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The Survival of Family Artisans in the Face of Capitalist Modernity: An Oral

History of Two Mexican Lineages
Thesis · January 2006

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The Survival of Family Artisans in the Face of Capitalist Modernity:
An Oral History of Two Mexican Lineages
Ana Josefina Cuevas Hernandez
A thesis submitted for the degree of Ph.D.
Department of Sociology
University of Essex
January 2006
2
Acknowledgements
To Alejandro and Gerardo who are my strength and joy.
To my mother who was always an example of perseverance and determination.
To my father, brothers and sisters for their unconditional love and support. I love you all.
To Rob Stones who not only supervised this work with thoughtfulness and wisdom but
also devoted a significant amount of time to share his experience and knowledge with me.
To Paul Thompson whose supervision, expertise and ideas on what oral history was
deeply influenced my formation as interviewer and listener.
To Miriam Glucksmann for being a sensitive listener and confident.
To the Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (CONACyT) and the Sociology
Department of Essex University for their financial support.

3
Abstract
This thesis presents a diachronic qualitative discussion on the survival of the artisanal
production of family workshops in the face of modernity and capitalism in 20th century
Mexico. My argument is that households were pressured to continue producing
handicrafts at home encouraged first by the opportunity to earn money and later by
hunger, and that this was allowed by a very specific and evolving configuration of social
forces. My research looked at the memories of two artisan lineages from Tlaquepaque,
Jalisco, Mexico, of four generations each –1880-1910, 1910-1940, 1940-1970 and 1970-
2000– that in turn also allowed me to answer how the trade was successfully passed down
over 120 years.
The account had two purposes. Firstly, to give an account of the changing role of
artisanal production for both the household and the broader economy throughout the four
periods. Secondly, to look for the generational continuities and changes within the two
lineages on the basis of four main analytical themes, namely the changing role of artisanal
production for the household economy, the composition of the household economy, the
patterns of social mobility and the notions of masculinity and femininity within the two
lineages.
The discussion contributes to the understanding of the problematic of artisanal
production of family workshops from a novel standpoint that includes a combination of
political economy, sociological imagination and comparative historical sociology.

4
Table of contents
Abstract ................................................................................................................................ 3
Table of family trees ............................................................................................................ 9
Table of diagrams .............................................................................................................. 10
Table of maps .................................................................................................................... 14
Table of photographs ......................................................................................................... 15
Table of tables ................................................................................................................... 16
Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 17
Chapter 1. Disciplines that have traditionally approached artisanal production ..... 21
1.1 The social sciences ............................................................................................ 22

2 Theoretical perspectives used in this research ........................................................... 24
2.1 Historical sociology ........................................................................................... 24

2.2 Gender ............................................................................................................... 26
2.3 Ethnography....................................................................................................... 28
3 Methodological perspectives ..................................................................................... 29
3.1 Profile of informants .......................................................................................... 30

3.1.1 Number of interviews .................................................................................... 34
3.2 Family histories ................................................................................................. 35

3.2.1 Methodological and gender issues when searching for generational memory
37
3.3 The selection of families.................................................................................... 39

3.4 Individual interviews ......................................................................................... 40
3.5 Couple Interviews .............................................................................................. 41
3.5.1 Methodological issues in couple interviews .................................................. 42
5
3.5.2 Gender differences in the analysis of memories ............................................ 42
3.6 Collective interviews ......................................................................................... 45

4 Analytical perspectives .............................................................................................. 45
4.1 The family, the household and the workshop structures ................................... 46
4.2 The changing role of artisanal production for the household economy ............ 47
4.3 The formal and the informal sectors .................................................................. 47
4.4 The social mobility of artisan families .............................................................. 47
4.5 Gender identities ................................................................................................ 48
Chapter 2. Artisanal production and consumption in 20th century Tlaquepaque and
the role of families within it ............................................................................................ 49
1 A socio-economic introduction to the proper understanding of artisanal production in
late 19th and early 20th century Mexico ........................................................................... 49
2 The changing patterns of handicraft consumption: 1880-1910 ................................. 54
2.1 Changing patterns of handicraft production: 1880-1910 ................................... 57

3.1 The changing patterns of handicraft production: 1910-1940 ............................ 63

4.1 The changing patterns of handicraft production: 1940-1970 ............................ 73

5.1 The changing patterns of handicraft consumption: 1970-2000 ......................... 82

6 The family, the household and the workshop: an analytical framework ................... 86
7 Types of families and households found by this research ......................................... 91
7.1 Relationships between nuclear families and households ................................... 93

7.2 Relationships between extended families and households ................................ 97
7.3 Relationships between complex families and households ............................... 102
8 The workshop .......................................................................................................... 105
6
Chapter 3. A glance at the similarities and differences of the first and the second
generation of the Labrador and the Lucano lineages. ............................................... 114
1 The family, the household economy, and its changing role in relation to workshop
production: 1880-1940. ................................................................................................... 115
2 The composition of the household economy ........................................................... 117
2.1 People who supported the household through artisanal production: first and
second generation ........................................................................................................ 120
2.2 People who produced handicrafts on a part time basis: first and second
generation. ................................................................................................................... 125
2.3 People who lived at the paternal household but did not work at it .................. 128
2.4 People who supported the paternal household but who did not live there ...... 132
2.5 People who gave gifts to the family ................................................................ 135
3 Social mobility ......................................................................................................... 139
3.1 Spaces that encouraged social mobility ........................................................... 140

3.2 Events that encouraged social mobility ........................................................... 142
3.2.1 The effects of marriage and education on women. ...................................... 143
3.2.2 The effects of marriage and education on men............................................ 146
4 Masculinity and femininity ...................................................................................... 149
4.1 The social life of artisan men and women ....................................................... 149
4.2 Marriage........................................................................................................... 153
4.3 Motherhood and fatherhood ............................................................................ 160
5 Informal and formal sectors: an approach to their understanding through artisanal
production ........................................................................................................................ 163
5.1 The informal sector seen through empirical data ............................................ 167
5.2 Characteristics of the self-employed artisans .................................................. 169
Conclusion ....................................................................................................................... 171
7
Chapter 4. A glance at the similarities and differences of third generation of the
Labrador and the Lucano lineages. ............................................................................. 172
1 The family and the household economy and its changing role in relation to workshop
production: 1940-1970 .................................................................................................... 172
2.1 People who supported the household through artisanal production ................ 180
2.2 People who produced handicrafts on a part time basis .................................... 185
2.3 People who lived at the paternal household but who did not work at it .......... 187
2.4 People who supported the paternal household but who did not live there ...... 191
3 Social mobility ......................................................................................................... 197

3.2.1 The effects of marriage and education on women. ...................................... 203
4.2 Marriage........................................................................................................... 212
5 The relevance of partners in the flow and quality of information: a troublesome
situation. .......................................................................................................................... 221
Conclusion ....................................................................................................................... 228
Chapter 5. A glance at the continuities and the differences of the fourth generation
of the Labrador and the Lucano lineages .................................................................... 229

8
1 The family and the household economy and its changing role in relation to workshop
production: 1970-2000. ................................................................................................... 229
2.1 People who supported the household through artisanal production ................ 234
2.2 People who produced handicrafts on a part time basis .................................... 238
2.3 People who lived at the paternal household but did not work at it .................. 240
2.4 People who supported the paternal household but did not live there .............. 244
3 Social mobility ......................................................................................................... 249

3.2.1 The effects of marriage and education on women ....................................... 255
4.2 Marriage........................................................................................................... 262
Conclusion ....................................................................................................................... 271
Conclusions ..................................................................................................................... 273
Appendix ......................................................................................................................... 281
Bibliography .................................................................................................................... 283

9
Table of family trees
Family tree 1. First generation of the Labrador lineage. ................................................. 156
Family tree 2. Second generation of the Labrador lineage. ............................................ 157
Family tree 3. First generation of the Lucano lineage. .................................................... 158
Family tree 4. Second generation of the Lucano lineage. ............................................... 159
Family tree 5. 3rd generation of the Labrador lineage. .................................................... 217
Family tree 6. 3rd and 4th generation of the Lucano lineage. .......................................... 218
Family tree 7. 4th generation of the Labrador lineage..................................................... 266
Family tree 8. 3rd and 4th generation of the Lucano lineage. ........................................... 267
10
Table of diagrams
Diagram 1. Nuclear households: The Labrador and the Lucano lineage ........................ 96
Diagram 2. Extended households: the Lucano lineage................................................... 101
Diagram 3. Complex households: the Lucano lineage .................................................... 104
Diagram 4. Composition of the household and the workshop at the Labrador and the
Lucano lineages ............................................................................................................... 106
Diagram 5. Household economy of the first generation of the Labrador lineage. .......... 118
Diagram 6. Household economy of the second generation of the Labrador lineage....... 119
Diagram 7. Household economy of the first generation of the Lucano lineage. ............. 120
Diagram 8. Household economy of the second generation of the Lucano lineage. ........ 120
Diagram 9. Members of the first generation of the Labrador family involved in artisanal
production on a full time basis: 1907-1955. .................................................................... 122
Diagram 10. Members of the second generation of the Labrador family involved in
artisanal production on a full time basis: 1927-1984. ..................................................... 122
Diagram 11. Members of the first generation of the Lucano family involved in artisanal
production on a full time basis: 1892-1959. .................................................................... 124
Diagram 12. Members of the second generation of the Lucano family involved in
artisanal production on a full time basis: 1928-1993. ..................................................... 124
Diagram 13. Members of the first generation of the Labrador family involved in artisanal
production on a part time basis: 1942-1955. ................................................................... 126
Diagram 14. Members of the first generation of the Lucano family involved in artisanal
production on a part time basis: 1880-1920. ................................................................... 126
Diagram 15. Members of the second generation of the Labrador family involved in
artisanal production on a part time basis: 1942-1959. ..................................................... 127

11
Diagram 16. Members of the second generation of the Lucano family involved in
artisanal production on a part time basis: 1942-1993. .................................................... 128
Diagram 17. Members of the first generation of the Labrador family working outside the
paternal household: 1933-1945. ...................................................................................... 129
Diagram 18. Members of the first generation of the Lucano family working outside the
paternal household. .......................................................................................................... 130
Diagram 19. Members of the second generation of the Labrador family working outside
the paternal household: 1930-1970.................................................................................. 131
Diagram 20. Members of the second generation of the Lucano family working outside the
paternal household: 1956-1958. ...................................................................................... 132
Diagram 21. Members of the first generation of the Labrador family who supported the
paternal household but who did not live there: 1927-1982. ............................................ 133
Diagram 22. Members of the first generation of the Lucano family who supported the
paternal household but who did not live there: none. ...................................................... 133
Diagram 23. Members of the second generation of the Labrador family who supported the
paternal household but who did not live there: 1941-2002. ............................................ 135
Diagram 24. Members of the second generation of the Lucano family who supported the
paternal household but who did not live there: none. ...................................................... 135
Diagram 25. People who gave gifts to first generation of the Labrador lineage: 1925. .. 136
Diagram 26. People who gave gifts to the second generation of the Labrador lineage:
1928. ................................................................................................................................ 137
Diagram 27. People who gave gifts to first generation of the Lucano lineage: c1890. ... 138
Diagram 28. People who gave gifts to second generation of the Lucano lineage. .......... 139
Diagram 29. Household economy of the third generation of the Labrador lineage. ...... 178
Diagram 30. Household economy of the third generation of the Lucano lineage. .......... 179
12
Diagram 31. Members of the Labrador family involved in artisanal production on a full
time basis: 1962-. ............................................................................................................. 182
Diagram 32. Members of the Labrador and the Ramírez families involved at artisanal
production on a full time basis. ....................................................................................... 185
Diagram 33. Members of the Labrador family involved in artisanal production on a part
time basis. ........................................................................................................................ 185
Diagram 34. Members of the Labrador and the Ramírez families involved at artisanal
production on a part time basis. ....................................................................................... 187
Diagram 35. Members of the Labrador family who worked outside the paternal household
......................................................................................................................................... 188
Diagram 36. Members of the Lucano family who worked outside the paternal household
......................................................................................................................................... 188
Diagram 37. Members of the Labrador family who supported the paternal household
from their own domestic units. ........................................................................................ 192
Diagram 38. Members of the Lucano family who supported the paternal from their own
domestic units. ................................................................................................................. 193
Diagram 39. People who gave gifts to the third generation of the Labrador lineage ...... 196
Diagram 40. People who gave gifts to the third generation of the Lucano lineage......... 197
Diagram 41. Household economy of the fourth generation of the Labrador lineage. ..... 233
Diagram 42. Household economy of the fourth generation of the Lucano lineage......... 233
Diagram 43. Members of the Labrador family involved in artisanal production on a full
time basis. ........................................................................................................................ 235
Diagram 44. Members of the Lucano family involved in artisanal production on a full
time basis. ........................................................................................................................ 238

13
Diagram 45. Members of the Labrador family involved in artisanal production on a part
time basis. ........................................................................................................................ 239
Diagram 46. Members of the Lucano family involved in artisanal production on a part
time basis. ........................................................................................................................ 240
......................................................................................................................................... 244
Diagram 48. Members of the Lucano family who worked outside the paternal household.
......................................................................................................................................... 244
Diagram 49. Members of the fourth generation of the Labrador family who supported the
paternal household but did not live there......................................................................... 246
Diagram 50.Members of the fourth generation of the Lucano family who supported the
paternal household but who did not live there. ................................................................ 247
Diagram 51. People who gave gifts to the fourth generation of the Labrador family ..... 248
14
Table of maps
Map 1. Most important industrial cities in the 19th century Mexico ................................ 51
Map 2. Location of Guadalajara City and Tlaquepaque County ....................................... 55

15
Table of photographs
Photograph 1. Petatillo vessel. December 1999. .............................................................. 65
Photograph 2. Outdoor kiln. December 1999. ................................................................. 110
Photograph 3. Eusebia Labrador. January 2000. ............................................................. 181
Photograph 4. Santos Lucano. January 2000. .................................................................. 183
Photograph 5. Beatríz Panduro. January 2002. .............................................................. 236
Photograph 6. Montserrat Lucano. January 2002. ........................................................... 237

16
Table of tables
Table 1. Type and number of interviews carried out with the Labrador and the Lucano
lineages .............................................................................................................................. 35
Table 2. Main economic activities in Tlaquepaque: 1900 ................................................. 56
Table 3. Trades born in Tlaquepaque from 1880 to 1910 ................................................. 58
Table 4. Demographic growth in Jalisco State and Tlaquepaque County: 1910-1940. .... 61
Table 5. Changes made by the second generation of the Labradors and the Lucanos ...... 66
Table 7. Demographic growth in Jaliso State and Tlaquepaque County: 1940-1970 ....... 70
Table 8. Changes made by the third generation of the Labradors and the Lucanos .......... 74
Table 10. Demographic growth in Jalisco State and Tlaquepaque County: 1980-2000 ... 80
Table 11. Trades born in Tlaquepaque from 1970 to 2000 ............................................... 85
Table 12. Changes made by the third generation of the Labradors and the Lucanos ........ 86
Table 13. Forms of families and households found in the Labrador and the Lucano
lineages .............................................................................................................................. 92
Table 14. Forms of households that the Labrador and the Lucano formed in every
generation .......................................................................................................................... 93
17
Introduction
This thesis is about the survival of the artisanal production of family workshops in the
face of modernity and capitalism in 20th century Mexico. My argument is that households
were pressured to continue producing handicrafts at home, encouraged first by the
opportunity to earn money and later by hunger, and that this was allowed by a very
specific and evolving configuration of social forces. The notion of these economic and
social pressures is far from meaning that artisans did not look at their work as an aesthetic
activity, or that it did not grant them any satisfaction and rewards. In order to achieve this
task, I have used a qualitative and ethnographic framework where the memories of two
artisan lineages from Tlaquepaque, Jalisco, Mexico of four generations each –1880-1910,
1910-1940, 1940-1970 and 1970-2000– provide the answers to how the trade was
successfully passed down over 120 years.
The account has two purposes. The first is to address the changing role of artisanal
production for both the household and the broader economy throughout the four periods
aforementioned, each of which corresponds to the four generations under study, and to
provide the analytical framework through which I approach the family, the household and
the workshop. The discussion aims to give the reader the necessary tools to understand
the political, economic and cultural events that took place at different historical moments
and which shaped the lives of the informants.
The second purpose is to look for generational continuities and changes within the two
lineages on the basis of four main analytical themes, namely:
i) The changing role of artisanal production for the household economy;
ii) The composition of the household economy;
iii) The patterns of social mobility of the two artisan lineages; and
iv) The notions of masculinity and femininity within the two lineages.
18
The first theme addresses the changing role of artisanal production for the household
economy from a political economy perspective. My intention is to underline the ways in
which external and international trends affected the patterns of consumption and
production of handicrafts at a regional and local level.
The second theme addresses how external elements led families to design, or simply to
engage in, new economic strategies to complement their living as the earnings generated
through artisanal production started to shrink.
The third theme addresses the labour, economic, political and social conditions that
affected the social mobility of each generation and the role that artisanal production
played in this during the time span under study.
The final theme looks at the effects of the expansion of modernity and capitalism on
changing notions of masculinity and femininity within the two artisan lineages and
provides answers guided by the memories of the informants.
The discussion also provides sub-sections at the end of the different chapters where I
address conceptual, methodological, epistemological and empirical reasoning pertinent
for the two aims of the thesis.
The five chapters that comprise the thesis each have a different focus and I discuss the
relevant findings appropriate for each of them. Chapter 1 is an introductory section that
provides the theoretical, methodological and empirical considerations that guided my
work at the different stages of the research. Chapter 2 provides an overview of the
changing habits of consumption and production of handicrafts throughout the four periods
stated above as well as a conceptual discussion on families, households and workshops
that I constructed based on the empirical evidence and the existent literature. The focus of
chapters 3, 4 and 5 is very similar in nature since each analyses the generational
continuities and differences of the two lineages in relation to the changing role of
19
artisanal production for their household economy and its composition, their patterns of
social mobility and their notions of masculinity and femininity. Chapter 3 has a particular
focus on the dependence and links between the formal and the informal sectors in
underdeveloped economies. Chapter 4 addresses the methodological constraints faced in
relation to the flow and quality of information when interviewing couples. By including
these themes into the general structure of each chapter, I had the opportunity to assess
their significance and impact on this research. Altogether, the general structure and
content of the thesis allowed me to compare the differences and continuities between the
two lineages as well as to pose historical answers in relation to how modernity and
capitalism trapped artisanal families in a life which may seem anachronistic.
This latter led me to conclude that the survival of artisanal production in family
workshops until the mid 20th century was made possible at the levels of motivation by the
opportunity of self-sufficient families to generate some cash income and later because of
hunger and desperation. I also try to show the local and the macro social conditions that
provided the circumstances that lay behind these motivations. This account shows the
uneven expansion and contradictions of industrialism and modernity in countries with
unstable and changing economies in whose interstices handicrafts found a safe niche.
Based on this strategy, I conclude that the survival of this activity was made possible by
the presence of parallel economic activities that tended to be carried out by women,
which allowed the reproduction of the households.
It is also important to clarify the meaning of the concept ‘first generation’ and the reason
for which I divided the study into four periods. By the former I refer to the first
generation of this study, rather than to the first generation of the families engaged in
artisanal production. The recollections of the informants provided reliable evidence on
their predecessors born in the last decades of the 19th century; yet, the gathering of data
20
beyond that generation was difficult and, above all, full of imprecision and suppositions.
This limitation and the fact that there was enough rich material on nearly 120 years of
family history helped me to conclude that the analysis of four generations would provide
sufficient empirical evidence to sustain the arguments. However, this does not mean that
in both families there were not links with artisanal production. The very fact that the
economies were self-sufficient and that this activity was done for self-consumption
purposes allows saying that the possibilities for them to have been engaged in the trade
were very high.
I also consider it important to mention what I mean by the term ‘generation’ as I use it
throughout the thesis. In using it, I refer to a group of siblings or relatives born during
relatively the same historical and socio-economic period. The reason for which the study
was divided into four periods –1880 to 1910, 1910 to 1940, 1940 to 1970 and 1970 to
2000– has largely to do with this ‘generational’ and analytical fact. Given that the
purpose of the study was to compare the continuities and differences between lineages
that made possible the continuation of artisanal production, the linking of historical and
socio-economic events that shaped every generation seemed necessary and sensitive.
21
Chapter 1. Disciplines that have traditionally approached artisanal production
The debate on Mexican artisanal production has been addressed by local and overseas
scholars employing a social science perspective: scholars in the disciplines of social
anthropology, folklore, visual art, economics and sociology have showed the most
interest. Sociology is by far the field has contributed least to its understanding. Parallel to
this is the work of non-academics whose studies have contributed to our knowledge of
specific forms of production that otherwise would not have been researched.
Artisanal production became an issue of interest for Mexican and overseas scholars from
the early 20th century on. This was a result of the peasant and the Indigenist movement
created by the Mexican Revolution of 1910 that embraced the ideals and values of the
poorest socio-economic groups seeking social justice and equality. The entrance of
marginal groups into the public sphere, adding their voices to the public agenda,
promoted the State to appeal to a socio-economically and culturally heterogeneous
country in need of an identity which appealed to most social sectors. This placed artisans
and handicrafts, as well as many other groups, as icons of the emerging Mexicanity (see
Novelo, 1979 and 1993; Monsiváis, 2000; Pérez, 2000; von Mentz, 2000, for a further
discussion on this issue). The newly created public institutions echoed these efforts,
particularly the education system through its syllabus programme that created an
increasing awareness and respect for domestic distinctiveness. This resulted, from 1920
onwards, in the creation of dozens of public institutions that were devoted to the support
of artisanal production, to Indigenist movements and to peasants’ organisations (see
Novelo, 1979 and 1993 for a comprehensive review of this topic).
...............................................................................................................................................
22
1.1 The social sciences
The discipline of social anthropology has produced by far the most studies on artisanal
production. Since the first publications in the early decades of the 20th century, their work
has privileged the analysis of traditional forms of production and handicrafts1 without
paying real consideration to the methodological, theoretical and epistemological
implications of the study of this activity (see Murillo, 1922; Montenegro, 1940; Huitrón,
1962; Díaz, 1966; Rus, 1969; De la Borbolla, 1974; Martínez, 1981 and 1988; and
Vallarta y Ejea, 1985, amongst many others). This pattern extended to most Latin
American countries where the manufacturing of handicrafts took place under similar
socio-economic and cultural conditions and where the influence of the Mexican approach
towards this topic was evident.
Social anthropologists were a key factor in public policy-making and directly influenced
the way the State approached the study and support of artisanal production. They tended
to despise the production of new urban and rural handicrafts on the grounds of the lack of
traditional techniques and an adulterated aesthetic that were considered by-products of
capitalism. The few authors that focused on ordinary handicrafts provided modest studies
that explained concrete commercial and manufacturing issues (see Ejea and Vallarta,
1985; Moctezuma, 1998 and 2000 for a clear example).
However, three works marked new paths of understanding of artisanal production from
qualitative interdisciplinary perspectives, namely that of Novelo (1976), Arias (1979) and
Moctezuma (1999). Novelo provided a clear analytical and conceptual framework that
shed light on the role of artisanal production for the household economy, its dependence
on other forms of income and its relevance for the larger economy. Arias focused on the
analysis of the weakening of mass-produced and male-driven urban artisanal forms that,
1
Whatever scholars or public institutions consider traditional techniques to be.
23
in the face of industrialism, collapsed causing the disappearance of guilds and hundreds
of jobs. Moctezuma analysed the impact of the growth of transport, mass media and
migration on several forms of artisanal production in two Mexican states. Their findings
helped me delimit my research question and project.
From the early 1960s on, a more comprehensive group of social anthropologists and
sociologists from both Mexico and abroad began to do research on labour studies,
memory, modernity, culture and identity, and the different aspects of artisanal production
and its role in the broader economy (see Santiago, 1960; Semo, 1973; Chiñas, 1976;
Stolmaker, 1976; González Ángulo, 1983; Cook, 1984; Rowe and Schelling, 1991; Bell
1994; Pérez, 1996; Trujillo, 1997; von Mentz, 1999; Olveda, 1999).
Folklorists, amateurs from all disciplines and visual artists agreed with social
anthropologists and archaeologists that traditional and peasant handicrafts deserved
special attention. Folklorists such as Murillo (1922), Montenegro (1940), Sandoval
(1979), Martínez (1982 and 1988); and Munguía (1993) are notable for seeking culturally
driven answers to the role of handicrafts for producers and consumers. However, their
work is limited since their accounts were descriptive ethnographic approaches based on
fieldwork notes that discussed the role of handmade objects in the broader economy.
The nature of the work of visual artists such as Dorner (1962), Minique (1986), Sayer
(1990), Parks (1993), Gilbert (1995), Barbash (1993) and Smith (1997), amongst others,
show their interest in the disciplines afore-discussed and in the manufacturing of
traditional handicrafts. Yet, their accounts tend to centre on identity, technical and plastic
issues rather than on cultural and ethnographic aspects.
As for economics, it differs from all the disciplines aforementioned in two aspects. On the
one hand, the studies limited themselves to looking at artisanal production as an economic
and commercial activity capable of being exploited. On the other, the interest of this field
24
made them study the branches that scholars considered had a wider market, as the
manuscripts of Memoria (1983: 108), Martínez (1988: 99), Problemas (1997: 16-17) and
Foro (1998: 62) show.
2 Theoretical perspectives used in this research
The question of how artisanal production survived amidst modernity and capitalism will
be answered from the standpoint of historical sociology, gender, ethnography and oral
history. Through these disciplines, I will analyse the empirical data against the theoretical
frameworks, seeking to validate or question arguments related to the themes and sub-
themes discussed in this thesis.
2.1 Historical sociology
Historical sociology deals with larger questions that frequently demand comprehensive
and rich frameworks that not only throw light on social structures and processes but also
underline the need to consider the role of empirical evidence in the search for answers.
These advantages made it an ideal framework to approach the analysis of the survival of
artisanal production over 120 years, given the historical and socio-economic nature of this
process.
Skocpol (1984: 5) states that historical sociology is better understood as a research
tradition interested in the study of the nature and the effects of the major social structures
on the fundamental process of change. She (Skocpol, 1984: 6) states that the influence of
the work of the major sociological thinkers such as Weber, Marx, Polanyi, Wallerstein
and Bloch can be found in historical sociology’s attempt to locate the local and the micro
in much broader historical and social developments. Sensitivity to this perspective will
25
allow me to offer a detailed ethnographically and empirically grounded work where the
questioning about the structures and social process, clearly located in time and space, can
be discussed. At the same time, it permits this micro work to be framed by, and located
in, much broader development.
Based on the application of Moore’s historical sociology (1969), Smith (1984: 316-321)
stated that a historical sociological approach works in any of the four forms proposed by
him. The first identifies general processes within specific events. The second depicts, as
precisely as possible, the distinction between what is determined by historical facts, or
any other type of limits, and the deliberated actions of humankind in any given stage of
social development. The third distinguishes the recurrent or constant aspects of social
order through time or space from the aspects that tend to an accumulative growth and
change. The last identifies a process of work where moral choices are possible within the
limits established by history, social structures and humankind.
In this particular case, the third model was applied by analysing and comparing the
empirical evidence of each generation of the two lineages, seeking their differences and
similarities. This was achieved by looking at the order and the juxtaposition of the role of
events such as the economic activities that each generation carried out to complement
their living, the impact of education on the survival of artisanal production, the conditions
under which the trade was transmitted, how people learned it and why artisanal
production was made at home, to name a few. This allowed me to consider the context
surrounding these scenarios, which in turn strengthened or weakened the possibilities to
construct a statement on the given social structure or social process analysed.
The use of these comparisons was useful to arrive at generalisations on the structure of
the social process and the tendency to social change of artisan groups. Thus, despite the
variations and particularities of the concrete groups, the tendency to change can be
26
associated with wider aspects of social change in the modern world whilst the uniqueness
of the context studied can be still clearly distinguished.
2.2 Gender
The concept of gender was crucial in elucidating the roles men and women played in the
family, the household and the workshop and their reproduction. I understand gender more
in the sense that Walby (1990), Morris (1990), Safa (1992) and Benería and Roldán
(1987b) do; that is, as the sex-driven behavioural differences between men and women
that are embedded with cultural meanings and that help to preserve the given social order.
By looking at gender from this perspective, we will be able to see that these cultural
values are applied in daily life to shape our identity – our masculinity or femininity – and
the way in which we are raised. At an analytical level, I focussed on this link, seeking to
understand how economics, social mobility and the family link to gender.
Women’s work in urban artisan workshops is empirically more important than
some studies suggest (Murillo, 1922; Zuno, 1972; Martínez, 1981 and 1988; Romo, 1990;
Barbash, 1993; Casas, 1998). They are the ones who tend to carry the additional burden
of work, not only at the workshop but also in the labour market when their partners fail to
support the family through artisanal production or paid jobs. Furthermore, their work is
neither intermittent nor does it constitute a temporary income but is rather a significant
contribution for the household regardless of their form and composition. My evidence is
convincing in this respect in showing that women’s work prevented households from
falling, for longer periods, into poverty and, in some cases, even allowing them to achieve
a better social standing and overcome poverty. This coincides with the work of authors
such as Benería and Roldán (1987b and c), Morris (1990), Selby et al (1990), Benería
(1991), Safa (1995) and Chant and Craske (2003).

