The Quality of Social Existence in an Indian Community in Mexico due to Globalization

Abstract

In Mexico, the establishment of the maquila industry has provoked adverse effects and consequences in terms of social and cultural life—that is, the case in the rise of alcohol consumption. There are around 300 maquila industries in and surrounding the city of Teziutlán, Puebla, that produce clothing of different kinds for exportation at low-cost wages. Consequently, it is no longer easy to find agricultural workers because people prefer to work in the maquilas. The author analyzes the effects of globalization via the installation of maquila industries on the sociocultural aspects of the members of an Indian community in Mexico and pays special attention to the transformation of alcohol consumption patterns of the inhabitants of this particular Indian village.