Social cohesion and the limits of household in Mexico (2008-2012)

Abstract

This paper analyzes the relationship between social cohesion and households in Mexico. The issue arose from the provisions of the General Law on Social Development (LGDS), Article 36, based on measuring poverty in a multidimensional way, including the degree of social cohesion. This requirement forced the National Council for Social Policy Development (Coneval for its acronym in spanish) to work on the issue. With this purpose indicators based on the perception of social networks have been used based on the National Survey of Household Income Expenditure (2008-2012). From the available information it is shown that the family/household is subject to strong social pressures. Based on this an analysis is presented about the limits, the feasibility and relevance of a social policy that assume households as principal element of social cohesion. Several ethnographic studies document the process of erosion of the social net in face of the threat of poverty and job insecurity. They impose a restriction on horizontal reciprocity and social relations. There is growing evidence that poverty is accompanied by social isolation and increased social segregation. Failure in social reciprocity is linked with a diminished social interaction. This is illustrated by a greater tendency toward nuclear families rather than extensive ones. However, this way of interpreting involves a logic closer to an homo econmicus and less the logic of an homo socialis since the predominant criterion is essentially conditional and future-oriented rationality.