27
The gender approach was equally useful in distinguishing the uneven impact of
education, occupation and marriage on the social mobility of men and women in the four
generations of the two lineages. This framework helped me to see that the women from
the latter two generations were more socially mobile before and after marriage than the
women from the first two. The women of the latter two generations were upwardly
mobile before marriage due to their higher schooling and occupations, a position they lost
after matrimony but somehow managed to regain through paid work. For the men, social
mobility, education, occupation and marriage had a positive effect on their status in
almost all the cases.
The gender identities of the two lineages changed over the 120 years as modernity
and capitalism expanded. Men and women assumed different positions within the
function and form of the family, paternity and maternity, the size of the family and,
although hardly visible, the education of their offspring. Such situations, however,
affected the women more who reacted by showing a greater flexibility than men to adapt
to the variant socio-economic and cultural circumstances. This was encouraged by their
need to fit into the new social and productive order brought about by capitalism and
modernity, as they sought to support their family and household in better circumstances
— as my own evidence and the work of Connolly (1985), Escobar (1988), Selby et al
(1990), Benería (1991) and Safa (1992) illustrate. These changes challenged the authority
of men in the household and tended to exacerbate their authoritarianism as well as
creating new forms of control. I will fully address these issues in Chapter 4. The
aforementioned confirms that a gender analytical perspective helps to distinguish, both
analytically and methodologically, the degrees to which social inequalities are
institutionalised at work, in the family and in the household.

28
2.3 Ethnography
Ethnography provided a unique opportunity to observe the blurred and close links
between the family, the household and the workshop and artisanal production. I
understand ethnography as a deliberated encounter between the researcher and the object
of study where the researcher’s senses and awareness are the main source through which
he or she will be able to understand and interpret that particular reality. Thus, such
awareness will enable the researcher to distinguish the impact of these external elements
on the construction and analysis of this social scenario. Yet, the use and interpretation of
data constructed through ethnographic encounters is not limited to the moment in which it
is produced but rather ethnographic information is consciously and unconsciously used to
inform, test and quite frequently modify our interpretation of a particular fact.
In this sense, ethnography is a methodology that informs our senses throughout
the different stages of the research: from fieldwork, bibliographical data and analysis to
the very process of writing. By using this methodology, I was able to link the
relationships between the lives of the informants, their histories and their immediate
context — an account I would definitively have failed to achieve or properly represent
without considering the importance of the relationships between, for example, the artisans
and the officials, the artisans and the markets, the artisans and the customers and the
dynamics and practices that shape these processes.
Through ethnography I was also able to gain and present a feeling for the quality
of life of artisan families that were trapped by the rural-urban and traditional-modern
transitions of the 20th century Mexican economy. These details allowed me to appreciate
the extent to which all aspects of their lives were affected by the patterns of economic
expansion and modernity that have occurred in underdeveloped countries. This opened up
the opportunity to put the individual and the household in the analysis as actors who were
29
not simply characters of the forces beyond their control but who were also forces
contributing – through concrete strategies and personality – to shaping the course of
events.
3 Methodological perspectives
I used oral history to analyse a problem of an inherently historical nature. This
methodology seemed ideal to gain an understanding of how four generations of two
artisan lineages had produced handicrafts for over a century, in light of the insufficiency
of written and visual records.
Through oral history, I also sought to know how informants interpreted and lived
their daily life experiences as both individuals and members of an artisan lineage. My
purpose was to be able to link these events to the broader historical context. This provided
a sea of first-hand data where the memories of informants guided both the analysis and
the interpretation of my work. The advantages of the use of this method are clear and
need no further discussion, as the work of Thompson (1990: 72-73), Tonkin (1992: 1),
Yow (1994: 4), Friedlander (1996: 155), Haley (1996: 259), Hareven (1996: 243) and
Vansina (1996: 122) confirm.
In-depth interviews were used to cover questions such as who became an artisan,
under what conditions did they learn the trade, who taught it to them, what types of
handicrafts did they make, why did they change them, what other type of economic
activities did they carry out and who did them. I used the same interview guide for all the
informants from all the generations in order to achieve consistency and to be able to look
for generational continuities and changes. The answers gave clear insights into the type of
relations between these concrete individuals and their broader socio-economic context.
30
As the interviews developed, I added a number of themes and sub-themes of
methodological, epistemological and theoretical order that seemed relevant to the
experience of the families. These issues were selected on the basis of the possibilities that
they offered to show the role of this activity in the world economy and the effects of
modernity and capitalism on ordinary individuals. In-depth interviews in the form of
individual, couple and collective interviews – each of them is described below – were
used to construct family histories where the central argument was the continuity of
artisanal production for over a century.
3.1 Profile of informants
As soon as the pilot fieldwork started, it became evident that a reliable contact through
which I could be introduced to key artisans was indispensable. Artisans repeatedly
rejected my attempts to get them to give long and reflexive answers about their domestic
and financial issues. Their secrecy about these themes was strong and I could see the
socio-economic complexity of the context in which they were produced. The information
that I was able to collect after two weeks of fieldwork was limited and pointed to the fact
that the only artisan lineages that had been engaged for three or more generations in
artisanal production were those manufacturing clay handicrafts. I was worried as the
research was going nowhere. I needed a different strategy so I reconsidered the
alternatives.
After a discussion with a sociology professor at the University of Guadalajara, she
told me that one of her students was from Tlaquepaque and was himself doing a small
project on artisanal production. He was also the grandson of an artisan and had grown up
in the city. She offered to ask him if he would be willing to help me. The student,
Antonio, rang me and we met and discussed our projects. In his opinion, the only three-
31
generation artisan families were those who worked with clay since the rest had either quit
the trade or had engaged in it quite recently, a situation that I was to confirm when I
began my own fieldwork.
Antonio invited me to two artisan meetings, one in Guadalajara City and the other
in Tlaquepaque City. I was introduced to several artisans, some of whom were friends
with Antonio whilst others knew him slightly. They all asked who I was and what I was
doing there. I explained to them what I needed, the purpose of my work, the requisites,
the probable length of the interviews and the possibility for me to be introduced to other
relatives as the interviews went by. I received enthusiastic support from Antonio. Santos
Lucano, a well-known artisan and a close friend of Antonio, agreed to be interviewed and
this encouraged other artisans to talk. I scheduled eight interviews with different artisans
and after two weeks of work I discovered that only two artisans fulfilled the criteria. I
went back to them and we set new dates for the talks.
Immediately after the first interviews with the artisans from both lineages, I
realised that significant methodological adjustments had to be done on the basis of the
type and quality of information as well as by the gender of the informants. The most
important issues to solve at that point were two: the first was to define whether the family
history was going to be reconstructed by artisans and non-artisans alike; and the second
was to consider the relatively numerical superiority of female informants in the research.
For the first point, the evidence showed that artisans and non-artisans had concrete
profiles and similar life stories given the conditions under which the trade was taught to
the children and the role the two groups had in the household economy. Artisans, contrary
to non-artisans, were the pillars of the household and the workshop; they had all worked,
or still worked, for the paternal workshop. Most of them were married; they had all
learned the trade from their parents during their infancy or early adolescence and they had
32
all also learned the trade during times of hardship. Most non-artisans, on the contrary, had
abandoned the paternal household; they had migrated to other cities, were single, had
learned the trade later than their artisan siblings and when they did, it was to ‘learn to
work and in case they needed it’. Most importantly, they had higher schooling levels and
formal paid jobs.
These factors combined in both cases to encourage individuals to resist to be
considered as active artisans and non-artisans. In the case of the artisans, they showed a
greater disposition to be interviewed and to participate in the research and although they
were initially shy and had little confidence with regards to the importance of discussing
their experiences, they showed a greater sympathy. Non-artisans, on the contrary, tended
to be more sceptical and ambiguous in providing details on how the trade was transmitted
and about their participation in the workshop. I did not understand why and felt uneasy
about this situation as they were prone to state ‘I’m not an artisan, I don’t know the
trade’. Although in a strict sense this was true, the empirical evidence confirmed that all
the siblings had worked for the paternal or maternal workshop at some point of their lives,
but only a couple of them had continued the trade. I asked them what they meant by ‘not
being an artisan’ and to my surprise I found out that they felt they did not deserve to be
labelled as such given that they were neither active artisans – most of them had to
produce handicrafts whilst they lived at the paternal household and had quit after
finishing school – nor had they worked as hard as their artisans siblings in the
manufacturing of handicrafts. However, the main reason for stating ‘I’m not an artisan’
was that, for most of them, it was important to be perceived as professionals or formal
workers. This fact influenced my decision to interview only artisans given that they had
first hand data on the reasons for which the activity was passed down to them and about
the inner dynamics of the workshop.

33
This did not mean that non-artisans were not considered when answering how
artisanal production had survived over 120 years. To the contrary, they were key elements
in understanding why this was possible. Yet, at an analytical level one can say that this
should be too much of a constraint given my purposes. For had I chosen to interview non-
artisans, they would also have interpreted the role the artisans played at the paternal
workshop, their participation in the support of the household and the reasons for which
they preferred – or perhaps were forced – to become artisans rather than paid workers in
other sectors.
The second methodological aspect to be considered was the superiority of the
female informants. This resulted from the fact that one lineage – the Labrador – was
transmitted through the maternal branch whilst the other – the Lucano – was transmitted
through both branches with a slighter inclination towards the paternal side. This
necessarily resulted in a larger number of women and, therefore, in a female-driven
understanding of artisanal production. After considering this situation, I decided not to
look for more male informants for two reasons. Firstly, this represented a unique
opportunity to study the work of women and their role in the reproduction of the
household, the labour force and the continuity of the trade from a diachronic perspective
and from their own perspective. The second reason was to counterbalance the lack of
specialised academic literature on artisanal production that could explain, from the
standpoint of the household and the workshop, the participation of women in this activity
and not merely refer to it as ‘occasional help’. Thus, I have tried to be as aware as
possible of this situation and the possible bias when attempting to assess the empirical
evidence.
34
3.1.1 Number of interviews
I interviewed eight informants, four from each lineage – two from the third generation
and two more from the fourth – that resulted in 19 in-depth interviews of an average of
one hour and forty minutes each. Fourteen out of that total were individual recordings,
four were couple interviews and one was collective. All the interviews were transcribed
verbatim and analysed in winMax 98.
Twenty-one more individual interviews of an average of one hour and fifteen
minutes were conducted with artisans, intermediaries and officials of different ages from
Tlaquepaque City in order to go into greater detail about patterns and tendencies in the
division of labour, commercialisation and habits of consumption and production, amongst
the most important issues. This material was essential to make broader connections
between the experiences of the informants and the external events that shaped artisanal
production. In a similar way, these interviews also helped me to see how both artisan
families and external actors saw and understood this activity. Table 1 provides the details
of the material and the type of interviews I recorded with the Labrador and the Lucano
lineages.
35
Table 1. Type and number of interviews carried out with the Labrador and the Lucano lineages
Labrador Lineage
Generation Informant Type of interview Interview number
3rd Eusebia Labrador Individual 4, 6, 8, 14 & 17
3rd Eusebia Labrador and Couple 11
Trino Panduro
4th Beatríz Panduro Individual 2, 10 & 15
4th Beatríz Panduro and Couple 5 & 18
Enrique Vázquez
Lucano Lineage
Generation Informant Type of interview Interview number
3rd Santos Lucano Individual 1, 3, 9, 12 & 13
3rd Santos Lucano and Couple 7 &16
Martha Ramírez
4th Montserrat Lucano and Collective 19
Belén Ramírez
3.2 Family histories
The purpose of constructing a family history for each lineage was to search for the
generational memory of the skills, knowledge and stories related to artisanal production
that were passed down across generations and their relation to concrete historical and
economic events to which individuals reacted by designing concrete strategies. This

36
implied linking the background of these families to the larger historical context where
their experiences were shaped by external socio-economic and political events. Stone
(quoted by Clandinin and Connelly, 1998: 164-165) states that family histories are
‘…usually teaching stories, telling members still at home the

ways of the world according to the experience elders have
had…Family stories seem to persist in importance even
when people think of themselves individually, without
regard to their familial roles. The particular human chain
we’re part of is central to our individual identity’.
Family histories looked at three broad categories where concrete themes and sub-
themes were discussed. The first section addressed how major historical events and trends
affected these families. The second addressed the various aspects of the social life of
these families such as their patterns of social mobility, work, education, religion, family
and sports. The third addressed the structures and dynamics of the family, the household
and the workshop as well as the notions and gender identities of these individuals.
Through these themes I did not test hypotheses but rather explored the coherence of
memories and situations by providing explanations and, at some other times, speculations
guided by the limited knowledge at hand.
The search for generational memory, as Hareven (1994: 244) calls the gaps in
evidence, was palpable as I attempted to trace the paths of a four-generation lineage. I
faced some difficulty when asking informants questions that implied some sort of
historical connections between their own lives and the broader context. Yet, as the work
evolved, people were more aware of their relationships with their immediate world, which
showed that interviewing is a knowledge-generating process, as several authors have

