• Voting

– Influenced by 3 main factors: region, education, and income

• Income– Upper income – 50% for Calderón, 30% for Obrador, and

14% for Madrazo

* Percentages based on 2006 electionCalderón Obrador

Madrazo

Civil Society

• Many groups refuse to cooperate with the PRI which create an atmosphere where public protests are acceptable

• The PRI practiced state corporatism to ensure that no one group challenged the government

• The PRI separated the interest groups into three sectors: labor, peasants and the middle class (“popular”)

• The Confederation of Employers of the Mexican Republic (a labor group) was an autonomous group that vocally and publicly criticized the government

Civil Society Cont.

• A group of business men who were not incorporated into the government’s system started the downfall of the PRI’s civil society

• The group formed PAN, a political party, in 1939 even though the party did not successfully challenge the PRI until 2000 presidential election with candidate Vicente Fox

• In 2006 the PAN victory improved business interests and broke up the PRI’s old state corporatism

Women

• Number in both houses of legislature has risen– 113/500 House of Deputies– 22/128 Senate

• 1996 election law:– political parties must sponsor women

candidates– 30% of party list in proportional and SMD

must be women

Women in Society

• Rise in working force

• Dominantly in domestic workforce

• Mostly seen as home caretakers

• Mostly teachers or nuns

That’s All!