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Social Development in Mexico: 1876-1911
Reform ideas that spread during 1855-1875, "the reform period," came to be implemented at the national level under the regime of Porfirio Diaz. In the reform period, the goal of modernizing Mexico, i.e. make it more like the United States and Europe, gained many adherents. To move toward this goal, several objectives were promoted by liberal politicians. One of them was the reduction in the power of the Catholic Church by redistributing its lands and curtailing its monopoly on religion, allowing freedom to other churches and religions to establish themselves. Another objective was to secularize education and implement modern curricula in the schools. A third objective was to promote capitalist economic development. Yet during the reform period, the implementation of the modernization agenda was sporadic and limited geographically. The reform period was chaotic, marked by civil wars, the rule of French imperialism (and the war to end it), and a weak central government (Vanderwood, 2000, 371-396). Porfirio Diaz supported liberal ideas. During his rule, he brought political stability to Mexico, strengthened the state, and moved to implement modernization objectives.
Behind the slogan of "Order and Progress" of the Diaz regime was an ideological infatuation with modernity. In adopting a positivist perspective, the government proclaimed to embrace rationality and science. From such view, science was intimately connected with modernity. Emphasis was placed not only in the importance of physical sciences and medicine, but also in social sciences like public administration, criminology and anthropology. Members of the upper classes flocked to foreign universities (Buffington & French, 2000, 424).
Attempts to modernize Mexico included social engineering. There were various efforts to homogenize a national, modern culture among the Mexican masses. The goal was to create a new, modern Mexican citizen with such attributes as love for country (in...
The main instrument to generate cultural modernization was through education. Elementary education was made compulsory. Government expenditures (at the national and state levels) on education doubled between 1877 and 1910. Primary enrollment, the number of teachers, and literacy rates surged. Parochial schools also increased in numbers and enrollment. In 1910, the Education Minister inaugurated the National University. Yet inequalities in the distribution of educational resources persisted geographically, with urban and more affluent states receiving more resources (Buffington & French, 2000, 401-402, 407, 409, 411, 429).
The political stability and the welcoming attitude toward foreign investment economic growth surged. With political stability came the perception of a secure business climate, e.g., in terms of property rights. The perception among capitalists was that property was protected from whimsical changes in government policies. The government also enhanced the business climate by a campaign to eradicate bandits. The national police, the Rurales, were professionalized and expanded. The Rurales also repressed unruly workers and peasants (Buffington & French, 2000, 404, 406).
Annual economic growth was 8% from 1984 to 1990, based on an export-oriented model. Foreign investment in the Diaz regime amounted to approximately $4.2 billion, mostly from the United States. Oligopolies and monopolies were the rule in industrial sectors. Industries, both foreign and domestic, oriented toward exports fostered innovation, e.g., in terms of technology. Railroads and electrification spurred import-substituting industrialization like textiles. Yet as agriculture became concentrated in export commodities like henequen and sugar to the neglect of food staples like corn and beans, food prices increased. Low wages and the increase…
References
Buffington, R.M. & French, W.E. (2000). The Culture of Modernity. In M.C.
Meyer and W.H. Beezley (Eds.), The Oxford History of Mexico (pp.397-332). Oxford, England: Oxford University Press.
Vanderwood, P. (2000). Betterment for Whom? The Reform Period: 1855-1875. In M.C.
Meyer and W.H. Beezley (Eds.), The Oxford History of Mexico (pp.371-396). Oxford, England: Oxford University Press.
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