37
already pointed out (Portelli, 1991; Plummer, 1995; Hareven, 1996; Vansina, 1996;
Friedlander, 1996; and Haley, 1996; amongst others).
3.2.1 Methodological and gender issues when searching for generational memory
The trans-generational essence of my approach to the understanding of artisanal
production raised important methodological and epistemological challenges. These were
especially the issues of: how people remember; why women tend to be better informants
than men; what type of events people remember the most; how gender shapes the
construction of family memory; how the position of a given individual within the family
shapes this process; and, amongst many other questions, how modernity and capitalism
link to these facts. These issues clearly point to the limits of the empirical evidence and to
the essence of the form of analysis I have chosen. It is necessary to underline that I
analysed the narrative of the informants with the purpose of exploring, scrutinising and
speculating upon their own standpoints in relation to the events under discussion rather
than working from a rigid pre-oriented theoretical standpoint.
The result was a family history constructed on the transmission and survival of the
trade where several themes and sub-themes that the interviews and analysis suggested
complemented this effort. The interviews were as lengthy and detailed as possible, given
the lack of written and visual evidence bearing directly on how the activity survived over
a century.
The history of each family had its own ego on which the narrative was centred. In
the Labrador case this was Eusebia Labrador and in the Lucano one, Santos Lucano, both
of whom were from the third generation of the study. They were the eldest living active
artisans of their respective lineage. Even though there were living informants from the
second generation, they had either abandoned the trade during their young adulthood or,
38
as in the case of one of the informants whose memory failed to give coherent and lucid
answers, their memory was not reliable. Another important factor was the age gap
between the brothers and sisters from the third generation of the Lucano lineage. In this
case, the mother had had several miscarriages that had resulted in a sixteen-year gap
between the eldest and the youngest siblings. This strengthened the roles of both Eusebia
Labrador and Santos Lucano as the key individuals through which most of the knowledge
about their predecessors was to be generated.
The recollections of the fourth generation of both lineages were crucial in
understanding the conditions that drove most of them away from the trade and in
constructing a clearer picture of their ancestors by remembering family gatherings and the
relationships between their grandparents and parents. This helped me to identify the
intergenerational transmission of values and the construction itself of their family history.
The information provided by the informants was used to construct family trees
that concentrate all the data on the places and dates of birth, the trades, the levels of
schooling, numbers of children, marriage dates and the names of the partners of both the
artisans and non-artisans of both lineages. Individual family trees for every generation
and lineage will be presented in the corresponding chapters and a general family tree with
the information of the four generations of both lineages can be consulted in the Appendix.
Another relevant consideration to make on this point concerns the difficulty for any
informant to speculate on the context and conditions that led predecessors to behave in
particular ways. At some points, informants had no difficulties in imagining the
conditions that could have led their parents and grandparents to modify the production,
reorganise the division of work and behave in particular ways, to name a few examples.
At others, I faced breaks in the chain of evidence when attempting to trace the trajectories
39
of the first two generations that, as Hareven warns (1996: 244), is the most typical
problem when searching for generational memory.
On the other hand, when informants were questioned on specific themes — such
as the meaning of fatherhood/motherhood and masculinity/femininity for their
predecessors — they did tend to show an awareness of the way in which the surrounding
socio-economic conditions had impacted significantly on these meanings:
‘My mum used to say that she thought she got married at a good age,
that she liked having gotten married at her age but I think that, I
mean, years ago women used to get married younger. It might be
because they lacked instruction or that for them [women], I mean,
that for them reaching a certain age meant that, it meant that they
were ready for marriage. But things nowadays are quite different.
Nowadays the woman thinks more about being educated, in being
trained and in having more, I mean, having more options [besides
marriage] to choose from.’2
I did not face this type of memory problems with the officials, the independent
artisans and the businesspeople as we limited our discussion to the aforementioned
themes. All in all, these individual interviews helped me to understand what artisan
families actually meant by saying ‘we the artisans’, ‘by the time we have to sell’, ‘the best
time to sell’, ‘they don’t like us’, ‘they abuse us’, ‘we work hard and they always want us
down’ and several other such expressions of this kind.
3.3 The selection of families
What inspired me to continue with my postgraduate education was my interest in
studying what types of transmission take place over time in family lineages. This emerged
2
Interview 5, Beatriz Panduro, fourth generation of the Labrador lineage. August 1997.
40
from the gap in the existent sociological literature on inter-generational studies of the
traditional forms of production that, with regard to Mexico, my own country, was non-
existent or very limited. Moreover, those studies which exist did not answer such
questions as: how the patterns of production and consumption had changed over time;
how artisans had faced these changes; who made them; why did they continue to produce
handicrafts if mass produced items competed with them; what was the role of artisanal
production for the household economy; how did they learn the trade; who taught it to
them and under what conditions? These criteria led me to widen my search to two
lineages, as the comparison of their similarities and differences would provide me with
richer historical answers as to why artisanal forms of production survived.
The next step was to define the region and town I wanted to study and, after
discussing several options with my supervisors, I decided to focus on Tlaquepaque,
Jalisco –a central Pacific state – for both geographical and cultural reasons. I was familiar
with this region of Mexico since my parents were born in Jalisco and I myself had lived
relatively close to Tlaquepaque County for nearly seven years. In spite of this, the fact
was that I knew no artisans nor had, at that point, any contact through which I could enter
the domestic life of these families. After considering these points, I decided to bring
forward the date of the pilot fieldwork – which in its three stages lasted a total of a year –
to consider the possibilities of further major changes in the overall timetable.
3.4 Individual interviews
This type of interview aimed at generating all the empirical evidence possible on the
experiences of the informants in their roles as members of the family, the household and
the workshop as well as their memories of their predecessors.

41
I recorded 14 individual interviews of an average of two hours each with informants from
the third and fourth generations from the Labrador and the Lucano lineages. Data from
the first and second generations was gathered through interviews with informants from
the third generation. This was so because they were the last living link of the lineage, in
the words of Hareven (1994: 251).
3.5 Couple Interviews
Couple interviews were the most complex method used during fieldwork. They sought to
generate as much information as possible from both partners on education and the
importance of the work of their children for household stability and on the values they
instil in them. The main challenge as an interviewer was to phrase questions that
suggested that no particular answer was expected from them in their role as
father/husband or mother/wife. I formulated questions such as, ‘what do you think of….’,
‘what is your opinion about…’, and ‘could you explain to me a bit more about x….’,
when the risk of tension or role overlapping emerged.
I considered carrying out couple interviews despite the warnings of authors such
as Yow (1994: 199), Gelles (1987: 37-38), and Bennet and McAvity (1985: 75-94)
because they were a unique opportunity to see how gender discourses were affected by
each other. I will fully address this theme in Chapter Four. As a result, I recorded three
couple interviews: one with each one of the couples from the third generation of both
lineages; and one with the couple from the fourth generation of the Labrador lineage (see
Table 1 for details).

42
3.5.1 Methodological issues in couple interviews
It is worth discussing the role of partners in the flow and the quality of information in this
research for two reasons: firstly, the workshops were located at home where not only the
artisans worked but also the non-artisans members of the family lived; secondly, by being
located in the home, the overlapping of domestic and working activities was inevitable.
This implied that although informants chose what they considered an appropriate place
for the interview – i.e. the workshop/household – such a decision raised the alertness of
some members of the family, particularly that of the partners who either did not share the
opinions of the respondents or resented the information they were sharing with the
interviewer. Concerns of this kind and how I solved them are discussed in this section as I
was seeking to highlight the way they affected my understanding of, for example, the
reasons for which individuals interrupted/continued/abandoned the trade at certain points
of the domestic cycle.
3.5.2 Gender differences in the analysis of memories
The data show meaningful gender differences in the way informants remembered their
own biographies and that of their predecessors. Women tended to talk in a more detailed
and vivid way about their daily life experiences, about life at the workshop and at home,
and about their feelings towards their partners, children and parents. They were also more
aware of parallel activities, of dates, names and other important events that were not
necessarily related to their own kin. The quotation below from a third generation member
of the Labrador lineage illustrates this point:
‘My parents meant all for me. It was very important for me to have
parents and I adored them. My parents for me were the best because
I always said, I mean, my husband came first, my children came first
43
too but my parents, they have been the best for me. Because I felt I
really loved them and it’s a kind of love that if you don’t feel it, it
simply means that you are incapable of loving someone; [it means]
that one is empty because one has no love for her father and
mother.’3
Women also showed more empathy in discussing themes in which they were not
directly involved, although their recollections lacked the vivacity that the fragments of
their own biographies had. Such willingness helped me to imagine the conditions under
which the men and the women would have acted.
Men were concise and helpful informants, even when their answers tended to be
succinct. Friedlander (1996:154), in his work on veterans’ memories, found that they
were surprisingly accurate in providing details of events that took place nearly four
decades back. His evidence allows me to state that, as in my research, men’s memories
tended to underline the roles they played in the family and at work as the two arenas
where they have essential roles. Yet, contrary to Friedlander’s research, the biographies
of the men I interviewed tended to be more ambiguous and vaguer than those of the
women when we discussed the daily life of their own kin and that of other close relatives,
and above all in relation to their own feelings, as the following quotation shows.
‘I’ve never thought or said ‘they were, they were…’. I mean, if I say
they were the best for me I would be lying to you, right. Were they
bad people? Never, never!...I feel that I can’t, that I can’t say they
were neither the best nor the worst [for me]. They were simply my
parents. They were my parents, as simple as that. They tried to
behave as such, right. To start with, my mother was an illiterate
person, she had no schooling. They were simply my parents. I could
say they were practical people, right. They had no education, no
training and even today, [I have not that much instruction], right.
Nevertheless, we have more choices to be educated. Were they
affectionate? No. Maybe that’s because I’m like this [laughs]. But
3
Interview 17, Eusebia Labrador, third generation of the Labrador lineage. January 2000.
44
now that you ask, now that I look back I guess that I’m inexpressive
[because they were not expressive either] and I’ve tried to change it
but it’s not that simple. So I guess all I can say is that they, as my
parents, did what they could but I can’t say they were the best for
me’. 4
This man discusses painful family memories in a metaphorical manner where the
pronoun ‘I’ is unavoidable given the nature of the question. Yet, what strikes my attention
is the clarity and frequency with which he used the pronoun ‘I’ to discuss his feelings for
his parents. His voice denotes a rather angry voice whose intention is to cover his feelings
under an impersonal rhetoric whose notions of masculinity, as a man, may forbid him to
show. Still, the distance he tries to put between his parents and himself denotes his need
to understand his own situation.
The fragments also show that, regardless of their gender, informants tended to
remember most and with greater accuracy the events in which they participated. This
reveals the importance of their role, perhaps a heroic role that they do not openly label as
such but that they implicitly allude to: that they, as with their predecessors, were the ones
who rescued their families from poverty, worked long hours, made continuous sacrifices
and lived lives full of uncertainties in their search for a better life. By doing so, they not
only reproduced their own values but also emulated the image of their great grandparents,
grandparents and parents. This confirms that, at some points, the memory creates an
identity or biography where the humour, the irony, the affection and even the oblivion
reflect on their heroism.
4
Interview 16, Santos Lucano, third generation of the Lucano lineage. January 2000.
45
3.6 Collective interviews
Collective interviews were carried out with siblings from the same generation and were
aimed at stimulating a joint discussion of the roles key members played in supporting the
family, the household and the workshop. Although this format proved very useful, I
recorded only one interview of this type – with the fourth generation of the Lucano
lineage – since the conditions to carry out a similar interview with other generations and
the other lineage were not possible.
In this only collective interview, we discussed the experience and recollections of
the informants on generational changes in the habits of artisanal production and
consumption, the gender roles in the family, the household and the workshop, the
transmission of the trade and the role of artisanal production in the household economy.
Collective interviews pose the risk of retrieving little information from informants who
are shy or laconic due to the presence of a more talkative or dominant person. In these
cases, it was useful to phrase direct neutral questions such as those recommended by
Shopes (1994: 237): ‘tell me more about…’, ‘why do you think that…’, ‘give me an
example of…’, thus seeking to counterbalance the position of the dominated person.
4 Analytical perspectives
Poverty and employment were two central themes in this work. They framed the
discussion from the beginning. Yet I was going to study them indirectly through artisanal
production, the parallel activities that families carried out to complement their living and
the intersection of the formal and the informal market. Such clarity was not necessarily
present at the initial stages of the research and, given the interdisciplinary nature of
empirical evidence, my supervisors advised me to organise the discussion in themes.
Their insights helped me to achieve a clear focus for the discussion of five key analytical
46
themes that allowed me to answer the main research questions. They were: the family, the
household and the workshop structures; the changing role of artisanal production for the
household economy; the formal and the informal sectors; the patterns of social mobility
of artisan families; and gender identities.
As poverty in particular is a central term in this thesis, it is necessary to define it.
By it, I refer to the material and socio-economic conditions that surrounded the families
under study. The four generations of both lineages always had food at their tables, a
shelter and clothes to wear. Yet, the quality of their food, housing and clothing reflected
the limitations they faced in their everyday lives. In most cases, families crowded
together in small squalid rooms and modest houses; they slept on rubber mats or a
mattress on the floor, had very precarious indoor toilet and kitchen facilities battered and
scarce furniture, worn hand-me-down clothes that better-off relatives or some other
people gave them; and, for the most part, ate vegetables, seeds and cheap meat. This
living standard has a particular odour and is the picture that I repeatedly saw in all the
homes and workshops I visited and is also typical of the type of poverty to which I refer.
4.1 The family, the household and the workshop structures
Families, households and workshops are the main substantive areas explored alongside
artisanal production. They are conceptualised and investigated as part of the attempt to
find answers to how this activity survived in the 20th century. It is necessary to ask what
their relationships are and to look at both the constraints and the opportunities their
linkages afforded. I will address this methodological and epistemological issue by looking
at the different forms these concepts took with each generation.

47
4.2 The changing role of artisanal production for the household economy
As capitalism and modernity expanded, the role of artisanal production for the household
economy changed, weakening it to the point of challenging its continuity. The memories
of the informants pointed to this fact, and showed that the process was gradual, and
forced them to adapt their production and skills to different extents to meet the changing
needs of the consumers in an effort to continue to earn a living from artisanal work. This
discussion will show, through quotations from the recollections of informants from the
different generations and the analysis of pertinent literature, the close links between the
two activities and the subordination and dependence of handicrafts to capitalism.
4.3 The formal and the informal sectors
The complex and varied nature of informal economic activities in countries like Mexico
and their dependence on the formal sector confirm the uneven expansion and
contradictions of capitalism in underdeveloped economies. I will show and define the
informal sector by underlining the empirical features of workers from this area as well as
the role these activities play, particularly artisanal production, at different socio-economic
and historical periods. I will also indicate their types and levels of productivity.
4.4 The social mobility of artisan families
The study of the social trajectories of the two lineages provides convincing evidence of
the important role that artisanal production has played for both their social mobility and
the survival of the activity itself. I understand social mobility as the upward and
downward trajectory that all individuals follow during their life cycle and that is the result
of the decisions their ancestors and they themselves have made. I look at social mobility
48
from an inter-generational perspective, seeking to show, as Thompson and Bertaux did
(1995) in England and France in the late 20th century, the effects of the background and
decisions of the ancestors on their progeny.
I will look also at social mobility from a gender-driven perspective in order to
shed light on the reasons why one gender has been more mobile than the other, the effects
of marriage on the social mobility of each gender, and the responses and strategies
designed for each to be mobile, amongst other issues, through the empirical evidence at
hand. These themes will explain the close interrelationships between artisanal production
and social mobility through education, employment and marriage. The analysis will be
supported by literature to highlight the findings made by this research as well as to show
how global economic trends have universal, locally mediated effects.
4.5 Gender identities
Gender is one of the strongest and richest analytical frameworks through which I respond
to the question of how the artisanal production of family workshops survived for over
four generations. Although I use the notion of gender throughout the thesis to underline
the differences in the behaviour of men and women, I also aim to show how the particular
processes involved in the production of handicrafts reproduces the more universal pattern
of social inequality and the oppression of women. I pay special attention to the fact that
the family is the core of the production and that this work takes place at a workshop that
is located at the household.

49
Chapter 2. Artisanal production and consumption in 20th century Tlaquepaque and
the role of families within it
It is the purpose of this chapter to discuss two sets of data and their conceptual
implications useful for the study of the survival of artisanal production in artisan family
workshops in Tlaquepaque, Jalisco, Mexico in the 20th century. The discussion divides
into two broad sections.
The first provides the socio-economic and political framework within which the
discussion of the rest of the thesis can be placed. The purpose is to analyse the patterns of
artisanal consumption and production from 1880-1910, 1910-1940, 1940-1970 and 1970-
2000 in Tlaquepaque to see the changing nature of this activity for the families, the state
and the economy. The second section looks at the importance of the family, the household
and the workshop for the survival of artisanal production throughout the 120 years under
study and aims to define their limits and their relevance for the rest of this work.
The rest of this thesis is structured in the four periods mentioned above, each of which
aims to shed light on the similarities and differences between the lineages over the
specified period.
1 A socio-economic introduction to the proper understanding of artisanal
production in late 19th and early 20th century Mexico
The Mexican economy of the 19th and the early 20th century was characterised by the
presence of two large economic groups. The first was composed of strong regional
economies that concentrated the largest and most efficient transport, commercial, urban
and industrial infrastructure. A substantial part of this infrastructure was financed by
foreign capital exploiting mining, farming and cattle industries. The second group
50
comprised a number of isolated self-sufficient economies based on traditional activities
such as trade, industry, agriculture and handicrafts.
Industry in particular played a vital role for the survival of artisanal production
during the late 19th and early 20th century. There is a lack of official and reliable figures
on the manufacturing of handicrafts and the number of people employed in the artisanal
sector, yet the fact remains that it was more productive and employed more people than
any other manufacturing sector until the late 19th century. Novelo (1993: 24) posits that
in Mexico, in 1862, there were 20,000 artisanal workshops in comparison to 207
industrial factories in a period where industry was the state priority. This figure does not
account for urban and rural workshops that produced either for family or town
consumption. This resulted from the failures of an economic model that unintentionally
protected artisanal production. Despite the growth of industry, artisanal production
remained the pillar of the economy as shown in the 1877-1878 censuses.
In 1872, the Import Prohibition Law (Bátiz, 1980: 37) and later the tariff
protection law enacted by the Porfirian regime both favoured artisanal production. The
former subsidised local production and the latter protected local industries in order to
hold off the pressure of international trade on the internal market. Both laws indirectly
benefited urban and rural artisanal production since the most basic and elementary
ornamental merchandise for the popular classes was made in family workshops. In 1872,
in Mexico City alone, there were 728 artisanal and industrial factories and 40 steam
machines (Cardoso and Reyna, 1980: 381). This shows the predominance of artisanal
production amidst intensive efforts to industrialise the economy. The precarious
industries produced textiles, iron, ceramics, paper, metal, tobacco, some chemicals, glass
and food processing and were located in Veracruz, Puebla, San Luis Potosí, México,
51
Guadalajara and Monterrey, where the most important transport infrastructure was
located.
Map 1. Most important industrial cities in the 19th century Mexico
Industry faced expensive limitations as well as difficulties in transporting raw
materials due to the conditions of roads and the limited access to electric and hydraulic
power that was dependent on the rainy season (Cardoso and Reyna, 1980: 385). The
precarious conditions of industrial production and transport infrastructure temporarily
benefited artisanal production. Even though there was a significant enlargement of the
transport infrastructure that directly reflected on the reduction of prices and the growth of
markets, most production still met the needs of the local population. Nevertheless,
industry underwent significant growth from the late 1870s onwards due to the investment
of French, German and American capital in mining, commercial agriculture and railroads
52
(San Juan and Velázquez, 1980: 283; Bellingieri and Sánchez 1980: 322-323; Cardoso
and Reyna, 1980: 395-396).
Industrial growth caused the emergence of new salaried strata but there was
virtually no labour social mobility in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. This is
relevant as the urban artisanal sector during the Spanish Colony in Mexico was sustained
on an exploitative salaried system (Carrera, 1954: 11, 14, 167 and 284 and Semo 1973:
91, 103, 193, 195, 225 and 231) that through the creation of guilds assured both the
quality of the production and the creation of illegal workshops that could escape the
Spanish fiscal system. Most of the workers were trained in guilds according to their social
and racial origin: Spaniards and mestizos5 being the owners or masters of the workshops,
and the indigenous the artisans. Most of these workers were illiterate, poor and ill paid,
and worked under precarious conditions. They had very few or no legal rights and lacked
trade unions (Carrera: 1954: 163-168; Novelo, 1996: 105-106 and Péres, 1996; Trujillo,
1997: 331-332).
In spite of the disappearance of guilds after the end of the Spanish Colony in 1814
and due to a decree (Carrera, 1954: 276), their socio-economic importance seriously
competed with the efforts to industrialise the economy during the mid and late 19th
century. Although the economic role of both industry and the artisanal urban sectors was
vital for the country, their impact in terms of social mobility and on the standard of living
was negative. Novelo (1996: 106) posits that although workers received a regular wage,
they were poor and wore rags. This was the situation in most factories and urban
workshops in late 19th and early 20th century Mexico.
5
A term born during the Spanish Colony in Mexico to refer to the population of Spanish-Indigenous origin.
This sector occupied the second position in the social and racial hierarchy of the Spanish regime and
therefore was entitled to privileges that Indigenous, blacks and other social groups were not. See Cook,
Sherburne and Borah Woodrow (1980) Ensayos sobre Historia de la Población. México y el Caribe,
España: Siglo XXI, 1, 2 & 3 for further references.
53
Both industry and urban workshops employed a predominantly masculine
workforce even in activities regarded as feminine. Yet women had an important role in
the manufacturing of goods at both the workshop and in small factories (Carrera, 1954:
73-78; Novelo, 1996: 108). This tendency to favour male workers over women influenced
the perception that the several forms of artisanal production that took place at home were
male-driven. This is perhaps one of the first gender-driven effects of capitalism on work
segregation where men were associated with productive and lucrative work and women
with supportive and menial tasks. However, women did work at the artisan workshops,
above all in small and medium-sized urban and rural workshops run by families. In these
spaces, women’s work was invisible and unpaid since it was considered part of their
duties as partners, daughters and/or mothers. This underlines the role of artisanal
production for artisan households as well as its importance as an informal activity that fed
thousands of poor families.
By the early 20th century, Mexico entered a more acute stage of modernisation
that led to the enlargement of the industrial, transport and urban infrastructures of the
most important cities. New roads significantly cut down production costs and facilitated
the entrance of capitalist production through the creation of an ‘exchange value’ market,
as Braudel (1986: 23) calls it. Products began to circulate beyond local and regional
markets, thus affecting the artisanal production of urban workshops, which faced
competition from the slightly cheaper industrial production. Capitalism severely disrupted
the social order, as Harvey (1990: 232) states, in its effort to
‘create [a] world market, to reduce spatial barriers, and to

annihilate space through time…The incentive [was] to rationalize
spatial organization into efficient configurations of the detailed
division of labour, factory systems, and assembly line, territorial
division of labour, and agglomeration in large towns, circulation
networks (transport and communications systems), and
54
consumption (household and domestic layout, community

organization and residential differentiation, collective
consumption in cities)’.
Growing transport infrastructures accelerated the circulation and consumption of
industrial goods beyond local and regional markets to such an extent that artisanal
production could no longer compete with them. Nevertheless, many people remained
attached to handicrafts for cultural and economic reasons. The impact of capitalism and
modernity through industrial and transport growth was slow but definitive and implied the
reconstruction of the concepts of handicrafts, of time, space and identity. Harvey (1990),
by using the concepts ‘time’ and ‘space’ develops his theory on how they combined to
affect the way we live and see the world which together with the entrance of new forms
or organisation – or a modern life – resulted in the shrinking, disappearing or enlarging of
previous material and ideological borders (Harvey, 1990: 205). His discussion is
extremely useful to illustrate how modernity and capitalism took place in this region of
Jalisco and Mexico and their effects on everyday life.
2 The changing patterns of handicraft consumption: 1880-1910
The state of Jalisco was part of one of the stronger regional economies of the late 19th
and early 20th centuries. Guadalajara, the capital of the state, experienced rapid urban
growth during this period based on small and medium size enterprises and farms,
commerce and handicraft production. The self-sufficiency of Jalisco continued until the
early 20th century due to its geographical inaccessibility and the precariousness of its
roads. This preserved the economic relevance of artisanal production for the economies of
55
the counties of Tlaquepaque, Tonalá, Zapopan and Teocaltiche, among others, and even
Guadalajara City, as Roberts (1995: 48) states:
‘In Guadalajara [City] the urban growth of the nineteenth century and
early twentieth centuries was based on small and medium enterprises
and a dispersed structure of ownership. Although the region of
Guadalajara did not contain large landholdings, it was also an
important area of small and medium farms, of commerce and of craft
production. Guadalajara was also the fastest growing Mexican city in
the last half of the nineteenth century, far exceeding Mexico City
though remaining by 1900 about a third of that of Mexico City which
was 345,000’.
Artisanal production was the mainstay of Tlaquepaque County – a neighbouring
town of Guadalajara City as the map below shows. This sector employed the largest
economically active population engaged in the production of several types of handicrafts
made of different materials, principally clay.
Map 2. Location of Guadalajara City and Tlaquepaque County

