Culture of Mexico

The culture of Mexico reflects the country's complex history and is the result of the gradual blending of native culture (particularly Mesoamerican) with Spanish cultureand other immigrant cultures.

First inhabited more than 10,000 years ago, the cultures that developed in Mexico became one of the cradles of civilization. During the 300 year rule by the Spanish, Mexico became a crossroad for the people and cultures of Europe, Africa and Asia. The government of independent Mexico actively promoted shared cultural traits in order to create a national identity.

The culture of an individual Mexican is influenced by their familial ties, gender, religion, location and social class, among other factors. In many ways, contemporary life in the cities of Mexico has become similar to that in neighboring United States and Europe, with provincial people conserving traditions more so than the city dwellers.

Socialization and ethnic group

This research focused on the role of the ethnic family background and ethnic socialization in the social cognitive development of ethnic identity in Mexican-American children. Aspects of a theoretical model of the socialization of ethnic identity were tested in forty-five 6- to 10-year-old children and their mothers. Individually administered scales assessed parental generation of migration; parental education; mothers' cultural orientation; mothers' teaching about Mexican culture, ethnic pride, and discrimination; Mexican objects in the home; and children's ethnic identity. As predicted, the socialization indices functioned as a mediator of the influence of ethnic family background on their children's ethnic identity.

Inequality

For decades in Mexico, like in many developing countries, inequality was of little interest for economists. It was recognized as a challenge for social policy makers, but not as relevant as poverty, and in any case, it was seen as having no impact on economic growth. Those that were concerned with equality conceived it as a by-product of the specific developmental stage through which countries underwent in line with Kuznets’ inverted U path. Given Mexico’s traditional fiscal weakness –a tax burden under 12% of GDP, among the lowest in Latin America- inequality and poverty were tackled through income transfers and public expenditure on health, social security and education. This approach to poverty and inequality marked the radical neo-liberal reforms put in place since the mid 1980s to reduce State’s intervention in the economy and open domestic markets to foreign competition. This agenda was assumed to put the Mexican economy in a path of strong expansion. And, to the extent that its engine of growth would be the exports of manufactured goods, produced with intensive use of non-qualified labor (Mexico´s abundant resource), it was supposed to lead to systematic and major reductions in poverty and in inequality.

Health and illness

Abstract

PURPOSE:

To inform nurse practitioners (NPs) about Mexican American men's health and illness beliefs and the ways in which these are influenced by their masculine identity and how they view themselves as men in their culture.

DATA SOURCES:

The data sources used were based on a selected review of the literature about Mexican American men's health and illness beliefs and the concept of machismo. Several studies, including the author's study on Mexican American men's healthcare-seeking beliefs and behaviors and experience in providing primary health care to men across cultures, contributed new data.

CONCLUSIONS:

The meaning of manhood in the Mexican American culture is critical in understanding how men perceive health and illness and what they do when they are ill. Machismo enhances men's awareness of their health because they have to be healthy to be good fathers, husbands, brothers, sons, workers, and community members. Pain and disability are motivating factors in finding ways to regain their health.

IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE:

Men's health beliefs across cultures need further investigation by nurse researchers and NPs. How culture influences healthcare delivery to men should be better understood. If NPs are aware of men's views on masculinity, they are better prepared to understand and assist men in becoming more aware of their health status and to seek health care when appropriate.

FAMILY PATTERN

Family Roles

Mexico has traditionally been home to a patriarchal family structure, according to the CDC. There were clearly defined roles for mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters in Mexican families. Marianismo is the term for the distinct role of women in Mexican family culture while machismo is the term for the traditional role of men. Women typically portrayed a submissive and dependent role in the marriage relationship.

Mothers and Fathers

A mother was the heart of the family: the one who cooked, cleaned and cared for the children on a full-time basis. Similar responsibilities were also expected of daughters as it was their job to learn how to be a woman from their mother.

Fathers generally took charge of family decisions, and their authority was rarely challenged by either the mother or children. Machismo, defined as the type of behavior corresponding to traditional ideas about men being very strong and aggressive. Boys in Mexican families also expressed machismo in their relationships with other men, where constantly asserting masculinity was expected. These roles are similar to what were the traditional version of American family values before the 1960s and 1970s.

Close-Knit Generations

Typically, generations of families live in the same neighborhood or in the same house which reflects the dedication to supporting family members and displaying loyalty no matter what. Familismo, as reported by the CDC, is the value of family over individual needs. Although family is the number one priority amongst many Mexican families, there is also a strong sense of national pride.

Social change

A key claim of this article is the need for re-politicizing the processes of social change in Mexico, while critically examining economic imperatives as self-induced enforcement mechanisms. Focusing on the socio-political dimensions of the process, I undertake an analysis of the features of the democratization processes currently under way. It is emphasized that if the latter are to succeed, we need to be aware of the broad transformative effects which they entail. Therefore, the challenge for a more egalitarian and democratic society must be undertaken without delay. It is suggested that network governance could be of great help in drawing up a more democratic agenda, which may open up further possibilities of transformation.

Race

The race mixture is so thorough that among Mexico’s Mestizo majority, within the same nuclear family you can find full siblings, with the same mother and father, who are very dark, and very light-skinned.

But it’s not only the skin color. Some Mexicans have white skin but indigenous racial features, while others have dark skin but European facial features.

Then there's eye color. When I first moved to Mexico, it struck me how many Mexicans would make it a point to tell me they had relatives with blue or green eyes. And sure enough, there are blue- and green-eyed Mexicans. Eye color is inherited from both parents. If someone has blue eyes, it’s because both his parents have the genes for it (dominant or recessive).

Deviance

In  order to achieve this, the whole Mexico City (DF) community (i.e., sales force and the representatives who are promoting the product) was invited to the first Positive Deviance meeting. During the meeting, the fundamental concepts of positive deviation were put forward in a general fashion, as well as the results that have been achieved by applying this model to social problems. This way, the attendants felt identified with the project and made it their own, since the message was that solutions to the problem would arise from the group, and that within their own community there were "positive deviants". Moreover, they would be the first to use the positive deviance approach to address business issues. In order to identify positive deviants, a table was prepared with no names, but showing the whole community results in terms of market share, evolution index and sales coverage. The participants, working in teams, had to point out which persons they considered to be positive deviants. It is worth noting that there was agreement in 80% of the cases. Each team had 5 minutes to explain the reasons for their choices. It should be noted that some of the identified positive deviants were excluded because their outcomes were influenced by factors outside their daily work, and thus they were not in the same circumstances nor had the same resources as the rest of the community.