Day-to-day Struggles in Mexican Workshop Production

In the 1980s a handful of Mexican researchers discovered evidence of a major growth in small-scale industry and sub-contracting in rural western central Mexico. Their findings were intriguing. They suggest not only the onset of a new period of industrial deconcentration and diffusion but also that significant changes are taking place in patterns of capital accumulation and forms of production in the Mexican countryside. Characteristically these are ‘non-traditional’ industries employing a predominantly female labour force, producing consumer goods in new ways for distant markets. Though the situation is still far from clear, it appears that processes are at work which to some extent contradict the assumptions generally made about rural social and economic relations.