56
In 1900, Tlaquepaque County had 10,415 inhabitants (Censo, 1905: 20) of which
almost 70 per cent lived in Tlaquepaque village, the largest town in the county. Nearly
4,500 Tlaquepaltecans engaged in artisanal production out of which 4,185 worked with
clay producing different types of merchandise. The remaining artisans were engaged in
the manufacturing of other basic goods. Most artisan families had mixed economies
composed of personal and family activities, self-consumption agriculture and small-scale
trade. Trade and agriculture were the other two mainstays of the local economy.
Table 2. Main economic activities in Tlaquepaque: 1900
Trades Number
Brickmakers 36
Bricklayers 68
Traders 238
Artisans (ornamental and nativity scenes) 854
Potters (domestic crockery) 3,313
Peasants 94
Farmers 66
Firework makers 3
Dressmakers 16
Blacksmiths 12
Washerwomen 15
Grinders 14
Bakers 19
Tailors 7
Candle makers 4
Shoemakers 20
Censo de Población del Estado de Jalisco (1905) México: Imprenta
y Fototipia de la Secretaría de Comercio, pp. 57, 63, 64, 68, 69, 72-
75, 78 and 81.
The table above reflects both the composition of the local economy and the high
ratio dependence on artisanal consumption for economic, cultural and accessibility
reasons. Between 1892 and 1903 in Tlaquepaque village, as Álvarez (1979: 87-95) found,
some trades emerged and others expanded as the table below shows. My own evidence
57
also points out that the number of potters engaged in crockery production and clay
nativity scenes increased. It is not difficult to conclude that this was caused by the growth
of nearby urban markets and rural villages. These changes affected artisanal production
since most of this population demanded artisanal products that matched their tastes and
habits. The new artisans also engaged in the production of basic utilitarian items that were
slightly more decorated for more affluent markets.
2.1 Changing patterns of handicraft production: 1880-1910
Evidence on the role of families in artisanal production all over Mexico is convincing.
Families have been the most important cells of production from the pre-Hispanic to the
modern period6 and, until recently, artisanal production had been the most important
economic activity for them for decades.
The first generation of the Labrador and the Lucano lineages earned most of their
living producing bricks and tiles, and domestic crockery respectively. Both lineages
complemented their income with seasonal self-consumption agriculture and small-scale
trade. Their situation reflects not only the composition of their household economy but
also a rather extended economic pattern in rural Mexico, according to the 1900 and 1905
censuses (División Territorial, 1905)). The two families sold their merchandise in
Tlaquepaque town centre, at nearby fairs and modest open markets. Most of the
production met the household and the construction needs of local families and markets
that were predominantly rural, illiterate and self-sufficient.
Although the empirical evidence on these two generations is limited, posing
important methodological and epistemological constraints, my speculation is that they

6
The work of Victoria Novelo (1996, comp., Artesanos, Artesanías y Arte Popular de México. Una Historia
Ilustrada, Mexico: Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes, Agualarga, Dirección General de Culturas
Populares, Universidad de Colima and Instituto Nacional Indigenista) is a fine and rich example of the role
that artisanal production has had through past and present history and the role of families within it.
58
produced the type of merchandise the informants remembered. The socio-economic and
cultural conditions of Jalisco State and Tlaquepaque County during this period were
relatively stable, as I discussed above. There was an incipient and precarious industry but
strong agricultural, commercial and artisanal activity, as the work of Muriá (1996: 264
and 337-344) states. The traditional-driven economy, despite the urban growth of the
larger cities, continued to stimulate the economy and to play its part in the push to
improve transport despite the severe socio-economic disruption caused by the armed
movement of the Mexican Revolution in 1910.7
In Tlaquepaque County in particular, between 1895 and 1905, most artisans
produced utilitarian handicrafts, as the evidence from Álvarez (1979: 87 and 95)
observes. Table 3 provides the details of types of materials and years of birth of the new
handicrafts.
Table 3. Trades born in Tlaquepaque from 1880 to 1910
Year of birth Material

1892 Wood
1903 Blown glass
Álvarez, J. (1979) San Pedro Tlaquepaque, Mexico:
Enciclopedia de México, pp. 87 and 95.
New handicrafts were predominantly utilitarian and widely consumed by the
regional rural population, above all the poor, who were historically attached to them for
their use and low cost. Under this scenario, the patterns of consumption and production of
this region remained unaltered despite slight but steady industrial and urban growth.
7
The Mexican Revolution in 1917 was headed by liberal leaders from different regions that sought to give
back the land, at least in theory, to the peasantry and indigenous people. The movement used indigenous
and peasant values as an ideological banner to appeal to these sectors of the population and gain strength
and support throughout the country.
59
The Labradors and the Lucanos used simple painting to decorate the merchandise,
basic drawing such as lines or small flowers, and made their own paint with plants, soil
and vegetables that they obtained from nearby fields. The clay and the sand were dug
from local mines located in the suburbs and transported by horses and donkeys. Both
families also made their own working tools. Paintbrushes were made out of pieces of
wood and human hair, kilns were built with bricks that they made or bought from
neighbours and fired with wood and dry leaves collected from the fields. Families made
the most of the collecting of firewood and dry leaves and spent the day out with relatives,
friends and neighbours at a barbecue.
From 1910 to 1940, the regional economies of the country weakened in the face of
industrial expansion causing rural migration, urban growth and the rise of salaried and
entrepreneurial classes. Parallel to this was the birth of institutions, the tourist sector and
important shifts in agricultural production. These events modified the role of artisanal
production within the national economy and the artisan families.
From the 1920s onwards, the Mexican government created institutions to provide
the socio-economic stability the country needed to grow. The task, although titanic, was
achieved through a centralist system and commercial agriculture that positively affected
the economy. Roberts (1995: 114) states that
‘the state in underdeveloped countries invests a major part of its

funds directly in economic enterprises […] These range from works
of economic infrastructure such as electricity, gas, water, roads and
other communications such as telephones to direct investment in
basic industries such as mining, oil and steel. This investment may
diversify to include shares in petrochemical and even durable
consumer good industries’.
60
The new industrial and service sectors were low skilled and the workers came
from remote and underdeveloped rural regions. However, neither the industry nor the
service sectors were highly specialised. The country needed this workforce and this led to
a strong interdependence between rural and urban centres. Migration created new
identities, customs and practices that affected cultural, political and economic policies.
Roberts (1995: 88) sustains that the areas from which the city drew its population were
fundamental in the construction of an urban identity:
‘the manner in which migrants cope with urban life is affected by the
resources they bring to the cities – the education skills, the financial
and material capital or social capital of a network of friends and kin
provide lodgings or information about jobs’.
The industrial growth of Guadalajara City and Tlaquepaque County began in the
late 1930s. Industries focused on the production of basic goods such as shoes, soap,
clothes, cigarettes, crockery, glass and processed food (Arias, 1983: 8-9 and Muriá,
1996: 407). This production competed with artisanal merchandise since it was cheaper,
stronger and widely available. Although most factories were small and medium sized,
industry in Jalisco occupied fifth place at a national level until the early decades of the
20th century. Yet, the importance of commercial agriculture and handicraft production
remained for both cultural and economic reasons.
Industrial expansion encouraged urban growth and the emergence of a new working and
bureaucratic middle class. Still, industry had a deeper effect on the population of the
Tlaquepaque County as Table 4 shows. Its population doubled in a span of 30 years

61
despite the social and religious upheaval of the Mexican Revolution and the Cristero War8
that decimated the population in Jalisco.
Table 4. Demographic growth in Jalisco State and Tlaquepaque County: 1910-1940.
Decade Jalisco State Tlaquepaque County

1910 1,208,855 10,948
1921 1,191,957 11,742
1930 1,255,346 14,847
1940 1,418,310 20,762
Quinto Censo de Población de 1930. Estado de Jalisco (1930) Mexico: Secretaría de
la Economía Nacional/Dirección General de Estadística, 12, 13, 17; VIII Censo
General de Población 1960. Estado de Jalisco (1963) Mexico: Secretaria de Industria
y Comercio/Dirección General de Estadística, 22.
These social groups had more free time and a higher purchasing power, thus
demanding leisure and recreational infrastructures. The state foresaw the importance of
these emerging social sectors and created the Department of Tourism in 1930 (Urzúa and
Hernández, 1988: 1005) in order to reactivate the economy of areas with tourist potential.
Jalisco created its own department of tourism in 1931, and in 1934 headed a pilot
programme promoting its beaches, mountains and historical landmarks. The programme
also considered Tlaquepaque County (Urzúa and Hernández, 1988: 1010) and promoted
Tlaquepaque City9 as a cradle of potters, a historical landmark and a location with
Colonial architecture. The Department of Tourism of Jalisco signed agreements with
owners of private accommodation to provide (Memoria, 1983: 63):

8
The Cristero War developed from 1926-1929 in different regions of the country, the Pacific Coast and
Central Mexico being amongst the most affected. The State sought to diminish the power and control of the
Church in the economic and political arenas. The Church rejected such an initiative and called Catholics to
rise and fight against the State in an effort to preserve its power. See Meyer, Jean (1994) La Cristiada, vols.
1, 2 & 3, Mexico: Siglo XXI for further references.
9
Tlaquepaque acquired the category of city in 1927 (Álvarez, J., 1979, San Pedro Tlaquepaque, Mexico:
Enciclopedia de Mexico, 27).
62
‘In every hotel room or tourist development financed by

FONATUR10 facilities exclusively devoted to the direct sale of
artisanal products to the customers. Such sales besides generating
surplus, allow artisans to keep producing the demanded handicrafts’.
The interventionist role of the state to benefit artisanal production was crucial for
its survival during this period, not only in the promotion of handicrafts as icons of
Mexicanity. This was a result of the nationalist wave that emerged during the Mexican
Revolution and which eventually led to the incursion of these groups into the public
agenda. The State pursued a second goal through this promotion, which was to create a
single national identity for a racially and socially heterogeneous country (Bonfil Batalla,
1995: 16, Péres, 1994: 113 and 2000: 37, Monsiváis, 2000: 962, and Meyer, 2002).11 This
led to the exhibition and the consumption of handicrafts beyond regional and national
markets.
The state also foresaw the economic and cultural potential of artisanal production
and created several institutions for the study of the practices and values of the peasantry
and the indigenous people. This resulted in the creation of the National Indigenous
Institute, the Museum of Popular Culture and the National School of Anthropology and
History, which were among the most important. These institutions all supported, studied
and protected artisans and handicrafts that were considered traditional besides providing
technical and commercial training. The work of Murillo (1923), Cervantes (1939), Castro
(1940), Covarrubias (1940) and Novelo (1996) suggests that indigenous artisans and
traditional handicrafts were also a priority for the emerging academic profession.
The State’s intensive promotion of handicrafts between 1910 and 1940 affected the long-
preserved patterns of consumption and production. Despite the lack of figures to show
10
National Fund for Tourism.
11
Reforma Newspaper, March 07 2002. This newspaper is one of the most prestigious and is quoted by
Mexican and Latin American academia.
63
how the consumption of handicrafts increased from 1910 to 1940, its growth was
stimulated by the emergence of domestic tourism as well as the presence of new social
classes such as the white and blue-collar sectors. The consumption of handicrafts allowed
this population to confirm both their identity and status. Thus, although industrial
production threatened some types of handicrafts, the increasing demand encouraged the
birth of new ones and the adaptation of the already existing production.
3.1 The changing patterns of handicraft production: 1910-1940
The abrupt socio-economic and cultural changes that took place during the 1910-1940
period affected the production of handicrafts, their meanings and uses, the materials used
by artisans and the division of work within family workshops.
My informants, both women and men, had fresher memories of the stories of the
second generation of both lineages. This can be seen in the amount and detail of the
experiences they recalled during the interviews where an important gender difference
emerged as they constructed their narratives. Men were less prone than women to recall
trifling details from ordinary family life; although their narratives ran more easily than
when they recalled events from the first generation. However, this apparent lack of
memory is more related, in my opinion, to the role they play in the family and to their
values of masculinity. In everyday life, men spend most of the day outside the home
either working to support the family or trying to spend their time in whatever activity that,
for them, was attached to the role they played. This leads them to delegate more trifling
domestic and family life information such as the names and birthdays of close relatives,
marriages, special dates, etc. to their partners whilst they deal with issues that they
consider more important. Yow (1994: 133), Bertaux (1996: 4) and the work edited by
64
Pathai (1991), confirm the greater involvement of women with the domestic issues of
daily life in contemporary urban societies.
According to the recollections of the Labrador and the Lucano informants, the
second generation of each lineage designed new handicrafts to cope with the changing
demands of their markets. The Labradors complemented their production of bricks, tiles
and crockery with new designs of clay faces and fruit-shaped moneyboxes since the
demand for utilitarian merchandise was dropping steadily.
‘He [my father] had to design new types of tiles ‘cause in my dad’s
workshop we just made models of tiles and flowerpots; there were
also some times when we made mugs; when we made plates and
mugs that people wanted. We also made some little faces. My dad
made up that design, it was his idea; he designed those little faces
and sometimes I happened to see them, I happened to see some
frameworks with those little faces. However, the design of those
faces was my dad’s idea’.12
The Lucanos complemented their production of domestic crockery with petatillo
crockery; a far more elaborated and decorated merchandise. Photograph 1 shows a vase
decorated with this technique dating from c. 1970. It reflects advancements in style
created by Balbino Lucano, and the artisans from the second generation of this lineage
who created this technique. The image helps to envisage the character of the change.
12
65
Photograph 1. Petatillo vessel. December 1999.
Ana J Cuevas personal collection
Both families continued working with clay but complemented their production
with ornamental merchandise. This reflects the changes in people’s identity and habits
caused by a steadily growing level of urbanisation and industrialisation that led to the
emergence of new social classes and therefore to new habits of consumption. Before the
expansion of capitalism and modernity, artisans were forced to adapt and to participate, in
a marginal way, in the new socio-economic order. They managed to succeed because of
their skills, flexibility and knowledge of the trade and markets. The changes each
generation of both lineages made are given in Table 5.

66
Table 5. Changes made by the second generation of the Labradors and the Lucanos
Generation Labrador Lucano

First generation Bricks, tiles and crockery Domestic crockery
Second generation Bricks, tiles, crockery, clay Domestic crockery and

faces and fruit-shaped petatillo crockery.
money boxes.
The shift towards the ornamental affected not only the aesthetics but also the use
and meanings of handicrafts. The new social sectors were experiencing social mobility
through education and a higher purchasing power. This replaced the consumption and
production of utilitarian objects by ornamental handicrafts. New markets demanded
merchandise that reflected not only their class and position but also their tastes and ideas
about Mexico. This led to the allocation of new uses to plates, vases or mugs as
decorative elements rather than domestic tools in the homes of the consumers. This
increasing demand for handicrafts assured the survival of artisanal production under a
growing capitalism and modernity.
Artisans were willing to adapt themselves to the demands of the market since
money rather than aesthetics was the priority. Aesthetic adaptation was largely what
assured the survival of this activity. However, the pressure to adapt the merchandise and
to produce new designs posed problems for the artisans. They were skilled enough to
cope with the demands but changes conveyed temporary technical difficulties because of
the size of the pieces, as Santos states:
‘They mixed clay with glaze and they knew one side of the piece
was going to be softer than the other. After they refined their
technique, everything worked out smoothly [...] then the point was to
know how to mix the right amounts of clay and glaze and it was
67
done. Once you got to know the right mixing it was a matter of
getting the raw materials you needed’.13
Besides the technical difficulties, artisans also invested more time and money. The
design took one week and the production of the mould another week. The real point of the
discussion of the change was to ponder the adequacy and acceptance of the design in the
market. A non-fashionable model could imply a loss of time, money and raw material and
compromise their economic stability.
The demand for handicrafts also led to the emergence of new trades. Álvarez
(1979: 70, 75, 82, 89 and 99) found out that most of the new artisans of Tlaquepaque
were from nearby towns and villages and used semi-industrial and industrial materials
such as leather, kaolin, gunpowder, tin and plaster. These materials were used to produce
predominantly ornamental and religious handicrafts. The trades that emerged during the
1910-1940 period are given in Table 6.
Year of birth Materials used

1930 Leather
1936 Kaolin
1940 Gunpowder, tin and plaster
Enciclopedia de México, pp. 70, 75, 82, 89 & 99.
Urban and industrial growth had two immediate effects on artisanal production.
On the one hand it caused the steady disappearance of the use of basic raw materials such
13
Interview 16, Santos Lucano and Martha Ramírez, third generation of the Labrador lineage. January
2000.
68
as clay, sand, dry leaves, firewood and the natural ingredients used in the manufacture of
paint. On the other, it modified the prevailing division of work at the workshop benefiting
mainly the men who, from the late 1930 onwards, no longer had to dig for clay and sand
from nearby mines as suppliers started to deliver the material by truck.
From 1940 to 1970, capital-intensive industrialisation took place in some regions of
Mexico through domestic and foreign investment that narrowed the interdependent
pattern of industrialisation-urbanisation and of rural and urban areas. The concentration of
industrial infrastructure in the regions with the most efficient transport network was
supported by the State, even when new decrees and economic policies were designed to
develop other areas. This, in turn, encouraged not only the migration of the most qualified
populations to these centres but also indirectly strengthened the dependence of the rural
areas on the urban ones by concentrating the better job opportunities and all types of
services in the urban areas. This also explains why the bureaucratic and the service
sectors rather than the agricultural sector – on which the economy of the country at this
period was ironically sustained – consolidated themselves as the largest employer in the
country. Likewise, during this period, the rural migration phenomenon and the increasing
levels of poverty combined to different extents to protect artisanal production.
Industry continued to grow and become more concentrated in cities with a larger
and more efficient infrastructure, reinforcing their role as centres of economic and
political power. A similar division took place between the working and the
entrepreneurial classes, and the urban and rural areas respectively. The industrial
workforce was divided between those who ran the enterprise and those who worked for it,
between those who controlled the workers and those who produced, between those who
69
had a regular income and those who worked part-time. Formal education was the main
difference between the two groups, according to Roberts (1995: 137), which allowed the
middle and entrepreneurial classes to achieve a higher status, salary and, eventually,
social mobility. This phenomenon benefited the consumption of handicrafts since both
sectors demanded handicrafts either for cultural or economic reasons.
The Mexican economy also grew, stimulated by the arrival of foreign capital that
was focused on the production of commodities. During the 1960s, American and Japanese
companies started producing electronics, cars and textiles for both export and the
domestic market. Factories employed cheap, low-skilled and young workforces, which
significantly reduced their costs of production. Factories used high-technology to
counterbalance the low skill levels of the workers and operated a clear work division
scheme – i.e. local workers engaged in the production and received low wages, whilst
managers, executive and managing directors were well paid and came from overseas –
that reflected the universal patterns of work division within multi-national and
international companies in developing countries (Safa, 1992, and Chant and Craske,
2003). The car industry was sustained by a male workforce, whilst the multi-national
assembly plants used a young female workforce. This contrasted with the initial profile of
manufacturing factories that employed a predominantly male working force.
Around the early 1960s, most of the population was consuming industrial products of all
kinds and prices, which caused the disappearance of several types of handicrafts.
However, the fact that handicrafts were handmade granted them a sense of uniqueness
and originality that the former lacked. This secured their consumption in urban markets
despite adverse conditions.
The economy of Jalisco State and Tlaquepaque County experienced a similar
growth, encouraged by the industries that located in the counties of Tlaquepaque, Tonalá,
70
El Salto and Guadalajara. The most important industrial, transport and commercial
infrastructures concentrated in these counties leading eventually to the formation of the
Zona Metropolitana de Guadalajara (Metropolitan Area of Guadalajara, ZMG). This
marked the beginning of an abrupt demographic, urban and social change in the region.
The demands for housing, education, transport, health and basic services increased the
differences between the old and the new parts of ZMG as well as between the rural and
the urban areas. The population of Jalisco grew from 1,418,310 in 1940 to 3,296,586 in
1970. Tlaquepaque underwent a similar although faster growth since its population
increased 6.8 times, from 20,672 in 1940 to 100,945 in 1970.
Table 7. Demographic growth in Jaliso State and Tlaquepaque County: 1940-1970

