Community socialization and informal educational processes in rural Mexico. Case study

This article offers reflections on the author's recent investigations (2008-2011) concerning the forms of communal organization in a Mexican rural community. In this case, particular attention has been placed on the diverse phenomena as an axis for several issues studied by Sociology of Education and Political Anthropology, in particular, the processes of informal education of family and community, and their interconnection with the so-called cargo systems. As a conclusion, this paper traces how the cargo system, through the institutional mechanisms that project it, actually tries to build scenes characterized by bringing about interaction among the largest possible number of members of each community and thereby reinforcing the relationships among them, by doing so as often as possible, and by assuring that each member has a chance of assuming different roles that are being played out in these scenes.