Social Cleavages in Mexico
Class Cleavage:
There is a huge economic gap between the rich and the poor in Mexico. In Mexico, there are people like Carlos Slim who became the wealthiest person in the world in 2010. On the other hand, there are also people in abject poverty who earns less than one U.S. dollar per day. According to the World Bank in 2004, 17.6% of the Mexican population lived in extreme poverty and 21% lived in moderate poverty. The chart at the right shows that about one third of Mexican population live with less than 5 U.S. dollars a day. while Carlos Slim alone makes 8,947,848.53 U.S. Dollars a day. |
Ethnic Cleavage:
There are Mestizos (Spanish descendants) and indigenous people (Indians). Most Mestizos are wealthier than natives. There are also a separation between Americans in Mexico and Mexicans. Some Mexicans refer Americans as "gringos" which originated from the word "green go." "Green" refers to U.S. soldiers because of their green uniforms, so "green go" basically means "go away Americans." |
Racial Cleavage:
Semi-white population (Mestizos) and Amerindians (Natives) are two main races in Mexico. Again, Mestizos tend to be more affluent than natives are. Mestizos also have more political power over the indigenous people because more than half of the politicians in Mexico are Mestizos or white. Hence indigenous people's opinions are barely reflected in Mexican politics. |
Political Cleavage:
There are three main political parties in Mexico: Partido Accion Nacional (PAN), Party of Democratic Rebolution (PRD), and Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI).
PAN represents conservative democracy that promotes policies such as free trade. It shares similar ideology with the Republicans in U.S.
PRD represents socialistic democracy that promotes economic nationalism. PRD is composed of former PRI members who felt that PRI is not revolutionary enough.
PRI is the oldest political party in Mexico. It's ideology lies just in between ideology of PAN and PRD. It has been and is the most dominant political party in Mexico.
There are three main political parties in Mexico: Partido Accion Nacional (PAN), Party of Democratic Rebolution (PRD), and Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI).
PAN represents conservative democracy that promotes policies such as free trade. It shares similar ideology with the Republicans in U.S.
PRD represents socialistic democracy that promotes economic nationalism. PRD is composed of former PRI members who felt that PRI is not revolutionary enough.
PRI is the oldest political party in Mexico. It's ideology lies just in between ideology of PAN and PRD. It has been and is the most dominant political party in Mexico.
This is the breakdown of Chamber of Deputies by political parties. There are all together 500 members.
PRI (207) Ecologist Green Party of Mexico (34) PAN (114) Labor Party (18) PRD (100) Citizens' Movement (17) New Alliance Party (10) |
This is the breakdown of the Senate of the Republic by political parties. There are all together 128 members.
PPRI (52) Ecologist Green Party of Mexico (9) PAN (38) Labor Party (4) PRD (22) Citizens' Movement (2) New Alliance Party (2) |
Regional Cleavage:
Northern Mexico and Southern Mexico differs greatly. The North is industrialized and wealthy. Northern Mexico is composed of many cities. On the other hand, the south is more rural and poor without good infrastructures. As a corollary to this difference, citizens in the North are richer while the citizens in the South are poorer. |
Gender Cleavage:
Gender cleavage is not a big problem in Mexico because there is not any.Starting from new women's movement in 1960s and 70s, women's rights movement continued to promote women's rights until 1980s when United Nation sponsored conference in Mexico City to celebrate International Women's year. Hence, gender cleavages are mostly disappeared in Mexico, and many women gained equal working opportunities as men.
Gender cleavage is not a big problem in Mexico because there is not any.Starting from new women's movement in 1960s and 70s, women's rights movement continued to promote women's rights until 1980s when United Nation sponsored conference in Mexico City to celebrate International Women's year. Hence, gender cleavages are mostly disappeared in Mexico, and many women gained equal working opportunities as men.
Despite of the fervent feminism movements, it is interesting that women's workforce participation rate is pretty low compared to the other core nations that we study (except for Iran). According to the graph at the right, Mexican women's workforce participation rate is about 45%.