1940 1,418,310 20,672
1950 1,746,777 33,187
1960 2,443,261 56,199
1970 3,296,586 100,945
VIII Censo General de Población 1960. Estado de Jalisco (1963) Mexico: Secretaria
de Industria y Comercio/Dirección General de Estadística, 2, 3, 22; Cuaderno
Estadístico Municipal de Tlaquepaque 1997 (1997) Mexico: INEGI, 19.
At a county level, from the late 1930s onwards in Tlaquepaque County, private
capital established factory producers of ceramics; liquid enamels; drying liquids; pipes
and connections; aluminium crockery; iron, galvanised and asbestos sheets; glass;
construction materials; lamps; soap; detergent; agricultural fertilisers; chemical industries;
tiles and porcelain; concrete; electronics and plastic (Arias, 1983: 8). The majority were
micro and small size factories with a mechanised rather than a high-technology
production (Zataraín, 1990: 32). Most of the industrial workforce was male and the few
71
women employed occupied administrative and other white-collar positions, which fits
into the broader pattern observed by Escobar (1988: 178) and Roberts (1995: 128-130).
This sector consolidated the position of the middle classes whilst low skilled and poor
women were pushed into the informal sector as domestic servants and in personal
services. Women with higher schooling worked as schoolteachers, skilled secretaries and
administrative assistants (Roberts, 1995: 129). Such changes affected the role of artisanal
production at a family and county level, as mass-produced goods steadily replaced
artisanal ones due to the changing habits of consumption encouraged by urbanisation and
education. Industrial and urban growth also affected the finances of artisan households
that relied on a self-consumption economy since the demand for land forced them to sell
it. For the many artisan families lacking land, they had no choice but to keep producing
handicrafts in the hope that their markets would continue to expand, stimulated by
tourism.
Artisan families that were optimistic about the demand of tourists for handicrafts
were correct. Tourism expanded rapidly allowing them to secure their living since private
capital invested significant resources in tourist facilities and consolidated the largest
commercial infrastructure. The evidence found by my own research shows that private
galleries and souvenir shops in Tlaquepaque City doubled between 1940 and the late
1970s. Businesspeople also created and made extensive use of the term “handicrafts”,
establishing it as a synonym of artisanal production as Novelo (1976: 134) posits.
In 1967, the Jalisco Department of Tourism launched a TV, radio and newspaper
campaign to promote Tlaquepaque County in Mexico and abroad (Urzúa y Hernández,
1988: 373). Even though tourism increased as expected, the economic effects did not
benefit ordinary artisans since private capital steadily controlled the channels of
handicraft commercialisation. Businesspeople guaranteed customers a better quality and

72
larger amounts of merchandise that the ordinary family workshops were limited in their
abilities to fulfil due to their reduced levels of production and a smaller workforce.
Artisans were also unable to deliver large amounts of merchandise at fixed prices for long
periods since they had no control over transport, production and the cost of raw materials.
This forced them to sell their production to local “middle people” in order to keep
producing and to meet basic needs. This reflects the dynamics of the informal sector and
its dependence on commercial capital. Thus, the poverty of the artisans and the demand
for artisanal products assured the survival of this activity in a period where capitalism
brought about severe structural changes.
During the period 1940-1970, the State used artisanal production to diminish rural
migration and to reactivate the economy of poor areas (Novelo, 1976 and 1996 and
Monsiváis, 2000). In the State of Jalisco, the governor of Jalisco, for the period 1968-
1974, stated that (Urzúa and Hernández, 1988: 176-177):
‘Tourism is closely related to artisanal production. This has led us to

keep stimulating and supporting a basic activity for the social classes
with the lowest purchasing power...Furthermore, we have supported
the creation of new designs as well as provided the necessary tools to
speed up the production process and to cut down the prices for the
benefit of all’.
The goal was ambitious and demanded the investment of significant resources on
infrastructure, tools, raw materials and wages. This led to the creation of the National
Indigenist Institute (INI) in 1948; the National Fund for the Development of Handicrafts
in 1961; the Design and Handicraft School at the National Institute for Fine Arts in 1962;
the Jalisco Handicrafts Institute (IAJ) in 1965 and the National Council for Handicrafts in
1970 (Novelo, 1996: 188-201), amongst others.

73
4.1 The changing patterns of handicraft production: 1940-1970
The turmoil caused by industrial and urban growth, migration and economic problems
seriously affected the rhythm of production of the third generation of the Labrador and
the Lucano lineages. According to the informants, they faced continuous pressures from
the market to adapt their skills and production. Yet, the fact that families produced
utilitarian and ornamental merchandise amidst rapid socio-economic changes suggests the
painful transition from a traditional economy to a modern society. Families produced
what allowed them to generate some money since their market was the large low-
purchasing sector that demanded cheap ornamental products through which they sought
to reinforce their social standing.
The Labradors stopped producing bricks, tiles, crockery, clay faces and fruit-
shaped moneyboxes to manufacture nativity scenes and water pipes. Their decision was
vital since both types of merchandise required not only skills but also a market. The
Labradors were able to produce handicrafts since they learned the skills from a relative
for whom they worked. Furthermore, their decision was influenced by the fact that
Tlaquepaque had been well known for the production of clay nativity scenes since the
early 20th century (Urzúa and Hernández, 1988: 1010). Likewise, they also produced
water pipes because they had the skills as former producers of construction materials, and
above all, because they foresaw a market for this product, as this artisan states:
‘We produced a lot of [water] pipes and delivered them to, [to
customers] because it was what Tlaquepaque most needed for the
irrigation of fields. [There were many] orchards nearby such as those
in Cuatitlán; Jalatitlán and San Rafael Park, in all these places there
were lots of orchards. There was a lot of good quality water they
used to irrigate the orchards and the flower fields and all those
74
things. People needed to irrigate the land and they needed pipes to
transport the water from the waterwheel to the fields’.14
The Lucanos gave up the production of domestic crockery and focused on the
production of petatillo crockery. They also started buying unfinished merchandise from
poorer workshops in an effort to offer customers a wider range of ornamental products.
This allowed them to concentrate on similar productions and markets. Table 7
concentrates on the changes each lineage made during the 1940-1970 period.
Table 8. Changes made by the third generation of the Labradors and the Lucanos
Second generation Bricks, tiles, crockery, clay Domestic crockery and petatillo
faces and fruit-shaped money crockery.
boxes.
Third generation Clay pipes and nativity Petatillo crockery and salt and
scenes. pepper sets, fruit bowls, napkins
rings and spice racks.
The market for both lineages was predominantly urban, literate and heavily
oriented towards the aesthetic rather than to the utilitarian side. The willingness of the
artisans to adapt their merchandise to what the market demanded relied on their need to
secure a living. They had no personal views or values regarding the aesthetic changes as
long as they assured their economic stability. Their pragmatism to rise to the challenges
14
Interview 8, Eusebia Labrador, third generation of the Labrador lineage. August 1997.
75
posed by social conditions was more powerful than any attachment to tradition as this
artisan states:
‘I’ve always had the disposition to make changes and I will always
have it. As I say, what really matters is to earn money […] I feel that,
if people want or like my work, I tell them “this is what I do”. I can,
of course, make changes or adapt my work but they can also bring
their own drawings. If it works out, great! If not, then, never mind.
That’s why I tell people “this is your drawing and this is what I did,
all I did was copy it”. That is why I say, if it’s correct or not, I do not
question that, my work is there and I got paid for it and that’s it, isn’t
it? And I imagine some people [artisans] say “no, that’s not my style,
right?”. I’m the kind of person who adapts to the circumstances.’15
This quotation clearly reflects the main stimulus for the aesthetic and technical
changes of artisanal production that apply for most artisans. However, the fact that
artisans were able to produce whatever the customer demanded suggests the embodied
dimension of their skills or their habitus, as Bourdieu (1984) calls it. Their dexterity and
knowledge of the trade is not only a way to make a living but also a way to cope with
their reality. Such skills and practical knowledge are not exclusive to the artisans but can
also be seen as embodied language of the non-artisans members of the family. Both
groups have similar body language with thick and strong hands and fingers and slightly
wider shoulders. Equally interesting to notice is the fact that the non-artisans of the family
also know the trade as they were raised in the same way their siblings were but, in
contrast to them, were freed from this activity by a combination of circumstances.
Habitus thus, is an ‘embodied’ dimension of their practical knowledge visible not only in
these particular families but in almost every artisan region of Mexico and Latin America.
Thus, the limitations artisans face are mostly temporary since their habitus – inherited
15
Interview 16, Santos Lucano and Martha Ramírez, third generation of the Lucano lineage. January 2000.
76
from their ancestors and learned since childhood – makes it possible for them to be open-
minded and skilful in considering the viability of new job proposals:
‘No, it wasn’t difficult at all because we know how to do it, right?

We know how to do it so we do it, with our hands, we [as artisans]
can make those changes. Working with clay allows you to do all you
want. First, you make the design, [then] you get the clay and you
mould it and it’s ready. That’s it!’.16
The increasing levels of poverty, the lack of formal qualifications of individuals,
the increasing importance of tourism for artisanal production, the effective promotion of
artisanal production at a domestic and international level and the growing artisanal
commercial infrastructure encouraged the birth of new trades in Tlaquepaque and all
around Mexico amidst contradictory conditions. The materials used by the new artisans
reflected the markets they targeted and the purchasing power in these markets. The new
handicrafts ranged in cost from a few to several thousand pesos and stressed the
individuality of artisanal products over industrial goods.

1940 Gunpowder, tin and plaster
1950 Textile
1953 Brass and copper
1957 Kaolin
1958 Wrought iron
1959 Plastic
1960 Paper mache
Álvarez, J. (1979) San Pedro Tlaquepaque, México:
Enciclopedia de México, pp. 70, 74, 82, 84, 90 & 94.
16
Interview 17, Beatríz Labrador, third generation of the Labrador lineage. January 2000.
77
The survival of artisanal production and the emergence of new trades in the most
intensive expansion of capitalism in Mexico are owed to several factors. The most
important perhaps is the cultural role that handicrafts have played for their heterogeneous
market at different points in the 20th century. Novelo (1993: 27) observes that:
‘Artisanal products have several roles in the practices and rituals of

subordinate sectors of society, because artisans either produce
cheaper products for less affluent markets or elaborate objects that
industry could not replace. Likewise, in the face of mass produced
objects, the educated sector of society –intellectuals– rediscovered
the value of artisanal work and its originality, despite it being mass-
produced’.
The urban and industrial expansion caused the disappearance of the woods and
fields from which artisans collected materials to prepare paint and to fire the kiln. This
forced them to use industrial paint, chemicals and spray guns to replace the former
materials, as well as to speed up the process and increase the amount of production. All
these changes modified the aesthetic quality and even the sense of the handicraft.
From 1970 to 2000, Mexico’s economy stagnated due to the collapse of commercial
agriculture, several financial crises and economic readjustments. The government also
opened the economy to foreign capital, seeking to reactivate it in order to attract a wider
range of multi-national companies. As a result, the levels of poverty, unemployment and
informal activities rose. Amidst this critical panorama, artisanal production survived,
encouraged by scarcity in the face of the most abrupt capitalist expansion.

78
Commercial agriculture had been the pillar of the Mexican economy until the late
1960s but the indiscriminate exploitation of the land, the lack of public investment in it
and the obsolete technology, gradually destroyed it.
In the early 1970s, multi-national enterprises arrived in the country and
reactivated the economy but also caused the disappearance of the domestic industries that
lacked the capital and technology to compete. These multinationals employed the
abundant and cheap workforce of the cities for the production of, for example, electronic
components, textiles and processed food. They paid better wages to the workers, although
the workers’ standard of living did not improve since their purchasing power dropped as a
result of the economic readjustments. Roberts (1995: 155) estimates that, based on
Lustig’s analysis (1992), the social cost of these shifts in 1980s Mexico were as follows:
‘The real wages per worker fell between 40 and 50 per cent. In this
period, income concentration at the top 10 per cent of the population
appears to have increased, while the share of the lowest 40 per cent
declined as did that of the intermediate 50 per cent’. The situation
worsened in the early 1980s after Mexico faced an acute economic
crisis that led to the flight of capital, higher levels of unemployment
and increasing levels of poverty’.
In the mid 1980s, Mexico asked commercial banks and international development
organisations for financial help. The goal, at least initially, was to reactivate the economy
of marginal areas, but most financing concentrated on the richer industrial regions and
wider regional markets (Arias, 1983: 21, Durán and Partida, 1990: 86 and Zataraín 1990:
13). However, this did not lead to an improvement in the economy because of the
mismanagement and excessive bureaucracy that forced the State to make further financial
readjustments that erupted in two subsequent crises in the late 1980s and the mid 1990s.
79
The problem worsened after public institutions declared themselves unable to pay
their loans, which seriously affected the bureaucratic and middle classes. Women in the
formal and informal sectors suffered the most since additional burdens of work fell on
their shoulders after their partners’ and parents’ income shrank. Roberts elaborates on this
(1995: 129):
‘Economic recession in the 1980s led in Mexico to the mobilization

of a potential supply of labour mainly made up by adult women (35-
49 years) of lower levels of education, married and with young
children. In contrast, young, single women (20-34), with middling or
high levels of education showed an apparently constant participation
in the labour market. This contrast is likely to have been produced by
the contraction in the non-manual employment opportunities and the
increase in informal employment’.
The informal sector expanded as fast as the formal sector, as Oliveira (1989: 51),
Rees and Murphy (1990: 151) and Selby et al (1990: 83-84) observed. According to them,
individuals linked to the informal sector coped much better with economic readjustments
than those linked to the latter since the drop in purchasing power was compensated by
drawing on monetary activities. Moreover, artisanal production was among the activities
to which the rural and urban poor and low skilled turned. Even though there are no
official figures to support my argument, some authors and institutions (Papousk, 1989: 58
and Problemas, 1997: 57) insist that in the late 1980s there were nearly six million
artisans in Mexico. However, regardless of the actual figures, the fact is that artisanal
production survived in the most acute expansion of capitalism and modernity.
The several economic crises and readjustments caused an intensive demographic
change in Jalisco and Tlaquepaque County. From the mid 1980 onwards, Jalisco
registered a negative demographic growth caused by migration to the USA, and the states
80
of Nayarit and Baja California (CONAPO, 1996: 9). Most migrants were individuals with
high-school qualifications and professional degrees.
The period 1970-2000 was fundamental for the survival of artisanal production,
which through tourism, received a vital impulse. In 1996, Mexico became the seventh
most visited world destination, attracting 21.4 million international tourists (Problemas,
1997: 66). That same year, tourism became the third most important economic activity for
the country.
The population of Tlaquepaque County grew more rapidly and steadily than that
of the state of Jalisco in absolute and relative terms from 1980 to 1990, the decades of the
economic crises and readjustments. This was due to its expanding tourism, industry, trade
and artisanal production. In 1980, (X Censo, 1980: 249) industry employed 20,766
individuals out of 177,324 (X Censo, 1980: 249). In 1990, the figure rose to 86,950 out of
339,649 workers (Cuaderno Estadístico, 1997: 63). In the latter decade, it employed 7.80
per cent of the workforce employed in the industrial sector in the state (Prontuario, 2001:
8). From 1990 to 2000, the speed of the growth of the population slightly dropped as
industry reached its peak point, as shown in the table below.
Table 10. Demographic growth in Jalisco State and Tlaquepaque County: 1980-2000
1980 4,371,998 177,324
1990 5,302,689 339,649
2000 6,321,278 475,472
Cuaderno Estadístico Municipal. Tlaquepaque (1997) Mexico: INEGI, 19; XII Censo
de Población y Vivienda. Resultados Preliminares. Jalisco (2000) Mexico: INEGI,
139.
81
Industry in Jalisco was characterised, since the early 20th century, by the strong
presence of small and medium size factories that engaged in the production of basic
goods and commodities (Zataraín, 1990: 17; Zamora and Padilla, 1998: 279 and Muriá,
1996: 375). The pattern persisted until the end of the 20th century. According to the
Secretary of Promotion and Economic Development (SEPROE) (Jalisco 2001: 10) in
1994, 88.7 per cent of the manufacturing industries were micro factories that employed
up to fifteen people. Micro industry employed 25.5 per cent of the personnel of the
manufacturing sector in Jalisco, whilst small, medium and large industries employed 27,
16.5 and 30.9 per cent respectively.
In Jalisco in particular, the tourist sector created thousands of jobs as well as a
solid and extensive transport, commercial and recreational infrastructure that included the
construction of two tourist ports for international and upper class domestic tourism.
Tlaquepaque County occupied third place in this picture as the most visited destination in
Jalisco from the early 1970s onwards. In 1997, 2,338,350 national and international
tourists visited Tlaquepaque City generating 37.53 per cent of the surplus of the artisan
sector (Rosas, 1997: 117), thus affecting the commercial, recreational, artisanal and
physical infrastructure of the city.
Despite the fact that tourism demanded larger amounts of handicrafts, the income
and the standard of living of the artisan families did not improve since it was private
capital that controlled most of the local commercial infrastructure and, therefore, the
profits. By doing so, they also regulated aesthetic changes and new patterns of
consumption dealing with demand of the customers’. The few artisans who managed to
sell their merchandise directly to the customers also adapted their production to their
customers’ needs to secure the sale.

82
The State reduced its interventionist role in artisanal production from the mid
1970s onwards leaving the promotion and commercialisation of artisanal products in the
hands of private capital. This represented both a threat and a solution for modest artisans
since they could not reach the tourists directly despite the expansion of this sector.
The Secretary of Labour estimated that in Jalisco, in the early 1990s, there were
nearly 16,000 micro family enterprises working without a fiscal licence (Zataraín, 1990:
10). An estimation made in 2000 by SEFOME17 observed that 10 per cent of the
population of Tlaquepaque County was engaged in the production and commercialisation
of handicrafts. This is the equivalent of saying that nearly 50,000 people produced or sold
artisanal work in a formal or informal way. Figures show that despite the fact that the
artisan sector faced competition from the industrial and commercial sectors, it survived
throughout the 20th century thanks to interstices that were opened to it by the changing
and failing economic policies .
5.1 The changing patterns of handicraft consumption: 1970-2000
The fourth generation of the Labradors and Lucanos struggled to earn most of their living
through artisanal production due to the changing socio-economic conditions. Both
lineages faced acute economic crises that led them to complement their living with
cheaper and fashionable handicrafts or with temporary formal and informal waged
activities.
The Labradors stopped producing water pipes in the late 1960s given that
industrial pipes were more resistant and lighter. They complemented their income with
waged activities, such as teaching dressmaking and painting handicrafts and shifted to the
17
Interview 32A, José Simón Sánches Aldana, Director-General of the Secretary of Economic Promotion at
Tlaquepaque. January 2001.
83
production of clay nativity scenes. Even though this production faced strong competition
from exported nativity scenes of different sizes, colours and materials, artisans succeeded
since they had the skills and the customers to secure their sales. Most consumers of
artisanal products were urban and literate individuals for whom this merchandise
contained a touch of originality and uniqueness that mass-produced ones lacked.
Nevertheless, the competitiveness forced artisans to readapt their merchandise, as this
artisan notes:
‘We used the same mould but we adapt it for them [customers] to be
able to get the design they want. In some other cases, we make new
moulds and use colours customers asked for. We use the same raw
material now just as we did many years ago. Sometimes we go back
to the old moulds our parents made and change some details or use
more colourful or pale shades and things like that’.18
The Lucanos stopped producing petatillo domestic crockery and focused on the
production of petatillo plates from 1985 onwards. The goal was to make cheaper and
more attractive merchandise by modifying the sizes and colours. This posed technical
problems since the same materials, colours and drawings when applied to larger pieces
behaved differently than in traditional crockery, as this artisan states:
‘We have most of the problems with the glaze, it represents a bit of
loss. Some [artisans] advise me to produce merchandise without
drawings, right? Nevertheless, you can’t tell this is the way it’s going
to be or the way it’s going to look because when using different
colours and making larger pieces you don’t know whether the weft is
going to be ok or not. I have to make some pieces first to know, to
find out if the piece is going to be ok and I can say that so far so
good’.19
18
Interview 18, Beatríz Labrador, fourth generation of the Labrador lineage. January 2004.
19
Interview 16, Santos Lucano Neri, third generation of the Lucano lineage. January 2000.
84
In 1990, the Lucanos learned the rusty-clay technique to complement petatillo
sales that had decreased continuously due to the economic crisis and the increasing
poverty and unemployment that hit most of the middle class, their main market. These
contractions tallied with the time when the Lucano’s children – in short the third
generation – were infants and of school age, which added extra pressure on the family.
Rusty-clay handicrafts was cheaper and easier than petatillo, as this young artisan states:
‘The rusty-clay merchandise is new, is as people say, new because

some years ago my family didn’t produce this; we have been
engaged in this for six or more years and it is a very simple
technique. From the time we started up until now, there have been
changes. At first painting was much, more detailed but now the
colours are different. The paint is different [more liquid]… we used
to put more dots. Now the drawings are larger and the colour of the
sand we use is different, is more yellowish, it’s thinner…so we can
handle it better.’20
Changes in production posed a challenge for the younger members of the family
who had the skills but lacked the experience to carry on complex modifications on their
own, particularly where petatillo was concerned.
‘The difficulty depends on the type of merchandise and that is for all
types of merchandise. For example, firing round designs with
petatillo is very difficult because petatillo has many lines and it is
very delicate. Then, some times the lines got distorted when we
make round designs because we just don’t manage to make the lines
to look as they suppose to be. It’s a difficult job’.21
20
Interview 19, Montserrat Lucano, fourth generation of the Lucano lineage. January 2004.
21
Interview 19, Belén Ramírez, fourth generation of the Lucano lineage. January 2004.
85
Pragmatism was a constant in both lineages and was encouraged to ensure the
very survival of the families and of artisanal production in the face of external socio-
economic changes and industrial and artisanal competition. However, it was not only
artisan lineages that showed such flexibility. My ethnographic evidence suggests that new
producers had a similar disposition. What stands out in this situation is the cohabitation
and even emergence of new trades and types of artisanal production amidst the most acute
stage of capital-intensive production. Table 11 reflects a bit further on this and on the new
materials used by artisans to produce all types of handicrafts.

