Mexico Citizen, Society, and the State Chris Jung Pd 4

Cleavages Urban-Rural Social Class Mestizo-Amerindian North-South Political Cleavages

Patron-Client System Gives control to the government elite Camarilla: Hierarchy where offices and benefits were exchanged for votes and political support Peasants in the camarilla often exchanged votes of PRI for personal benefits

Patron-Client System Cont. This System explains some controversy about votes for presidential candidates Many Mexican citizens distrust government officials and institutions.

Urban vs Rural Mexico is over 75% urban with a 90% literacy rate Urban voters are less likely to support PRI Originally PRI and the patron client system were intended to use the rural illiterate citizens

Social Class Gini coefficient ≈.47, dropped.54 to.5 from 2002 to 2006 Poorest 10% receive roughly 1.6% of Mexico’s income. Wealthiest 10% receive roughly 35.6% of Mexico’s income.

Social Class Cont. Affects infant morality rates, level of education, and life expectancies. Middle to upper class are likely to vote and support PAN (Conservative)

Meztizo vs Amerindian Meztizo: Mixed European and Amerindian background Amerindian: “Native,” before Europeans arrived. ie; Mayan, Aztec, Olmec Tends to separate social classes

North vs South North has a higher population and is more mountainous. South is mostly subtropical and is less influenced by the US Separates education, wealth, and economy.

Political Cleavages North tends to be more conservative “blue” South tends to be more left leaning “yellow”

Political Participation Influenced by revolution and protests Mexican citizens used to be subjects under Authoritarian rule by political elites Now, citizens participate in greater legitimate elections

Protests 1968 student protests for the Olympics in Mexico City got roughly 200 students killed in Tlatelolco Plaza This resulted in the next president accepting more student activists in his administration Chiapas rebellion in 1994 represented dissatisfied amerindians from prosperous mestizo populations.

Protests Cont. Chiapas rebellion, sponsered by the Zapatista uprising, reminded Mexico that some citizens live in horrible conditions. Protest in 2006 at Oaxaca began as a teacher’s strike to the capital, but grew as more activists joined. Attempted to show how the PRI candidate, Ulises Ruiz the governor of Oaxaca State, won by fraud

Voter Behavior PRI used to control elections from a national level to local Corruption was abundant when challengers to the system were defeated with, “tacos,” aka stuffed ballot boxes After 1990 political changes, voter turnout grew with it’s peak during 1994 when 78% of eligible citizens voted

Voter Behavior Influence Region: In 2006, 47% of northern voters chose the PAN candidate. 40% of southern votes chose the PRD candidate. Education: Higher educated citizens (college education) were more likely to vote for the PAN candidate. Income: 50% of upper income voters chose PAN candidate.

Civil Society Mexico had a surprising number of groups opposing PRI PRI downfall started from PAN since they had the backing of powerful business interests PAN’s victory by Vicente Fox in 2000 and 2006 led to PRI’s state corporatism breaking up

PRI Practiced state corporatism State Corporatism: Ensure that no one group can challenge the government Divided interest groups into three sectors: laborers, peasants, and middle class

Statistics president.php?election=2012

Piñata Time Who won the presidential election in 2000?

Explain Mexico’s “blue” zone

What are Meztizo and Amerindian usually separated by?

What are tacos? (not food)

If you were generally a social democratic, would you rather vote for the PRI, PAN, PRD, or the PNA candidate?