Politics and the Migrant Poor in Mexico City, 1970-1972

Résumé 0

Politics and the Migrant Poor in Mexico City is a comparative study of male migrants and their city-born neighbors living in six relatively small, predominately low-income communities on the periphery of Mexico City. Based on 14 months of fieldwork in these communities during 1970, 1971, and 1972, this study dealt with a relatively small group of people in a limited number of localities at a particular point in time. The research addressed several broad theoretical and empirical problems such as the most important incentives and disincentives for political involvement, the effect a large group of people entering the political arena has on the functioning of the political system, how the individual citizen -- and especially the disadvantaged citizen -- can manipulate the political system to satisfy their needs, the process by which individuals form images of politics and the political system, the process by which individuals assume a role of participation or non-participation in political activity, what occurs at the "grass roots" of a nation's political system, and how political activity at that level affects system outputs. This study attempted to place the low-income migrant in a social and political context, and focused on the nature and frequency of interactions between the research communities and external actors, especially political and government officials. Demographic variables include age, race, socio-economic status, marital status, dwelling unit type, and religious preference.