Escamilla | 1 UNITEC INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY Gerardo Alonso Escamilla Garca 1409009 Science & Society Graham Jones 7 September

r 2012
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Social stability in Mxico

Societies all over the world not only rely on their everyday activities, economical advantages and political influences; likewise the deeper features of their culture, beliefs and traditions impregnate them. This piece of writing deliberates on several topics. Firstly, the main structural differences between small-scale and large-scale societies will be explored; afterwards, a society is selected in order to describe its structure; lastly, one social practice is isolated and branched in order to comprehend its significance for the society. Small-scale societies / large-scale societies When opposing small-scale societies or kin-based societies with large-scale societies, a relevant question is: In a globalised world like the actual, why do small-scale societies still exist? Taking a look at large-scale societies, it is simple to obtain a clear perspective of their portrayed harmony. Thousands, even millions of people living in the same significant area and getting along with each other (for the most part) when dealing with important topics such as energetic strategy, political coalitions, agricultural options and environmental problemsolving. Minority groups, people from different religions, and culturally divergent people among a large-scale society have learned to converge onto these ideas and decisions for the sake of a conjoined progress. Dissimilarly, Henrich, J., Boyd, R., Bowles, S., Camerer, C., Fehr, E., Gintis, H. & McElreath, R. (2001) have discredited the Economic Man model1 by making experiments with fifteen small-scale societies. They discovered that everyday social interactions explained a great portion of the behavioural variation across them; they detailed this by claiming that the degree of market integration is directly proportional to the payoffs of cooperation in the production of their livelihood. Furthermore, they make clear that individual-level economic
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A concept in economic theories of humans being rational, narrow, self-interested players who make judgments

Escamilla | 2 and demographic variables do not explain behaviour either within or across groups, it is rather explained by the economic patterns of everyday life. This is important because it sheds light upon the differences between large-scale and low-scale societies. Moreover, the traditions in small-scale societies often dictate the citizens behaviour; henceforth, guiding their economical, political and social aspects, which are completely different from a large-scale society that follows the Economic Man model and sticks to the rules of play for a globalised world. In brief, a large-scale society is dependent from other large-scale societies and their economical, political & social behaviours. As opposed to small-scale societies that behave as their traditions and everyday life shape them, becoming independent from other societies altogether. The Mexican structure For the purpose of this paper and considering the authors background, one Mexican society is described. Monterrey is one of the biggest cities of Mxico and as it could be expected from such a large-scale society, it is severely stratified. The differences between the socioeconomic levels are well remarked, either by clothing, way of speaking, contrast between rich and poor sectors, and political preferences toward certain colonies and districts. Political power is robust in Monterrey; several politicians go to San Pedro 2 to develop their (illegal) businesses. Monterrey hosts a patrilineal decent culture: when a woman marries a man, the children carry the fathers last name before the mothers, so the family name is predominant in the male and it is passed on through him. The city also suffers from its hedonism-centred social stratification. This means that social status is usually determined by the amount of social power somebody has. Thus, the society has slowly become focused on materialism and false values injected by the worship to its American neighbour. Catholicism is another relevant aspect for Monterreys society. Even the drug lords and whores strolling around the streets corners offer their sacrifices to La Morena (Virgin Mary) and to god in their misunderstood religious concepts. Nonetheless, Mexicans appreciate their social values and nurture them accordingly; they promote them with family gatherings, hanging out with friends on the weekends or having substantial meals after Sunday mass.

San Pedro is the richest city in Mxico and the safest in Latin Amrica. (Lezcano, 2012)

Escamilla | 3 Individual behaviour in weddings Weddings are chosen because of their rich traditional value for Mexican society. In Table 1, a relation between what is done in a wedding and their plausible explanations are demonstrated. Table 1: Why do people do what they do? What people do Why do they do it that way? Padrinos (godfathers and Allowing the presence of several godfathers and godmothers) play the role of godmothers as extended family members in the managing important aspects of the ceremony is important for Mexicans. Being given wedding and paying for them, e.g. that honour, the godfathers vastly help out the mariachi band, photography & groom and his family to dampen the expenses of video, alcoholic beverages, flower the wedding. In that way, families of low-medium arrangements for the church. socioeconomic level can have flamboyant weddings in a ballroom. Two rosaries joined together with a cross make the lasso. To represent the unification of the couple, the lasso is placed around their necks as they take their vows. After dancing the first ballad together at the party, the groom dances with his mother and the bride dances with her father the next piece. The traditional belief behind this comprises that if the couple pray the rosary together every night, their marriage will last longer. Family is fundamental. The only thing fiercer than the family bonds should be the love between the bride and the groom; that is why they dance with their respective parents right after their first ballad as a married couple.

Source: Escamilla, partially based on Vanlooka (n.d.) & Tanaqua Area School District (n.d.) After reviewing these actions, it is simple to find the similarity that they share. The reasoning behind them converges onto the importance of the family. The Mexican society celebrates their weddings as noisy and big events amongst relatives. Thus, it is plausible to poise a considerable amount of weight upon these wedding practices and traditions when considering their social stability. Family is crucial for a pseudo-uneducated country that has a population of more than 113,000,000 people. It has aided to reinforce social stability throughout the years and most likely it will continue to do so for a prolonged period of time.

Escamilla | 4 References Henrich, J., Boyd, R., Bowles, S., Camerer, C., Fehr, E., Gintis, H. & McElreath, R. (2001) Cooperation, Reciprocity and Punishment in Fifteen Small-scale Societies. American Economics Review. Lezcano, N. (2012). Ciudad ms rica de Mxico y Amrica Latina, tambin la ms segura. Estrategia & Negocios. Retrieved from http://www.estrategiaynegocios.net/2012/04/19/ciudad-mas-rica-de-mexico-y-americalatina-tambien-la-mas-segura/ Persky, J. (1995). Retrospectives: The Ethology of Homo Economicus. The Journal of Economic Perspectives. 9, 221-231. Tamaqua Area School District. (n.d.). Las Bodas en los Paises Hispanohablantes. Retrieved from http://goo.gl/qgpII Vanlooka. (n.d.). Courtship, Weddings, and Marriage in Mexican-American Culture. Michigan State University. Retrieved from http://www.msu.edu/%7Evanlooka/mexican_american.pdf