Changing moralities : conceptions of gender, family and education in a Mexican town

Abstract

The object of this study is to examine the reproduction and change of moral practices in Mexico. Fieldwork has been conducted in a half rural/half urban town in the state of Jalisco. I am concerned with how the moralities of gender, family and education are practiced at a secondary school and in families of different social classes. The study is concerned with how teachers and parents socialise girls and boys into moral persons. Gender, family and education are all expressed as moral issues in Mexico. Gender relations are based on conceptions of complementarity and difference between men and women. Authority and emancipation are male ideals, whereas female ideals are connected to decency and Catholic ethics. Recently, however, independence has become an expressed value also in the socialisation of girls. This is manifested within the areas of education, work and marriage. Despite the increased emphasis on individual freedom, notions of respect, duty and responsibility towards both family and nation continue to be central to Mexican society. Education in Mexico is embedded with moral meaning. There are strong public discourses in Mexico that emphasise the importance of education, and this view is reproduced among my informants. Education is not only considered important for social mobility, but also in more symbolic terms. Education is seen as valuable in itself and the educated person is often judged as one of high cultural and moral capital. It is evident that schools and families are crucial sites of moral negotiation. In processes of change schools are often considered to play the role of advocates for modern values, a view for which my findings provide a degree of support.