1977 Wicker
1978 Aluminium
Enciclopedia de México, pp. 70, 87 & 89.
Between 1970 and 2000 the tendency to replace homemade and artisanal tools
with industrial products continued, affecting both the aesthetic and the quality of the
merchandise. In the early 1980s, local clay mines disappeared in the face of urban and
industrial expansion, forcing suppliers to import clay from neighbouring states. Neither
the artisans, nor the public and private institutions in charge of promoting handicrafts,
have worked to protect the natural resources essential to this activity. This facilitated the
aesthetic changes and impoverished the quality of the merchandise due to macro
economic events that could endanger artisanal production and therefore, the stability of
thousands of individuals. Such a situation is reflected in the table below which illustrates
the need of the producers to adapt to the aesthetic and technical changes.
86
Table 12. Changes made by the third generation of the Labradors and the Lucanos
Third generation Clay pipes and nativity Petatillo crockery and salt and
scenes. pepper sets, fruit bowls, napkin
rings and spice racks.
Fourth generation Clay nativity scenes Petatillo crockery, particularly
decorative plates and fruit bowls.
6 The family, the household and the workshop: an analytical framework
The concepts of the family, the household and the workshop are important an
understanding of artisanal production. In the face of poverty, blood ties are strengthened
and kinship becomes a vital factor in the continuation of artisanal production. This is so
since workshops tend to be worked exclusively by family members and are located at the
household. Such complexity suggests the pertinence of looking at the relationships and
permutations, particularly those of the family and the workshop as this research focuses
mainly on households.
My own work and that of Selby et al (1990) and the Encuesta Nacional de
Ingresos y Gastos de los Hogares (ENIGH),22 found that Mexican families were
exclusively based on blood links. Although evidence from around the world shows this to
be universal in its patterning (Parson, 1959: 242; Rapoport, 1988: 53 and Harris (1983:
41), recent work in Europe suggests the increasing presence of non-consanguineous
families such as gay couples with adopted children, for example (see Rapoport, 1998).
What stands out in the Mexican case is its resilience to integrate non-consanguineously
related individuals to either the family, the household or the workshop. This is due largely
22
National Survey for Income and Housing Expenditure.
87
to the role of kinship in the struggle of individuals against poverty. According to Bertaux-
Wiame (1993: 40), the relevance of kinship increases in contexts of low schooling and
marginality and suggests the reasons for the cohesion of these groups:
‘The essential role of family solidarity among less educated social

groups is as a safeguard against social and economic
marginalization. Lacking formal credentials and skills, the family
offers them an essential protection against the consequences of
illness, accident, unemployment, and other risks to which they are
continuously exposed’.
Artisan families tend to form households with an identical form as this enhances
their chances of reproduction and survival. In a similar way, artisan households are not
only supported by the artisans but also by the material, economic and emotional support
provided by the non-artisans and the better-off relatives who live in their own domestic
units. At the households, artisan and non-artisan have specific roles regardless of their sex
and age, a pattern that becomes strained when the poverty is acute. During these periods,
most if not all the members of the family assume more flexible roles – particularly
women– in order to fulfil the domestic and financial needs of the household. Broadly
speaking, it is the parents who provide the moral and economic support needed by their
offspring. The artisan fathers tend to focus on the production of handicrafts on a full time
basis seeking to optimise their skills and productivity. The adult artisan women, on the
other hand, play several roles – such as domestic carers, artisans and mothers – whilst the
adult children help with either the manufacturing of handicrafts or supporting the
domestic unit through their waged jobs. The young children also contribute by carrying
on menial work and running errands for both the household and the workshop. In some
families, young children are who carry out with the burden of work if there are not elder
88
siblings at hand. The married children who live in different households or cities give
basic emotional and monetary support and play a vital role in the well-being of the
kinship ties. Close relatives sometimes lend or give houses, cars or material goods to help
their relatives. This shows that the value of kinship in artisan contexts is vital for the
survival of families and, therefore, for artisanal production.
Most families tend to structure themselves under the traditional model – parents
and their children – influenced by the State, the Church and several other institutions. The
result is the formation of identical forms of households. Artisan families do not escape
from this fact as they also structure and operate according to this model, that is, around a
male breadwinner who – at least in theory – supports his partner and offspring with his
family wage. In this picture, children are obedient and their interests are supposed to be
represented by the father, whilst mothers are supposed to give up their goals to care for
their husbands and children. The model presupposes that women and children will do this
in exchange for social and economic protection.
However, external and internal events hinder the formation of this type of family
and household. In real life, the interests of the father as breadwinner are simply not those
of the family. Children can have different goals and interests from those of their families
and parents; they often resent having to work to support their siblings and parents and
sometimes regret their marriages, their careers or the limited chances that their lives offer
them. Some of them suggest that they make decisions in order to escape the burden of
work whilst others say they are very happy with their lives. Women often struggle to
balance the contradiction between the traditional family model and their own lives.
Narratives show they soften their painful experiences by using pronouns such as ‘we’ and
‘us’ in order to construct a better life story I an effort to counterbalance the loneliness and
contradictions of the lives they lived trapped in. Fathers, when willing to talk, prefer an
89
impersonal and sometimes fragmented narrative that reflects the pressure under which
they have to live.
In real life, there is no male breadwinner but rather a family breadwinner, since
most of its members work to earn a living. This is not a feature of artisanal production but
a pattern characteristic of homeworking as Corden and Eardley (1999: 223), and Felstead
and Jewson (2000: 111) suggest. However, the male breadwinner and family wage ideal
created by capitalism jeopardises the economic relevance of women’s and children’s
work; those who (as Arizpe and Aranda, 1986: 176; Benería and Sen, 1986: 148-149;
Hammam, 1986: 159; Benería and Roldán, 1987a: 120; Selby et al (1990: 59) and
González, 1994: 4 suggest) are most affected by this economic model.
My evidence shows that, in artisan contexts, it is the women who carry the extra
burden of work when the income generated by the family at the workshop runs short.
Their contribution is regarded not only as complementary but is expected by their
partners as the wives and mothers, which is encouraged by their values of femininity and
motherhood. Several authors have noticed the gendered effects of capitalism on labour
markets (see Benería and Roldán, 1987a; Selby et al, 1990; Escobar, 1988; Walby, 1990;
Safa, 1992; González, 1994; Roberts, 1995 and Chant and Craske, 2003) that affect
mostly women, as Morris (1990: 7) states since it:
‘Neglect[s] the contribution made by married women and their

offspring to the household income, the vagaries of the market for
male labour and the inability of low-paid workers to honour the
obligations implied by the ‘breadwinner’ role’.
The pervasiveness of the traditional family model also affects the structure of the
family and family life and, as a consequence, the form and composition of the household.
90
Capitalism separated the domestic and the labour worlds, leaving men in charge of
the public and paid activities and women as responsible for the care of the family.
Nevertheless, this posed a psychological pressure on both for men in particular since their
values and notions of masculinity were threatened by their failure to support the family
and by having to work at home. The home, from the advent of industrialisation onwards,
became the woman’s place since she was considered, in the separation between the
domestic and the public spheres, to lack the necessary qualifications to hold a job. The
result was a widespread perception of the inability of women to generate an income and
to support the family. This burdened men, causing identity crises by challenging their
masculinity and their role within the family, the household and the workshop. This was
counterbalanced by an exacerbated authoritarianism.
However, Marxist feminism (Walby, 1990) falls short when we consider that men
exploited and controlled women long before capitalism ruled as the economic model. In
Spanish colonial times, (see Carrera, 1954: 77 and Novelo, 1996: 108), women not only
were in charge of low-paid jobs men considered ‘appropriate for their condition and
capabilities’ but also faced legal restrictions in finding better paid and more rewarding
jobs. The evidence from Scott (1988: 98) in Europe reports similar findings. Hartmann
(1998: 97) states that, in this respect:
‘Before capitalism, a patriarchal system was established in which

men controlled the labor of women and children in the family, and in
so doing men learned the techniques of hierarchical organization and
control.’
91
7 Types of families and households found by this research
The traditional family model composed of the parents and their children influenced the
four generations of the Labrador and the Lucano lineages. Yet, these families had to
compose non-traditional families and households because of external factors such as
poverty and unemployment, and because of internal events such as the death, divorce or
the exit of one family member from the paternal household. The family, in particular,
faced continuous tensions between all its members – including those who once belonged
to it – for the opportunities and resources it provides them. This resulted in the formation
of several types of families and households whose form throws light on the different
strategies and/or reactions of the people confronting concrete circumstances, and when
seeking to assure their reproduction.
By carefully looking at empirical evidence and the nature and behaviour of the
family and the household over time, it emerges that delimiting their boundaries becomes
increasingly difficult as capitalism and modernity expand. But not only is such a task
pointless, as their relationships and permutations get stronger as transport infrastructures
enlarge, people migrate, the division of work and jobs becomes more specialised, the
white-collar sector depends on the services and the education services and the pressure of
the old ways of life remain.
I dealt with this methodological constraint by approaching the family and the
household as joint categories in order to see the points at which they relate. This allowed
me to see their similarities and differences and to identify the types of families and
households that the Labrador and the Lucano lineages formed in each generation. Table
13 portrays this information.

92
Table 13. Forms of families and households found in the Labrador and the Lucano lineages
Family form Composition Household form

Nuclear Parents and children Nuclear
Extended One or both parents, married Extended

(Matrilineal or children, their offspring, unmarried
Patrilineal) children and other blood relatives
(ascendant, lateral or descendant)
Complex Complex
Members of two different nuclear
families with no common children
The concepts ‘family’ and ‘household’, are key analytical categories in
considering why artisanal production made at family workshops survived over a century.
My definition of family is that of a group of people related by blood, marriage or mutual
agreement that may take several forms in order to fulfil different functions. Chant and
Craske (2003: 161) state that the concept 'family’ is a wider and more abstract concept
than that of ‘household’. This remark is useful in shedding light on the relations and
permutations of both terms and their changing nature. Evidence is convincing regarding
the fact that the definitions of families vary over time and even between regions due to
class, ethnic, cultural, political and social factors. The same applies for the concept
‘household’. I understand households as productive spaces where individuals – whether
having a blood link or not – share work and budgets in order to ensure their material and
biological reproduction. Despite blood links being not essential to belong to any given
household, this research found that only people sharing consanguineous relations formed
artisan domestic units. Although the universe under study is too small to make a
definitive statement, this fact suggests the importance and cohesion of kinship for the
formation of households.
Artisan households, like families, took three forms, namely the nuclear, the
extended and the complex. These categories emerged by considering the empirical
93
attributes explained in table 14 below. The analysis suggests that households take this
form encouraged by the domestic and the individual cycles of all its members and that
their composition is never fixed. The table below provides the details of the domestic
units formed by the Labrador and the Lucano lineages in the four generations under
study.
Table 14. Forms of households that the Labrador and the Lucano
formed in every generation

1st Nuclear Nuclear
2nd Nuclear Extended
3rd Nuclear Complex
4th Nuclear Complex
7.1 Relationships between nuclear families and households
The families and the households are changing units subject to external socio-economic
events and susceptible to the individual cycles and needs of all their members. The
relationships between the two concepts suggest that the distinction between those who
form part of the family and those who form part of the household could help to throw a
better light on their analytical dimension. Following this principle, I understand the
nuclear family as that composed by the parents, or one of them, and their offspring whilst
the nuclear household is a space of residence where part or all the members of the nuclear
family may live. The fact that not all the members of the nuclear family may live at the
paternal household is far from meaning that they are not relevant for it. All the members
are essential for both the family and the support of the paternal household, regardless of
its form.
94
Most individuals aspire to form nuclear families and households but reality shows
they are the most difficult form to achieve in a context of poverty. This can be partially
explained by the fact that both the family and the household depend on a relatively large
and regular income throughout most of their cycles. This stability is also affected by the
individual cycles, particularly those of the parents.
Despite the increasing poverty, nuclear families are the predominant type in Mexico as
the studies of Selby et al (1990: 89) and ENIGH show. Morris (1990: 3) states, following
a Parsonian position, that these families are the ones that best fit the needs of capitalism:
‘The emergence of a privatized, nuclear family as a basis for

domestic organization can largely be understood (though not
explained) with reference to the historical processes that led to the
separation of place of residence from place of work, the segregation
of domestic labour from industrial labour, and the consequent
development of a particular kind of relationship between the
household and the productive enterprise’.
The influence of the traditional family model can be seen in the structure of the
nuclear artisan household that organises around a male breadwinner who, at least in
theory, is supposed to support his partner and their offspring. Yet, most nuclear
households in their initial stage are part of extended units and are only able to consolidate
as nuclear households when the family owns or rents a house, has the minimal economic
conditions needed to become independent, has at least a couple of working age children,
has one of their members producing handicrafts on a full time basis and the children are
in an economic position to form their own household. Families are unable to form these
types of households when children are young and incapable of working; this represents
the most critical stage of the household. This finding coincides with that made by Selby et
al (1990: 97) on Mexican urban households.

95
This study, due to its diachronic nature, faces a significant methodological
difficulty when establishing the form of the household; an obstacle that synchronic
studies do not face. This constraint underlines that domestic units are subject to both
external – economic, political and social elements – and internal – domestic and
individual’s cycles – factors. In seeking to overcome this impediment, I looked closely at
the interrelationship between the different forms of the household and their financial
stability. The combination of these elements encouraged me to select the longest form and
cycle of the household because this was its most complex and dynamic stage and
therefore offered more analytical elements. This is far from meaning that the shorter
forms that the domestic unit took were not analysed. I did analyse them and found that
during these periods all the members of the family, the household and the workshop
tended to play crucial roles for the reproduction and survival of the family. I will discuss
every one of these in the coming sub-sections and chapters. It is also worth commenting
on the fact that when I added up the years of all the other forms that the domestic unit
composed, the total did not equal the number of years of the longest period.
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Diagram 1. Nuclear households: The Labrador and the Lucano lineage
1st generation of the Labrador lineage
Nuclear family Nuclear household

Parents (2), 5 1928-1984
children (3 female, 2 Parents
male)
2nd generation of the Labrador lineage

Parents (2) and 6 1928-1984
children (4 female 2 Parents (2) and 3
male) children (2 female 1
male)
3rd generation of the Labrador lineage

Parents (2) and 14 1963-1993
children (9 female, 4 Parents (2) and 10
male) children (6 female, 4
male)
4th generation of the Labrador lineage

Parents (2) and 3 1992-
children (3 male) Parents (2) and 3
children (3 male)
97
1st generation of the Lucano lineage

Parents (2) and 5 1892-1959
children (2 female, Parents (2) and 4
3 male) children (2 female,
2 male)
The Labrador family formed nuclear households in every generation whilst the
Lucanos did so in one. This surprised me since I naively thought that a better household
economy would be definitive in the formation of this type of unit. Even though economic
factors were crucial for it, the fact remains that the Labradors were far poorer than the
Lucanos and managed to form nuclear households. By looking at them in detail, it
emerged that the Labradors succeeded in the formation of nuclear households because
they fulfilled their domestic and individual cycles whilst the Lucanos did not. That is, the
parents grew old and died when children had already left the paternal household or were
able to support themselves. These factors allowed them to, on the one hand, be
economically stable despite their precariousness and on the other, to consolidate their
economy with the help of their children during this stage. This sheds slight on the
relevance of the domestic and individual cycles for the structure of the nuclear household
regardless of the economic situation of the family.
7.2 Relationships between extended families and households
It is extended families and households that best reflect the external changing socio-
economic conditions and the relevance of kinship in contexts of poverty. I define the
98
extended family in this context as that which includes members beyond the nuclear group
in its own group. On the other hand, the extended household is that which could include
other relatives or non-relatives beyond the parents and their offspring under the same
roof.
Extended families and households tend to take form due to either economic
constraints – insufficient income – or the interruption of individual or domestic cycles –
the death of a partner or the family member that provides the largest income. Extended
artisan families and households tend to organise around one main breadwinner, either
male or female, who rules the entire family and household but who also have sub-heads.
The values of the traditional family model are also seen in the extended family and
household that, regardless of the genealogical complexity, tends to organise under a male
head. These families take this form due to the combination of a number of factors such as
poverty, the effects of marriage and the birth of children, amongst others. Yet, evidence
confirms that the latter, in combination with poverty, is what influences most the
formation of that type of family and household.
In a similar way, the demographic complexity of the family enhances the
possibilities of reproduction and the economic success of the household given that the
unit can always look at the potential of the workforce to exploit it in the benefit of
artisanal production, domestic work, the care of the family and even paid jobs outside the
household.
Either men or women can head extended families and households, but there are
important gender differences regarding their administration and organisation. At the
domestic level, men do very little or no work at all since they expect the women – wives
and daughters in particular – to do it. Their values of masculinity and machismo reinforce
such a position that allows them to continue to exploit and control women for their own
99
benefit. Single and married children living in these domestic units do not receive a wage
for their work since they are supposed to provide help in exchange for food and shelter.
Male heads tend to invest more money in the workshop and on personal consumption –
drinks and clothes – although not substantively. They also administer the income earned
by the family through artisanal production and hand over an amount to their partners that
they consider covers the basic needs of the household. The regularity at which they do it
depends on the frequency at which the families sell the handicrafts and the presence of
additional complementary incomes. Regardless of these factors, it is the women who
struggle to make ends meet and who mediate between the needs of the children, the
husband and the domestic unit as a whole.
On the other hand, women who head extended families and households are more
involved in both levels, dividing their time between family duties, household chores, and
workshop activities. Evidence shows that they are more likely to provide their children
with both material and economic help and to invest larger amounts in their education,
household amenities, and whenever possible, in property. The discussion of the use of
women’s earnings to meet their offspring’s basic material needs in Mexico and Latin
America has been addressed from different perspectives and contexts by Benería and Sen
(1986: 142), Selby (1990: 77) and Chant and Craske (2003: 64).
The division of work at the domestic and workshop level also tends to be more
flexible when women head the households. On the one hand, male children are more
likely to participate in domestic chores such as sweeping the patio, taking out the rubbish,
running errands or looking after younger siblings whilst their mothers work. At the
workshop level, women are in charge of painting or even firing the kiln but as male
children grow up, they tend to replace their mothers or sisters in these activities. This
100
shows that the notions and values of femininity and masculinity play a major role at the
domestic and workshop level in artisan households.
Married artisan children living in extended households have no choice but to
remain at the paternal household; this is due to at least three factors. Firstly, they are
pillars of the workshop. Secondly, by being a pillar of the workshop they are therefore a
vital part of the domestic economy. Thirdly, the artisan children tend to have low levels
of schooling, no capital and no working experience outside the workshop – which
altogether place constraints on the possibility of them abandoning it and establishing their
own home. This forces them to depend on their parents and artisanal production as the
only activity through which they can earn a living.
My evidence also suggests that parents do not prefer married sons to daughters to
stay at home. I believe this is due to the fact that women, whether a daughter or an in-law,
help with the domestic work and handicraft production. Selby, Murphy and Lorenzen
(1990: 101) suggest that this is due to the weakening or the practical non-existence of the
rural patrilocal pattern of inheritance.
The structure and composition of the extended family and the extended household
are identical. In both cases, as Diagram 2 shows, the members of both units are the same.
This confirms the relevance of kinship for the formation of families and households in
artisan contexts.
101
Diagram 2. Extended households: the Lucano lineage
2nd generation of the Lucano lineage
Extended family Extended household

