Households and Micro-enterprises
Micro-enterprises in Mexico are based primarily on
household labor
Both peasant households and the urban informal
sector revolve around this production
Questions:
i.
What is the
appropriate analytical optic with respect to the household?
j.
What are the
actual conditions under which households work and live?
1. Mexican Working Class Households include
production as well as consumption relations
i. Household as site of Production
rural production activities
food processing
urban informal sector activities
ii. Household as site of Reproduction
Œeveryday¹: eating, washing
Œgenerational¹: children¹s instruction
Œbiological¹: giving birth
iii. Household as site of Consumption
Consuming purchased goods
2. Households often split finances and labor along
gender lines
i. Conjugal contract defines rights and obligations
ii. multigenerational households define different
relations
iii. Existing understandings/contracts constantly
(re)negotiated, contested
Mexican
Households: What is our image of the Mexican household?
1.
Macho male versus
reality of many households: moving away from the image of domination & la
abnegada
2.
matriarchy versus
patriarchy:
Ø
Lomnitz: Mexican
shantitowns and
matriarchy/matrilineal society in Mexico City
Ø
Chiñas: Matrifocal
households
Istmus Zapotecs:
i.
The role of
mother is 'structurally, culturally, and affectively central," and 'such
centrality is viewed as legitimate' (Tanner)
ii.
The relationship
between the sexes is relatively egalitarian
iii.
both women and
men have important economic and ritual roles
iv.
girls are
socialized to becomes assertive, active, and decisive wives and mothers
Ø
Miraftab: urban
informal factories with women's labor power: mothers want their daughters to
work with women bosses to avoid sexual harassment
Ø
Chant:
tourist/industrial towns commonly have very high levels of women-led households
3 cities studied: Puerto Vallarta, Leon, Querétaro
Ø
Murry/White: Oaxaca
city: extensive 'reproductive' networks support women's labor outside the home
Control over the factors
of production, however, is still key to household analysis
1.
Property: Who owns it?
Who
inherits it?
i.
Matrilineal versus Patrilineal inheritance
ii.
Communal
2. Labor: Who owns/controls/commands the
application/product of labor?
i. task structure:
a. gender divisions of labor
b. children¹s labor
c. household versus wage labor
ii.
How is product of labor distributed?
a.
consumption
immediate
(food, shelter)
long-term
(education)
gender
division
b.
Investment of surplus
Social
reproduction (village-level)
Household
reproduction
c.
control over products of labor