Moreover, out of 500 members in the Chamber of Deputies, 317 are men and 183 are women. Women are still the minority in politics.
Moreover, out of 500 members in the Chamber of Deputies, 317 are men and 183 are women. Women are still the minority in politics.
Coinciding Cleavage:
Most of the cleavages above aggregate to create an immense problem in Mexico: the wealthy Mestizos and poor natives live in different regions (city and rural area) and support different political parties. Hence, the tension between two ethnic groups, regions, and political parties is everywhere.
Most of the cleavages above aggregate to create an immense problem in Mexico: the wealthy Mestizos and poor natives live in different regions (city and rural area) and support different political parties. Hence, the tension between two ethnic groups, regions, and political parties is everywhere.
Cross Cutting Cleavage:
There is no specific cross cutting cleavage in Mexico. Currently, tension between different ethnic, class, racial, political, and regional cleavages are so high that none of the cleavages actually bring out positive effects.
There is no specific cross cutting cleavage in Mexico. Currently, tension between different ethnic, class, racial, political, and regional cleavages are so high that none of the cleavages actually bring out positive effects.
History:
The beginning of most of these social cleavages dates back to 16th century when Spanish conquest of Mexico began. With better weapons and more organized army, Spanish easily dominated the country. "Whiteness" was power in Mexico, and so the Mestizos, half Spanish and half Native, emerged. They soon became the dominating ethnic group in Mexico. This class system based on race and ethnicity still exists today. Spanish descendants still has more power (both economical and political) in Mexico while the indigenous people still live in the gutters, earning less than one U.S. dollar per day. (class, ethnic, race cleavages)
Despite the fact that Spanish conquest created race and ethnic cleavages in Mexico, it also created some unity among people: religion. Catholicism was introduced to Mexico along with many other things during the Spanish conquest. Now 84% of Mexicans are Catholics. (religious cleavage)
Geography is another factor that shaped social cleavages in Mexico. Since Mexico just below United States, the strongest country in the world, Mexico is easily influenced by United States' power. For instance, during the Mexican War that broke out in 1846, Mexico had to relinquish more than half of its territory (California, New Mexico, and etc.) due to United States' excessive physical power. There were many other incidents that United States used its economical or physical power to coerce Mexico to do some unfavorable things. In fact, Tony Payan, an assistant professor of international relations and foreign policy at the University of Texas, said that Mexico "has never been the actor of the relationship, [but] it has always been unilateral action by the United States, and then Mexico [was] left to react." Thus anti-U.S. feelings still remains among Mexicans. (race cleavage)
North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) can be also seen as a factor that further enhanced social cleavages in Mexico. Having effect since 1994, NAFTA removed all tariff on goods of Canada, United States, and Mexico. This agreement led to increase in employments in manufacturing factories and unemployment in agricultural industry due to cheap U.S. crops exported to Mexico. Northern cities of Mexico, where a lot of factories are aggregated, definitely supported the agreement while the Southern part of Mexico, where many farms are gathered, opposed the agreement. This different response further strengthened the regional cleavage between the North and the South. (regional cleavage)
The beginning of most of these social cleavages dates back to 16th century when Spanish conquest of Mexico began. With better weapons and more organized army, Spanish easily dominated the country. "Whiteness" was power in Mexico, and so the Mestizos, half Spanish and half Native, emerged. They soon became the dominating ethnic group in Mexico. This class system based on race and ethnicity still exists today. Spanish descendants still has more power (both economical and political) in Mexico while the indigenous people still live in the gutters, earning less than one U.S. dollar per day. (class, ethnic, race cleavages)
Despite the fact that Spanish conquest created race and ethnic cleavages in Mexico, it also created some unity among people: religion. Catholicism was introduced to Mexico along with many other things during the Spanish conquest. Now 84% of Mexicans are Catholics. (religious cleavage)