Parent (1 female), 1 1965-1993
parent’s sibling Mother, mother’s
(male), 1 married brother, 1 married
child (1 daughter) daughter, her partner
and 3 grandchildren and their children (2
(2 female, 1male) female, 1male)
Balbino I and Gabina Neri formed an extended household after they married in
1928 and Balbino I’s children from his first marriage moved in with them. The last of
these children abandoned the paternal household in 1933 after she married. Therefore, the
household functioned as an extended unit for five years.
The household operated for a total of 32 years – from 1933 to 1965 – as a nuclear
unit. During this period, the family achieved both recognition and significant economic
success through artisanal production. However, the mismanagement, alcoholism and
gambling of Balbino I, the head of the household and workshop, led the family into
poverty and eventually to his own death. The terrible financial situation in which they
found themselves encouraged Gabina, Balbino I’s wife, to welcome the arrival of her
brother Angel – now a widower himself – soon after her husband died. Three years later,
Gloria – Gabina’s youngest daughter – married and moved in to the maternal household.
The domestic unit kept this form until 1993, the year in which Gabina died. This caused
the reconfiguration and emergence of new domestic units.
In this particular case, the adding up of the years in which this household operated
as both nuclear (32) and extended (33) units is technically identical. However, during the
102
dates selected, the families and the households regained their stability, secured their
reproduction and successfully transmitted the trade to the next generation, which provides
clear answers to the main research question.
7.3 Relationships between complex families and households
The complex family and household are the less frequent form in both lineages, as my data
shows. Yet, this form of family and household holds a great structural resemblance with
its nuclear counterpart. The two of them are relatively stable, have stable and independent
structures in relation to the extended household but, contrary to the nuclear family and
household, the family groups that compose it lack any kind of consanguineous link.
The complex family is the combination of two different nuclear families and their
children forming one familial group. The complex household, on the other hand, is the
same combination of people living and working under the same roof for the support of the
household. For the complex household, the contribution of all the family members is also
essential – even when they no longer live at it.
Complex families and households are the result of the union of single, widowed or
separated individuals and their children with an individual in the same conditions. They
consolidate as a family by legal or verbal agreement and establish a home in a place that
fits the needs of the family and workshop. In these units, it is usually the men who play
the breadwinner role before their children and stepchildren. This places a tremendous
economic pressure on their shoulders, which is lightened by the help provided by the
children through either artisanal production or waged jobs. The wives play a crucial role
for the domestic finances since their contribution often determines their situation.
A gender perspective on the financial situation of the complex household suggests
that despite the influence of the traditional family model, the roles men and women play
103
contradict such reality. Given that complex units are larger than average households, the
income earned by the male breadwinner – whether an artisan or not – will hardly ever be
enough to support both families. In cases where non-artisan men marry artisan women,
they expect the women to ‘help’ them to support the children through artisanal production
as part of their role as wife and mother. Women accept this extra burden of work in the
hope of a more relaxed relationship between the two families and in exchange for respect
from partners and children.
When artisan men marry non-artisan women and the latter refuse to learn the
trade, the risk of interrupting its transmission is high, not to mention the economic
difficulties the household could face. However, evidence shows that women do
eventually get involved in artisanal production. When women have waged employment
outside the household, the man is in charge of teaching the trade to his children and
stepchildren. The latter, in particular, are more likely to resist the pressure if they have
different plans or occupations. In any case, women play a key position for the household
economy and the continuity of the trade since their contribution defines its stability and
standard of living.
Complex households are very similar to nuclear and extended ones with regard to
the patterns of the division of work, the working relationship between heads of household
and children, the allotment of allowances and the areas in which to spend the household
money. This shows that the consistency of the values of masculinity and femininity are
the basis for the reproduction of patriarchy. Diagram 3 shows the size and the
genealogical composition of the two complex families and households that the Lucano
lineage formed.
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Diagram 3. Complex households: the Lucano lineage
3rd generation of the Lucano lineage
Complex household
Complex family 1993-
Father and 5 children Father and 4 children
(4 female, 1 male) and (3 female, 1 male) and
mother and 3 children mother and 3 children
(2 female, 1 male). (2 female, 1 male).
4th generation of the Lucano lineage
Complex family Complex household

Father and 5 children 1993-
(4 female, 1 male) and 5 Lucano children
mother and 3 children and 3 Ramírez
(2 female, 1 male). children
The third generation of the Lucano lineage initially formed an extended household
living at the wife’s father’s house until he died in 1979. From 1979 to 1993, they operated
as a nuclear household but in 1993, after four years of widowhood, Santos married for the
second time to a divorced worker with three children of her own, forming a complex
household. The Lucano children from the 4th generation of the family who continued the
trade are all single, which explains the incompleteness of their domestic cycle. The
diagram also reflects the composition of the household when considering all the Lucano
and the Ramirez children – that is, all the members of the fourth generation. The
advantage of grouping all the offspring together has analytical advantages since seven out
105
of eight children lived at the paternal household and helped to support it through either
artisanal production or their paid jobs.
All married children from the 4th generation of the Lucano lineage left the
paternal household after marriage, abandoned the trade for good to follow their own
careers and have helped in the support of the paternal household. On the other hand, all
single artisan children live at the paternal household – they are in their mid and late
twenties – and are the pillars of the household economy. These factors have favoured the
survival of artisanal production in the youngest generation of the family, and it is likely
that once one of the artisan children marries, she/he will inherit the father’s workshop,
clientele and prestige of their family name, just as the previous generations did.
8 The workshop
The concept of the workshop is central for the discussion and analysis of artisanal
production. The concept refers to a locus of production placed at the household,
composed of and worked by some members of the family. The fact that only part of the
family is engaged in artisanal production suggests the relevance of this activity for the
household economy. Diagram 4 below shows the composition of the household and the
workshop. What stands out is the fact that only a minority of kinship is engaged in
artisanal production on a full time basis.

106
Diagram 4. Composition of the household and the workshop at the Labrador and the Lucano lineages
1st generation of the Labrador lineage
Extended workshop
1925-1955
Nuclear household
Parents (2), 4 married
1928-1984 and 1 single children
Parents (3 female, 2 male) and
8 grandchildren (5
female, 3 male)
2nd generation of the Labrador lineage
Extended workshop
Nuclear household 1925-1955
1928-1984 Parents (2), 4 married
Parents (2) and 6 children and 1 single
children (4 female 2 (3 female, 2 male) and
male) 8 grandchildren (5
female, 3 male)
3rd generation of the Labrador lineage
Nuclear household Nuclear workshop

1963-1993 1961-1982
Parents (2) and 14 Mother and 2
children (9 female, 4 children (1 daughter,
male) 1 son)
4th generation of the Labrador lineage
Nuclear household
1985- Nuclear workshop
Parents (2) and 3 1992-
children (3 male) Parents
107
1st generation of the Lucano lineage
Nuclear household
Nuclear workshop
1892-1959
1892-1959
Parents (2), 5
Parents (2) and
children (3 male, 2
5 children.
female)
2nd generation of the Lucano lineage
Extended household Extended workshop

1965-1993 1968-1993
Mother, mother’s Mother, mother’s
sibling, 1 married child, brother, 1 married
1 in-law, 2 daughter and her
grandchildren. spouse, 1 married son.
3rd generation of the Lucano lineage
Complex household
1993-
Complex workshop
Father, 5 children (4
1993-
female, 1 male), his
Father, 2 daughters and 1
partner and 3 children
son; his partner and
(2 female, 1 male).
her daughter
4th generation of the Lucano lineage
Complex household Complex workshop

1993- 1998-
4 Lucano children and 3 Lucano children and
3 Ramírez children 1 Ramírez child
108
As in the case of the household, I considered the longest form of the workshops
because this reflected their most productive and stable stage and, therefore, the period
during which the families managed to achieve a different number of goals – the education
of the children, the buying of a property, the enlargement of the workshop, etc – through
artisanal production. This is not to say that the remaining forms were not considered
analytically, as I will show later on.
All the above diagrams portray information on the number and the sex of children
who continued the trade. Despite the size of the workshops, which are usually smaller
than the household, evidence shows that nearly every one of the members of the family
were engaged in artisanal production at some point, although on a half time basis. They
did so in order to ‘help’ the father to earn a living and to learn the trade ‘in case their
careers failed’. However, most of them abandoned the trade when they finished their
degrees, they married or found a waged job outside the household.
The second generation of the Labrador lineage deserves particular attention since
despite the fact that they formed a nuclear family they operated as an extended workshop.
This is rather unusual and is due to economic and logistical reasons. On the one hand,
they did so in an effort to enhance their chances of financial success by making the most
of the facilities – the large kiln and patio – of the better-equipped household (that of the
parents). On the other, they all lacked formal education and land that reinforced their
dependence on artisanal production and encouraged them to take advantage of the
abundant workforce – young and adolescent children, newly married couples and adult
males and females. In the next chapter, I will analyse the outcomes of such a strategy. For
now, it helps to understand the reasons that led them to take this decision.
Workshops, as households, are spaces where work is sex-divided and assigned to
each individual considering her/his role as a member of the family and the household. Its
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stability relies, just as families and households do, on the values of solidarity, obedience,
loyalty, commitment and sacrifice of all their members. These values strengthen its
cohesion and widen possibilities of financial success and, therefore, the survival of
artisanal production.
The economy of the workshop has to be understood as a part of the economy of
the household. Artisan families survive thanks to the money earned by most of their
members in other economic sectors and activities. During certain periods, only a fraction
of the total income of the household is generated through artisanal production. The rest of
the economy is sustained by the jobs, gifts and material help provided by the other kin
including those who once lived at the paternal home. Thus, much of the income generated
by the workshop comes from the unpaid work of some members of the family.
Workshops are also spaces where a significant part of the domestic family life takes
place. This is due to the location of the workshop, its composition and the fact that
handicrafts are manufactured every day from early morning to late afternoon throughout
the year.
Another important difference between the workshops and the households is their
location. Workshops tend to be located at the backyard of the household and in some
cases, occupy a significant part of it. When the house lacks a patio, it is established in the
room with the best ventilation, lighting and clearer areas since these are basic
requirements for artisanal production. In such cases, the kiln is placed in an open area,
particularly the corner of the house. Photograph 2 shows an outdoor kiln in an ordinary
home-based workshop.
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Photograph 2. Outdoor kiln. December 1999.
Ana J Cuevas personal archive
Largely, artisan families establish a household only after they have considered the
possibilities of establishing a workshop. When space is insufficient, the family has to stop
the manufacturing of handicrafts, which represents a risk for its economy. The 4th
generation of the Labrador lineage could not establish a workshop in their rented flat after
they married due to the reduced space of average social security flats and the tight
regulations on the use of the flats in the building. They therefore lived there until they
found an appropriate home that eventually enabled them to return to artisan production.
111
Conclusion
The analysis of the changes in the consumption and the production of handicrafts, as well
as in the role artisanal production has played for the four generations of the two lineages,
shows an increasing diversification of the socio-economic structures. The expansion of
industrialism, capitalism and economic readjustments has always affected the role of
artisanal production for the family and the household. Such changes directly affected the
families and the survival of artisanal production, forcing families to:
• Sell their land for industrial and urban expansion.
• Enter the formal and informal market.
• Sacrifice the goals of children in order to make a living and educate younger
members of the family
• Adapt to their immediate context in order to survive
The result is a situation in which, until recently, artisanal production was the pillar
of the economy for urban artisan families. Despite the changes, the household remains as
the significant unit in the household and local economies; and although higher schooling,
degrees and the entrance of individuals to the formal sector undermine the role of
artisanal production, this contradictorily allows it to survive.
The forces acting upon artisanal production have modified its role for the
economy of the household and the economy of the country, resulting in the adoption or
continuation of this activity for survival means. By the 1970s, artisanal production
weakened as a pillar of the household economy because of industrial growth and its role
seems to continue to weaken as capitalism develops. Thus, despite the possible changes in
the patterns of consumption of urban markets and their possible growth, the survival of
112
artisanal production is secured due to the increasing levels of poverty and the lack of
opportunities for low qualified individuals. Mass media, severe economic readjustments
and the presence of cheaper imported merchandise affect the economy of artisan families
and the patterns of production and consumption of handicrafts. This type of
industrialisation is sufficiently powerful to undermine craft production and to create
needs that cannot be satisfied by the artisans. However, artisanal production and artisans
are flexible and poor enough to readjust to the changing conditions created by capitalism
and modernity.
Furthermore, despite Selby et al (1990: 70-1) suggesting that the term ‘survival’ is
delicate since households, in a strict sense, lack spaces for the discussion of strategies; the
intergenerational study of both lineages shows that some individuals deliberately acted or
took decisions to benefit most of the members of the household. Families learn to live in
the niches opened by capitalist forces, and through the family, household and workshop,
learn to use the money and organise the complex division of labour to their own
advantage in order to supplement their income.
It is worth underlining the findings made by this research. Artisanal production
has never been a solitary activity where there is one male breadwinner. Evidence shows
that different members of the family engaged at different points of their life cycle in
either formal or informal activities encouraged by their values of solidarity. A second
finding shows that women tended to carry the extra burden of work when their fathers or
partners failed to support the household. This underlines the inadequacy of the myths of
both the male breadwinner and the family wage. Both fail to acknowledge women’s work
and help to perpetuate their disadvantaged economic and psychological condition.
The latter finding led me to the third discovery: that poverty, the markets and,
more recently, the difficulties in entering the formal sector, assure the continuation of the
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trade. Artisans are poor, low skilled, poorly educated and make tremendous sacrifices for
their families. However, without a deep look at their feelings and notions of commitment,
solidarity, sacrifice, work enjoyment and rewards, it would be impossible to understand
why and how artisanal production survives in families and in a wider socio-economic
context.
The fourth finding shows the relevance of kinship in forming households and
workshops as well as the identical form of these two economic spaces. This highlights the
importance of the family for individuals living at the edge of poverty since through it, and
through households and workshops, individuals enhance their chances of survival before
the weak role of the state in the welfare of the most marginal population.
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Chapter 3. A glance at the similarities and differences of the first and the second
generation of the Labrador and the Lucano lineages.
The purpose of this chapter is to compare and analyse the similarities and the differences
between the first and the second generation of the Labrador and the Lucano lineages in
order to understand the role that artisanal production has played in their economy. The
discussion is structured in two sections. The first section addresses four main themes that
subdivide into sub-themes, each of which allows me to discuss pertinent empirical,
methodological and theoretical issues related to them. The first theme considers the role
that artisanal production has had for the domestic economy of the two families. The
second looks at the composition of the household economy by observing the type of
economic and material help the household has received from the members who worked at
the paternal home on a full and part time basis and by those who had their own jobs and
lived in their own separate households. The third theme focuses on the patterns of social
mobility of the first two generations of both lineages by analysing the spaces –school,
employment and workshops– and events –marriage, education and artisanal production–
that encouraged the social mobility of each gender. The fourth considers their notions of
masculinity and femininity by observing their social life and the importance of marriage,
motherhood and fatherhood for the individuals in question. This four-theme structure will
serve as the analytical framework for the discussion of the coming chapters where I will
also address the generational similarities and differences between the third and fourth
generations of both lineages. It is worth noticing that the texture of evidence used to
support the arguments of this first section will be different to that used in the other
chapters due to the amount of empirical data at hand.

115
The second section of the chapter addresses, through empirical data and pertinent
literature, the relevance of the formal and informal sectors of the economy for the
survival of artisanal production.
1 The family, the household economy, and its changing role in relation to
workshop production: 1880-1940.
Artisanal production between 1880 and the early 1930s was the most important monetary
activity for the household economy of the first two generations of the Labrador and the
Lucano lineages. This was possible not only for them but also for thousands of illiterate
families from rural and urban areas throughout Mexico since the larger economy –despite
industry receiving strong support from the federal government during the late 19th and
the early 20th centuries– depended mostly on traditional activities. The different censuses
confirm (VII Censo, 1950 and VIII Censo, 1960) that although industry grew during that
period, the number of people engaged in agricultural, trade and artisanal activities was far
larger. The geography, the distances between settlements and the limited access to
different types of power were the main obstacles for industrial products. This offered a
matchless advantage for artisanal products until the late 1930s for their price and
accessibility. Nonetheless, this was not a particularity of the economy of several Jalisco
counties but rather an extended pattern in Jalisco State, as the data show (Censo y
División, 1905: 62-83 and V Censo, 1930: 17 and 137-8).
The fact that artisanal production had large markets, was a home-based activity
that demanded little monetary investment and was a family-driven form of production,
reinforced its centrality for the household economy until the late 1930s. Yet, despite
several factors combining to protect artisanal production, the first generation of the two
116
lineages was able to produce handicrafts under a calmer and more secure atmosphere than
the second generation. The following quotation sheds light on this:
‘We all worked, children and adults alike. The work started, we
started to work the clay around 11am because by then the lunch was
ready or was about to be. By then we had already made the tortillas,
cleaned up the kitchen; everything was ready for us to have lunch
around 1:00pm or 12:30pm and from then onwards each of us went
straight to their stone. Because we worked the clay on a flat stone so
when we said ‘I’m going to my stone’ it meant that we were going to
mix the clay and to make the figures they [our parents] had told us to
do. As for the fruits, we [the children] made them. We had to make
mangoes and some others made other small fruits.’23
Evidence shows that, despite modernity and capitalism having a stronger impact
on the second generation of the Labradors and the Lucanos than on the first generation,
the former continued to be able to earn most or even their entire living out of artisanal
production. They did so in the face of a rapid growth in transportation and media
infrastructures that connected Jalisco State to the rest of the country from the mid 1930s
onwards. These events caused significant changes in the regional and the domestic
economy of artisan families that, overall, forced them to readapt their strategies to meet
the demands of a growing and changing market.
Even though handicrafts were facing stronger competition, people from rural, and
even urban settlements, still demanded handmade products for cultural and economic
reasons. Roberts (1995: 146-50) noticed that urban dwellers from emerging
urban/industrial centres had a peasant origin. This allowed artisan families to continue to
earn their living out of artisanal production in the face of an acute capitalist expansion.
The fragment below illustrates how families faced such a challenge:
23
117
‘At the workshop we made only two models and the flowerpots. There were times
when we made mugs and pots too because some people asked us to. We also made little
faces. My dad designed that model, it was his idea. He made them and they are still
around here, I remember having seen them around. They were little faces with a clay
framework. We sold a lot of them but that was at my paternal workshop. Back then we
also sold a lot of different fruits: apples, pears, bananas, limes, prickly pears, peaches,
avocados, sugar canes…all that stuff. ’24
2 The composition of the household economy
The remoteness of Jalisco State from other important commercial, agricultural and
industrial centres, its precarious road infrastructure and its low urban growth, amongst the
most important factors, preserved its economic self-sufficiency sustained on agriculture,
trade, several forms of artisanal production and industry. This pattern extended until the
late 1930s, as the figures from the Censo y División (1905: 62), Quinto Censo (1940:
137), Muriá (1994: 402-8 and 522-4) show. Largely, and despite the small differences in
their composition, the household economy of the first two generations of the Labradors
and the Lucanos depended, to different extents, on these traditional activities. Diagram 5
illustrates this situation. However, the Lucano family was more successful than the
Labradors since they had no need to complement their living with temporary paid jobs
outside the domestic unit.
24
118
Diagram 5. Household economy of the first generation of the Labrador lineage.
Artisanal
production
1907-1955
Household
economy
Gifts Self-
Lots consumption
1924 agriculture
1907-1935
119
Diagram 6. Household economy of the second generation of the Labrador lineage.
Artisanal
production
1926-1984.
Informal jobs Paid jobs

Cooks (mother (parents)
and 2 Baker
daughters) (1940-1970)
1933-1945
Household
economy
Gifts Paid jobs

Plot of land (children)
1928 Baker
1940-1942
The main difference between the household economy of the first and the second
generation of the Labrador lineage was that whilst the former strongly relied on artisanal
production, self-consumption agriculture and gifts, the latter replaced agricultural
production with temporary jobs as cooks and bakers. The dates on which they started
doing so, between the early 1930s and 1940s, confirms the imminent impact of industrial,
commercial and urban growth on artisanal production. This composition contrasts with
the case of the first two generations of the Lucano lineage that survived through
agricultural and artisanal production and, in the case of the latter, only through the
manufacturing of handicrafts as Diagrams 7 and 8 confirm.

