멕시코 농촌지역의 송금과 정치경제적 변화

Abstract

Mexico is sending many migrant workers to the United States. As the number of migrants increases every year, the amount of remittances rises as well. Moreover, in rural Mexico, where economic resources are insufficient and agricultural productivity is not high, remittances have a very important economic significance. These remittances help solve the economic difficulties of the society sending migrants, affecting many other aspects of the society. The wealth introduced from the outside leads to a wide range of sociocultural influences, such as making people change their lifestyles and affecting their beliefs and values. Meanwhile, the large-scale flow of remittances also transforms the existing economic strata within the society, while also affecting the political structure. The remittances also have a very significant impact on the political structure of the village. Social changes related to remittances often require a new type of leadership system, inducing inequality that has never been experienced before. Now, people who acquire enough cash from remittances can have an effect on economic activities such as consumption patterns and jobs. This changes the social class structure and, in addition, the process and outcome of choosing a leader of the society, which often causes conflicts over these issues. For example, those who secure economic wealth through remittances also express interest in political activities, presenting new political ideologies such as participation, pluralization and representation to gain political power. Such a process can lead to political change, including inducing a new political leader and political structure. Such changes could weaken the political and economic practices that existed in the past, while at the same time resulting in the emergence of new political forces, and the development of social conflicts. As such, the new elite group which emerged in the wake of migration and remittances could compete with or confront the classes that used to exert influence in the region, including the cacique. Using the traditional social and cultural structure, those who used to exert economic and political influence within the village gradually felt threatened. In addition, unlike in the past, they are in confrontation with people involved in international labor migration who are engaged in new types of economic activities while maintaining new lifestyles and values. Through this process, migration and remittances have led to political and economic changes in rural Mexico, transforming the political structure.