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Assessing Social Engagement in Unstable Environments: an Examination of Collective Action in Mexico

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Abstract

This study utilizes Social Capital Theory to explore the differential effects of (1) social capital, (2) violence, and (3) political engagement on (a) collective action and (b) willingness to help the community in Mexico, a context of enduring violence. Survey data collected in 2011 is used to understand the identified relationships (N = 7416). A number of statistical procedures including correlation and regression analyses using ordinary least squares (OLS) with nested models are utilized. Results show that mobilizing for collective action is influenced by contextual and political factors. Using contextual measures better explain active social engagement in violence-prone locations. Results also indicate the convenience of including this perspective in social interventions that promote local autonomy. Social capital in its trust form revealed contrasting effects on collective action. Further, fear and violence appear to influence willingness to mobilize. The examination of the relation between levels of trust and law compliance revealed the potential contribution of social disobedience on policy implementation. Implications for social interactions in unstable environments and Mexico in particular are presented. The role of local processes (e.g., leadership, practices and collective memories) are most likely to reinforce positive social capital and create effective social change.

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Notes

  1. A positive effect refers to an expected result (social cohesion or civic engagement); a negative effect is related to “less-desirable consequences” such as exclusion, excess claims on group members, restrictions on individual freedoms, and downward leveling norms (Portes 1998). For instance, more efficient “providers” such as the mafias and organized crime represent “negative social” capital due to illegal or corrupted source of support (Fukuyama 2001; Wacquant 1998).

  2. The seven selected states represent three levels of violence (CIDENA 2011). Sampling and data collection technique details and response rate can be retrieved from http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/icpsrweb/RCMD/studies/34670.

  3. All dependent variables are continuous measures built as sum scales; therefore, they include real numbers (e.g., values between full numbers).

  4. The original item for observe the law asks for people’s willingness to go against the law when they think they are right.

  5. To reduce the risk of data draining because of zero values, the scale used mean scores instead of summation.

  6. The original item is measured with a list experiment technique used for sensitive topics (Lavrakas 2008). This survey uses two sets of questions; one had a four response option, the other a five response option; the values used for this measured were standardized for estimation.

  7. The original item for education included 12 categories from “none” (1) to “graduate” (12); recoded values are “less than high school (0)” and “high school or more (1).” Likewise, employment status had 12 categories, including merchandiser, public sector, student, unemployed, and others. The recoded variable registers: “unemployed (0)” and “employed (1).”

  8. Nested models show the effect of the variables arranged in blocks each of which were sequentially added for the estimation.

  9. Collective action was slightly positively skewed (sk = 2.17), but inspection of the predicted values and relationships suggest the normality assumptions were not violated.

  10. Standardized regression coefficients β (Beta) are reported to better observe which factors have a greater effect on the dependent variables based on the relative strength of the relationships (Nishishiba et al. 2013).

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  1. Department of Sociopolitical and Legal Studies, Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Occidente, Periferico Sur Manuel Gómez Morin 8585, Edif. E, Of. 105, 45604, Tlaquepaque, Jalisco, Mexico

    Ana-María Vázquez-Rodríguez

  2. School of Social Work, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA, USA

    Ana-María Vázquez-Rodríguez & Margaret Lombe

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  1. Ana-María Vázquez-Rodríguez
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Correspondence to Ana-María Vázquez-Rodríguez.

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Vázquez-Rodríguez, AM., Lombe, M. Assessing Social Engagement in Unstable Environments: an Examination of Collective Action in Mexico. Glob Soc Welf 4, 233–246 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40609-017-0097-1

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