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The Politics of Reproduction: Households in the Mexican Industrial Transition

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  • Altha J. Cravey

Abstract

A household-level analysis helps to reveal the dynamics of a transition in Mexican industrial strategy from the state-led import substitution strategy dominant from 1930 to 1976 to the neoliberal one dominant today. The results suggest that gender restructuring was a crucial element of industrial restructuring. The new industrial strategy, which relies on substantial foreign investment and adopts many of the norms of maquiladora production, has reshaped the industrial household into a multitude of forms. In the case study presented, these range from huge company-run single-sex dormitories to a variety of extended family households. In these new households the gender division of domestic labor has been renegotiated. Indepth interviews reveal that such micro-scale struggles result from, and influence, the new factory regime. There is a dialectical connection between gender relations (that is, specific gender divisions of domestic labor) and production regimes in Mexico. Public social policies reinforce this dynamic by shaping factory regimes gendered in specific ways. More generally, this research indicates that the dynamics of household and gender relations are essential to an understanding of largescale socioeconomic change.

Suggested Citation

  • Altha J. Cravey, 1997. "The Politics of Reproduction: Households in the Mexican Industrial Transition," Economic Geography, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 73(2), pages 166-186, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:recgxx:v:73:y:1997:i:2:p:166-186
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1944-8287.1997.tb00066.x
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    Cited by:

    1. V Meier, 1999. "Cut-Flower Production in Colombia—A Major Development Success Story for Women?," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 31(2), pages 273-289, February.
    2. Neil Smith, 2000. "What Happened to Class?," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 32(6), pages 1011-1032, June.
    3. Christiana E Miewald & Eugene J McCann, 2004. "Gender Struggle, Scale, and the Production of Place in the Appalachian Coalfields," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 36(6), pages 1045-1064, June.
    4. Mercedes González De La Rocha, 2006. "Vanishing Assets: Cumulative Disadvantage among the Urban Poor," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 606(1), pages 68-94, July.
    5. Martina Fuchs, 2001. "The Effects of the Crisis of 1994/95 on the Mexican Labour Market: The Case of the City of Puebla," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 38(10), pages 1801-1818, September.

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