This paper examines the changes that take place in want patterns when unaccustomed purchasing power is made available to peasant agriculturalists as a result of a recent Government-sponsored development project in the Mexican Gulf Lowlands. It is hypothesized that increased cash income stimulates changes in peasant expenditure patterns and that corresponding changes in wants can be identified. In order to measure the changes that have taken place in expenditure and make inferences about wants, a detailed study has been undertaken of patterns of income and expenditure in a sample group selected within the Plan compared with a control group of peasants outside of the immediate project area. The comparison between the sample groups supports the hypothesis. However, no simple link was found between increased purchasing power and consumption. The initial period of new want development consequent on income increase was characterized by extensive experimental spending on a wide variety of superficial wants, which are unlikely to be incorporated as deep-seated components of the consumption pattern since they are based on short-term impulses prompted by curiosity and prestige motives. Consequently, increased expenditure on want satisfaction had achieved relatively little impact on the standard of living. It was concluded that the main significance of increased income in this context is that it acts as a catalyst to change in wants and brings the consumer to the point where satisfaction of potential wants is possible. Potential wants are not adopted simply because the opportunity is available and the items can be afforded, but only if they are the response to a felt need and have a good fit with the existing cultural matrix. Thus, change in want patterns is a function of change in perception rather than a response to increased income. The value system, then, plays the key role in want development and it appears that change in the value system itself in terms of attitudes, motivations and aspirations, is prerequisite for the development of new wants and the modification of old wants, which in turn stimulates further reformulation of the cultural frame-of-reference. / Arts, Faculty of / Geography, Department of / Graduate

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The emergence of higher education opportunities in rural areas of Mexico such as throughout the state of Oaxaca has opened new opportunities for young women's professional development and new individual and community identities. I explore tensions between the collective imaginary of rural Mexico and rural women's emerging sense of independence and self-determination in light of higher education's expanding opportunities. Educational opportunities lead to community formation around commonality of experience in addition to ascribed community relationships and roles. I situate this analysis within the context of the Universidad Tecnológica de los Valles Centrales de Oaxaca (UT), a small university in San Pablo Huixtepec, Oaxaca, Mexico. Through interviews and participant observation, I answer the following questions: (1) How is rural women's identity produced through policy, geography, and social influences? (2) In what ways do college women experience change in terms of family relationships and professional trajectories? and (3) How do changes in rural women's collective identity through professional development contribute to social movements for gender equality? This thesis provides a broader examination of the implications of shifts in family trajectory for belonging and women's identity in Mexico, contributing to larger discussions regarding higher education in rural areas, women's experiences and interactions within institutions, and women's collectives as venues for societal transformation. In conclusion, I offer recommendations for educational policy that supports women's identity development, promotes gender equality, and encourages women's leadership.