Geography is another factor that shaped social cleavages in Mexico. Since Mexico just below United States, the strongest country in the world, Mexico is easily influenced by United States' power. For instance, during the Mexican War that broke out in 1846, Mexico had to relinquish more than half of its territory (California, New Mexico, and etc.) due to United States' excessive physical power. There were many other incidents that United States used its economical or physical power to coerce Mexico to do some unfavorable things. In fact, Tony Payan, an assistant professor of international relations and foreign policy at the University of Texas, said that Mexico "has never been the actor of the relationship, [but] it has always been unilateral action by the United States, and then Mexico [was] left to react." Thus anti-U.S. feelings still remains among Mexicans. (race cleavage)
North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) can be also seen as a factor that further enhanced social cleavages in Mexico. Having effect since 1994, NAFTA removed all tariff on goods of Canada, United States, and Mexico. This agreement led to increase in employments in manufacturing factories and unemployment in agricultural industry due to cheap U.S. crops exported to Mexico. Northern cities of Mexico, where a lot of factories are aggregated, definitely supported the agreement while the Southern part of Mexico, where many farms are gathered, opposed the agreement. This different response further strengthened the regional cleavage between the North and the South. (regional cleavage)
Effects on Political Participation:
All those social cleavages are tightly related to each other, and they have immense effects on political participation. For class and ethnic cleavages, due to huge economic gap between the rich and the poor, the rich get to have a lot of control over the politics. Hence the rich class coerce the government to enact policies that will benefit the rich. Moreover, the extreme indigence of the poor people keeps them uneducated. The lack of education prevents them from rising to the higher class, forbidding them to indulge in politics. However, the class cleavage in Mexico has gone too far that government is making several adjustments to improve the situation. For example, during the tax reform in 2013, President Enrique Pena Nieto said that he purposely avoided taxing foods and medicine because it "would hurt the poorest Mexicans." So the class cleavage is also promoting some positive changes at the same time. Political cleavage promote political participation. People with different political ideologies (liberal, social, and conservative democracy in Mexico's case) mostly oppose each other and promote their ideas. For example, in 2013, 40,000 leftist protesters gathered in Mexico City to express their condemnation of the President Enrique Pena Nieto's new tax plan. Regional cleavage also affects people's political participation because different regions prefer different policies that benefits their own region. For instance, signing of NAFTA was a beneficial agreement for Northern cities of Mexico while it had fatal effects on Southern cities of Mexico. Hence, citizens from the South raised their voice in opposition to the pact, and citizens from the North supported it. |
Conclusion:
Mexico is "the country of inequality" as Alexander von Humboldt said at the beginning of the nineteenth century. Two centuries have gone by, but not much has changed in Mexico. Tensions between racial, ethnic, and class cleavages still exists, and those tensions form further more cleavages such as political and regional cleavages. In such society where a lot of social cleavages exist, it seems very hard for the government to appease everybody.
Mexico is "the country of inequality" as Alexander von Humboldt said at the beginning of the nineteenth century. Two centuries have gone by, but not much has changed in Mexico. Tensions between racial, ethnic, and class cleavages still exists, and those tensions form further more cleavages such as political and regional cleavages. In such society where a lot of social cleavages exist, it seems very hard for the government to appease everybody.
Helpful Links:
http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/eco/summary/v012/12.1.esquivel.html
http://apcomparative.wikispaces.com/Mexico
http://www.powershow.com/view/291ca-MTRhZ/NAFTA_effect_on_Mexico_powerpoint_ppt_presentation
http://countrystudies.us/mexico/93.htmhttp://rt.com/business/mexico-tax-oil-reform-612/
http://countrystudies.us/mexico/54.htm
http://countrystudies.us/mexico/60.htm
http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/eco/summary/v012/12.1.esquivel.html
http://apcomparative.wikispaces.com/Mexico
http://www.powershow.com/view/291ca-MTRhZ/NAFTA_effect_on_Mexico_powerpoint_ppt_presentation
http://countrystudies.us/mexico/93.htmhttp://rt.com/business/mexico-tax-oil-reform-612/
http://countrystudies.us/mexico/54.htm
http://countrystudies.us/mexico/60.htm