120
Diagram 7. Household economy of the first generation of the Lucano lineage.
Artisanal
production:
1892-1932
Agriculture:
Gifts Household (1889-1908)
Plot of land economy Corn, sweet
(1889) potato and
beans.
Additional
income:
Land rental
(1908-1959)
Diagram 8. Household economy of the second generation of the Lucano lineage.
Artisanal Household Gifts

production economy House 1908
1900-1965
2.1 People who supported the household through artisanal production: first and
second generation
As I have shown in the above section, the first two generations of both lineages earned all
or most of their living through artisanal production. Likewise, most if not all the children
worked full time for the paternal workshop until they married. Such continuity sheds light
121
on the relevance of this activity for the Labradors and the Lucanos from the late 1890s to
the late 1930s, which confirms the weight and importance of artisanal work for rural
economies and non-skilled families.
Ángel Labrador and Blas Labrador were the heads of the family and the
workshops from the first and the second generation of the Labrador family. Whilst Ángel
was illiterate, Blas was a self-taught man and the informants remembered them as
affectionate and stubborn men devoted to their families. Mere and Dolores – their wives –
were hard working illiterate artisan women who worked as hard as their husbands to
support the household. Mere and Dolores were mother and daughter and the two believed
that work served both as developmental and economic activities that must be instilled in
children since their early childhood as an essential part of their education as this fragment
confirms:
‘My grandma used to say: ‘if the child is small, small must be his
obligation. If the child is small, his responsibility at home must be
small too’. And I still believe that the work, that we have to instil the
habit of work in the children since for any family it is important that
they learn to work. They can have their childhood games but after
playing, they must help at home, because otherwise, that small child
will not learn to work and later on, he will be a good for nothing. He
will only fancy to play and then he will only play pranks because his
mind will be busy with useless things and this [artisanal work] is
very useful’.25
Diagrams 9 and 10 show the composition of the household and the number of
people who produced handicrafts on a full time basis in the first two generations of the
Labrador lineage. The dates reflect the periods under which the household and workshop
had such a form.
25
122
Diagram 9. Members of the first generation of the Labrador family involved in artisanal production
on a full time basis: 1907-1955.
Full time artisans

Nuclear household 1907-1955: Parents
1928-1984 1925-1955: 1 single
Parents and 3 married
children (2 female,
1 male)
Diagram 10. Members of the second generation of the Labrador family involved in artisanal
production on a full time basis: 1927-1984.
Nuclear
household Full time artisans
1928-1984 1927-1984
Parents (2) and 3 1927-1940: Father
1927-1984: mother
children (2 female 1934-1942: son
1 male)
It is worth commenting on the apparent contradiction between the composition of
the household and the workshop of the second generation of the Labrador lineage. Blas
and Dolores formed a nuclear household shortly after they got married after receiving a
plot of land from Dolores’s parents. Even when the new couple established their own
workshop at home, they worked for Dolores’s parents since they needed help to meet the
orders and deliveries. This explains why, whilst they were able to form a nuclear
household, they operated as an extended workshop.
In the Lucanos’ case, Agustín and Viviana – the couple from the first generation –
were illiterate artisans who worked all day at the production of domestic crockery, helped
123
by their five children: Balbino I, Margarita, Cirilo, Tomás and Guadalupe. As with their
parents and the rest of their predecessors, these children learned the trade from their
parents during their early childhood. Agustín, the head of the family and workshop, was a
man remembered by his grandchildren as an authoritarian and spirited person who ‘threw
things at the floor when he got angry’.26 Viviana, his wife, a long-lived artisan woman,
was remembered as a dynamic, laconic and supportive woman who ‘enjoyed selling
handicrafts’.27
Balbino I and Gabina Lucano, the second generation of the Lucano lineage,
followed their predecessors and devoted their time and energy to the production of
handicrafts with the help of their children. Balbino I was a skilled and visionary artisan
who taught his wife Gabina the trade after they married. She was a clever, illiterate and
hard working woman who enjoyed manufacturing handicrafts. She learned the trade from
her husband and in time developed outstanding artisanal skills. This couple, contrary to
the previous generation, taught the trade to their 5 children –Teresa, Balbino II, Elena,
Gloria and Santos– once they entered adolescence since they did not need their help to
earn their living. However, they also believed that eventually teaching them to work was
compulsory and necessary as future adults. Diagrams 11 and 12 show the composition of
the household and the number of members from this lineage involved in artisanal
production on a full time basis.
26
Interview 3, Santos Lucano, third generation of the Lucano lineage. August 1997.
27
124
Diagram 11. Members of the first generation of the Lucano family involved in artisanal production
Nuclear
household
1892-1959 Full time artisans
Parents (2) and 4 1892-1959
children (2 female, Parents
2 male)
Diagram 12. Members of the second generation of the Lucano family involved in artisanal production
Extended Full time artisans

household 1928-1993
Mother, mother’s Mother, 1 single
sibling, 2 single son, 1 married
sons and 1 married daughter and her
daughter and her husband
family
On the whole, the Labradors and the Lucanos did not face monetary difficulties in
supporting their children through artisanal production. The dates reflect the number of
people who worked at artisanal production until the workshop disappeared or was
transformed due to the death of the parents or the arrival of new members.
The value of work as a disciplinary activity was a widespread value in families
from this period, – as it was in late 19th century Europe – since traditionally based
economies depended on the exploitation of the family workforce at home. However,
industrialisation and capitalism did not destroy all types of home working since they not
only transferred the cost of the training of children for the labour market to the family, as
Minge (1986: 13) sustains, but also opened spaces for new forms of production that they
125
were able to exploit. Thus, when the first two generations of the Labrador and the Lucano
families taught the trade to their children they sought not only to ensure their living but
also their education. This, in turn, increased their possibilities of economic and biological
success in a context where families and households were the only means of survival for
individuals.
The main generational difference between the Labradors and the Lucanos
regarding the number of full time artisans is related to the impact of married children on
the structure of the paternal household. The Labrador children lacked the capital to
establish their own workshop as well as the skills to find a different job; this forced them
to work as full time artisans in their parents’ business. The Lucano siblings, on the
contrary, given the economic stability of their parents, abandoned the paternal household
after marriage.
2.2 People who produced handicrafts on a part time basis: first and second
generation.
As capitalism and industrialisation expanded, the number of people working part time at
the Labrador and the Lucano workshops during the first two generations steadily
increased, transforming their size and composition. However, there were fewer part time
artisans during the first than during the second generation because of the hardly visible
impact of the growth of parallel socio-economic sectors.
In a strict sense, neither family had part time workers in the first generation, as
diagrams 13 and 14 confirm. This was possible because the manufacturing of handicrafts
was both economically profitable and allowed all members of the family and household
to earn their living and to learn to work.

126
Diagram 13. Members of the first generation of the Labrador family involved in artisanal production
on a part time basis: 1942-1955.
Extended Part time artisans

household 1942-1955
Parents, 5 children 1 son in-law, 1
(3 women, 2 men) daughter in law and
3 single and 2 5 grandchildren
married
Diagram 14. Members of the first generation of the Lucano family involved in artisanal production
Nuclear
household Part time
Parents, 5 children artisans
(2 women, 3 men) None.
The diagrams above reflect the significant methodological difficulty when trying
to establish the chronological and the structural boundaries of the household and the
workshop. I mentioned above that in a strict sense, the first generation of both lineages
did not work part time in the manufacturing of handicrafts. The fact that some children of
the second generation stayed at the paternal household after marriage –as in the
Labrador’s case– reconfigured the structure and composition of the workshop.
The siblings Lucio and Soledad Labrador –members of the second generation of
the lineage– and most of their offspring worked for the paternal workshop as full time
artisans from 1928 onwards. This is meaningful since they were able to earn most of their
living out of artisanal production in a period where the handicrafts market started to
127
contract before industrial and urban growth. Yet, the inroads made by the latter affected
the structure of the workshop since the younger children had to be released as the profits
started to reduce. Diagram 15 shows this situation.
Diagram 15. Members of the second generation of the Labrador family involved in artisanal
production on a part time basis: 1942-1959.
Part time
Nuclear artisans
household 1942-1959
Parents (2) and 5 2 sons-in-law, 4
children (2 grandsons, 5
women, 3 men) granddaughters
The better economic situation of the first two generations of the Lucanos allowed
them to earn most of their entire living as full time artisans until the early 1940s – 12
years more than the Labradors. Still, the mismanagement of the workshop and Balbino I‘s
alcoholism forced his four eldest children to work after school from 1955 onwards:
‘When there is a family, when there is a wife, there will be problems

[if the husband drinks]. That happens a lot. That happens a lot [round
here]. In my case, my father kept drinking for three months and I
believe, I feel that that was the reason for which we didn’t do that
much back then and because we were unable to save money…28
When he died, I mean, when my father died, I don’t really know
since when the workers had been fired, right. I rather, when my
father died, we were already working on our own, we were alone; I
mean, my mother, my father and my sister that were the eldest. It
was after he died that I started working more seriously, right’.29
28
29
128
The death of Balbino I in 1965 and the marriage of his two eldest daughters
between 1963 and 1967 left his wife Gabina with the responsibility of paying the debts
and the mortgage at a time when money was a difficult issue. However, Gabina managed
to get through with the help of her daughter Gloria and her eldest brother Ángel who
joined the workshop in 1967 and 1978 respectively. They worked part time doing menial
work whilst Gabina and her sons Balbino II and Santos were full time artisans. Diagram
16 confirms this picture and shows the impact of industrialisation and domestic events on
the number of part time artisans of this generation.
Diagram 16. Members of the second generation of the Lucano family involved in artisanal production
Extended
household Part time artisans
Mother, mother’s 1942-1993
sibling, 2 single 4 children (3
sons and 1 married daughters, 1 son),
daughter and her mother’s eldest
family sibling
2.3 People who lived at the paternal household but did not work at it
For the first generation of the Labrador and the Lucano lineages, agricultural production
and related activities were the most important sources of income that complemented their
finances. Both families worked the land during the rainy season, from late May to late
October, due to the lack of irrigation systems.
The first generation of the Labrador family, women and children included,
produced corn, beans and other basic grains from 1907 to 1935 for self-consumption.
129
‘At my father’s workshop many people worked, I mean, it was my

maternal grandpas and my father, I, my mum…she was the one who
cooked for all of us, but we were the ones who did the work, I mean,
working the fields and the workshop and all that. Because when the
time to work the land came, we had to do it and it was during the
rainy season which was the best time for it. And the workshop, well,
do you know when’s the best time to work it? From this month
[January] onwards and until mid May’.30
The Lucanos also worked the land from 1889 to 1908 but only men were engaged
in the production of sweet potato, corn, beans and peanuts that were sold. They shifted to
the mediero system31 in the early 1900s since it secured them both cash and crops and
freed them from the heavy burden of work. The fact that the Lucanos owned larger
extensions of land and that they exploited these differently than the Labradors confirmed
the economic difference between them. Diagrams 17 and 18 illustrate the differences
between the first generation of lineages that I have just analysed.
Diagram 17. Members of the first generation of the Labrador family working outside the paternal
household: 1933-1945.
Extended
household Members
Parents, 5 children 1933-1945
(3 women, 2 men) Mother and
3 single and 2 2 daughters
married
30
31
A land rental system through which the owner of the plot receives part of the payment in cash and part in
kind.
130
Diagram 18. Members of the first generation of the Lucano family working outside the paternal
household.
Nuclear
household Members
Parents, 5 children None
(2 women, 3 men)
The differences between the second generations of both lineages are sharper than
between the first due to the expansion of modernity and industrialism in Tlaquepaque
County. Changes in access to agricultural land played a major role here. Whilst the
Labradors had no choice but to sell their land, the Lucanos focused on artisanal
production since they did not inherit land. In both cases the manufacturing of handicrafts
became their most important and regular source of income.
Yet, the Labradors were unable to meet all their needs through artisanal
production and from the early 1930s onwards, they started facing hardship. This
encouraged Dolores –the mother–and her two eldest daughters to work as cooks at nearby
road construction sites at different stages. Although their economy stabilised, the weight
of this sort of external activity for the household economy steadily altered as the habits of
consumption of the general population changed. By the early 1940s, Blas –the father–
also had to find a temporary job in a local bakery shop as his daughter Eusebia states:
‘My father worked the clay here at home. He sometimes worked here
at home and sometimes he worked at the bakery and when that
happened after he came home he worked the clay again. And some
other days my father worked the clay during the night and my mum
131
kept working it during the day. But yes, we never stopped working
the clay.’32
From the 1940s onwards, particularly during the rainy season due to the excess of
humidity, the Labradors combined artisanal production with other minor economic
activities. This contrasted with the situation of the Lucano lineage that even when one of
its members had a paid job, she was able to keep her wage for herself since her family did
not need her financial support. This was due, largely, to the success of her father as
painter who made fruitful earnings by creating the petatillo technique and applying it to
utilitarian handicrafts in a period where the consumption of domestic items was starting
to decline. Diagrams 19 and 20 illustrate the periods and the number of people who lived
at the paternal household but who worked outside it.
Diagram 19. Members of the second generation of the Labrador family working outside the paternal
Members
1930-1970
Nuclear household 1930-1945 (cooks)
Parents (2) and 5 Mother and 2
children (2 women, daughters
3 men) 1940-1970 (baker)
father
32
132
Diagram 20. Members of the second generation of the Lucano family working outside the paternal
Extended Members
household 1956-1958
Mother, mother’s 1956-1958
sibling, 2 single (accountant
sons and 1 married assistant)
daughter and her 1 Daughter
family
2.4 People who supported the paternal household but who did not live there
The dependence of households on the economic contribution of children who had already
abandoned the paternal household depended on two factors, namely their economic
situation and the health of its members, the parents in particular. When the household was
financially stable and managed to produce a sufficient and regular income even when this
involved parents in old age, children did not offer their economic help. Yet, when the
parents were ill but were economically independent, children offered their support.
Most artisans from the first generation not only abandoned the paternal workshop
after marriage but also produced the same type of merchandise that their parents did and
frequently designed joint strategies with them to sell their production together. This
illustrates why, even when the standard of living of the first generation was austere, they
had no need to be supported by their children unless they faced a traumatic accident or
fatal illness.
Yet, when looking at the economic contribution of the children, it emerges that
three of the Labrador children helped to support the paternal household during their
father’s adulthood and, above all, when they entered old age. This contrasts with the case
133
of the Lucanos who, after they abandoned the paternal household, never gave their
parents material or financial support as they did not need it due to the fact that they
earned their living by renting land and producing handicrafts. Diagrams 21 and 22 show
the members of the first generation of both lineages who helped to support the paternal
household whilst they lived in their own domestic units. Diagram 22 in particular refers to
the concept ‘none’ which means that in the Lucano family no children contributed to the
support of their parents after they abandoned the household.
Diagram 21. Members of the first generation of the Labrador family who supported the paternal
household but who did not live there: 1927-1982.
Extended
household Members
Parents, 5 children 1927-1982
(3 women, 2 men) 3 children (2 sons
3 single and 2 1 daughter)
married
Diagram 22. Members of the first generation of the Lucano family who supported the paternal
household but who did not live there: none.
Nuclear
household Members
(2 women, 3 men)
The second generation of the Labrador lineage, in contrast to the first, relied on
the economic help of paid children. Felipe, the eldest son of Blas and Dolores, left the
134
maternal grandparents’ workshop for good in 1941 to go to work with his brother-in-law
as a baker in Mexico City. Felipe did so to help his family that was facing overpopulation
of the grandparents’ workshop and increasing competition from mass-produced items. A
year later, his family followed him and Blas, his father, also worked as a baker.
Unfortunately, in 1942, Felipe died in an accident and his family had to move back to
Tlaquepaque since Blas’ income was insufficient to meet all the family needs, as Eusebia
Labrador remembers:
‘He [Felipe] helped my father a lot and so he did with my mother. I

mean, he was a tremendous support for the house so when he died
we all flagged because we needed him a lot because he was very
devoted to his work, because he supported the house and because he
was a disciplined artisan who enjoyed doing the things on time. His
death was a terrible blow for us that dispirited us all for about three
or four years. It affected us morally and emotionally and also
economically.’33
As the family recovered from the loss and the rest of the children grew older, their
situation improved. However, only two children – Eusebia and Pablo – were in a position
to offer regular economic help to their parents after they left the paternal home since the
rest of the siblings were poor.
In the Lucanos’ case, Gabina Lucano became a widow at 52 amidst terrible
financial conditions but her determination and discipline as an artisan and manager
allowed her to be economically independent during old age. Her longevity and
widowhood were important in achieving this since they positively affected the productive
cycle of the workshop that was extended due to a couple of reasons. The first was that her
youngest daughter Gloria remained at home after her marriage, which assured the
33
135
workshop a sufficient workforce. The second was that her two sons, Balbino II (who
never married) and Santos, worked for her until she died in 1993. Diagrams 23 and 24
illustrate the number of family members of both lineages, and the periods during which
those living outside the paternal household helped to support it.
Diagram 23. Members of the second generation of the Labrador family who supported the paternal
household but who did not live there: 1941-2002.
Members
1941-2002
Nuclear household 1941-1942: baker
Parents (2) and 5 (1 son)
children (2 women, 2 1954-2002: artisan
men. 1 man [Felipe] (1 daughter)
died in 1942. 1958-2002: technician
(1 son)
Diagram 24. Members of the second generation of the Lucano family who supported the paternal
household but who did not live there: none.
Extended
household
Mother, mother’s Members
sibling, 2 single None
sons and 1 married
daughter and her
family
2.5 People who gave gifts to the family
For the two generations of both lineages, the gifts they received from the government and
some of their relatives were crucial to their domestic economy. The first generation of the
136
Labrador lineage migrated from Tepatitlán, Jalisco – a town located in the state’s
highlands – to Tlaquepaque County in 1925 after the government granted them a lot.
Soon after they arrived they continued producing clay crockery and bought a modest
home with the money of the house they sold in Tepatitlán. Although informants provided
undefined evidence on the dates this generation received the land, I discovered in the
National Agrarian Registry that the government granted lots to landless peasants from
Tlaquepaque County between 1920 and the late 1940s.34 Diagram below shows the date
informants stated they received the lot.
Diagram 25. People who gave gifts to first generation of the Labrador lineage: 1925.
Extended
household Gifts
Parents, 5 children 1925: Plot of land
(3 women, 2 men) (government)
3 single and 2
married
This gift not only benefited Ángel and Emerenciana but also their five children
who inherited the land from their parents whilst they were alive. Eusebia Labrador posits
that:
‘She [my mother] came from a family that worked the clay. They
also had like, they also had like a half-block house; it was a half-
block lot that my [maternal] Grandpa left [to my parents]. They [my
parents] built their kiln; they had their [workshop] at home. They all
[my maternal family], all the Labrador siblings worked at my
Grandparents’ because it was a family workshop. My aunts and my
uncles, they all worked together.’35
34
However, the records did not specify the names of the people who benefited from such programmes.
35
137
Dolores and Blas Labrador received the land from Angel and Emerenciana in
1928, a year after they married. This allowed them to build their own household with the
profits they earned at the maternal workshop. Diagram 26 illustrates this:
Diagram 26. People who gave gifts to the second generation of the Labrador lineage: 1928.
Nuclear
household Gifts
Parents (2) and 5 1928: Plot of land
children (2 (Parents)
women, 3 men)
The Lucano descendents had difficulty remembering how, when and from whom
the first generation inherited their land. This was particularly true for male artisans who
were not the best informants on their predecessors. They tended to remember with greater
accuracy those events with which they were personally connected and when the decisions
taken by their ancestors directly affected their own trajectory. However, whilst Agustín
and Viviana Lucano were alive they earned a significant part of their living from
agricultural production and later, from land rental. The memories of their children
confirm that this was so since all the sons were engaged in agricultural production when
they were single and lived at the paternal household. Nonetheless, informants did not
know how this land came into their hands. Diagram 27 confirms this picture.
138
Diagram 27. People who gave gifts to first generation of the Lucano lineage: c1890.
Nuclear
household Gifts
(2 women, 3 men)
Leaving aside the discussion of the possible date of inheritance, the fact is that
Agustín died in 1932 intestate and left several plots of land to Viviana. This made the
men of the second generation fight for the land. According to Santos Lucano, his father
Balbino I decided to give up his share and even helped his brothers solve the problem
after months of arguments:
‘If my uncles would have loved her [my paternal grandmother], if

they had loved her, they would have welcomed her at their place,
right. But the point is that, that the rest of the things, the deeds of the
house and lands, the intestate thing and all that, they [my uncles] had
the deeds. I feel they were only interested in what she [my grandma]
had rather than being interested in her. My father never behaved like
that.36 He even told us that his grandparents went through the same
thing…and seeing that he said [to my uncles]: ‘you know what?
Let’s work all this out’. And so they did but when the time to pay
arrived, no one had money, right. But when the time to divide [the
house and lands] arrived, they all wanted their share. And my father
gave it to them, [and he said]: ‘here you have’. But not only since he
also said to them ‘I am keeping nothing, I am keeping nothing for
me. It’s all for you.’37
It is very likely that Santos’ recollections were correct since there is no evidence
that links his parents or siblings to land rental or agricultural work. Furthermore, by the
36
Viviana lived at Balbino I’s until she died in 1959.
37
139
time this event took place, Balbino I’s workshop employed sixteen artisans and produced
fruitful earnings. Likewise, the family was well known for its petatillo production. These
events support the accuracy of this recollection.
The recollections of the informants also point to the fact that by the time all the
children from the second generation of this lineage married, they already owned their own
house because their parents had given it to them. In the case of Balbino I, he received it in
1908, soon before he married for the first time, as Diagram 28 shows.
Diagram 28. People who gave gifts to second generation of the Lucano lineage.
Nuclear
household Gifts
Parents, 3 children 1908: House
(1 women, 2 men) (Parents)
3 Social mobility
Authors such as Benería and Sen (1986: 150), Morris (1990: 1-3), González de la Rocha
(1994: 3) and Safa (1995: 78), amongst others, have underlined the need to look at the
dynamics of the households in order to understand both the impact of the broader
economy and the role women played in their development. Beginning from this premise, I
will analyse the spaces – schools, working places and workshops – and events – marriage,
education and artisanal production – that encouraged or preserved the social mobility of
the first two generations of the artisan lineages with the purpose of understanding their
dynamics. Before doing so, I want to make clear that I use this term to refer to upward or
downward movements that any given individual experiences throughout her or his life
140
cycle due to a combination of economic, cultural, political and social elements. Such
mobility directly affects her or his status and in this context, is the result of both personal
and family decisions. The advantages of linking an individual’s pattern of social mobility
with that of their predecessors are unquestionable, as the work of Bertaux-Wiame (1993),
Bertaux and Bertaux-Wiame (1994) and Thompson (1995), amongst many others,
confirms.
The patterns of social mobility of the first and the second generation of the
Labrador and the Lucano lineages were rather stable. This was possible despite the
emergence of the educational, industrial and service sectors in the late 1920s and the early
1930s. However, this is not an exclusive feature of rural Mexican societies but rather an
extended pattern of early 20th century Latin America, as the work of Roberts (1995: 147-
8) suggests. Such stability owes to the fact that most of the population was illiterate and
lived in rural areas where the effects of modernity were still to have an impact.
Thus, the analysis of the patterns of occupation, marriage and instruction of the
first two generations of the Labrador and the Lucano lineages will not only shed light on
the expansion of capitalism and modernity per se during the first half of the 20th century
but also on their impact on traditional societies.
3.1 Spaces that encouraged social mobility
The social mobility of the first two generations of both lineages was achieved through
artisanal production. Although the empirical evidence in this respect is very limited, I can
deduce, based on the cycles and patterns of the workshop and artisanal production from
the younger generations, that the artisans from this generation achieved their economic
stability and even upward social mobility after marriage once the children reached
working age. Considering the evidence, I can also argue that these families invested their
141
earnings from agriculture in the workshop in an effort to secure their living. This was
viable since the manufacturing of handicrafts employed most of the family members and
therefore generated their largest income in a period when education and formal skills
were not necessary to survive.
Yet, the patterns of social mobility of the second generation of both lineages are
different. The Labrador children, contrary to their parents, were downwardly mobile even
after marriage since they had no land and the income they generated at the workshop
steadily reduced before the increasing competition of industrial products. This eroded,
little by little, their socio-economic position since none of them had formal instruction
and, therefore, few possibilities of finding a paid job in the emerging services and
bureaucratic sectors that could have encouraged their upward social mobility.
The Lucanos achieved a significant upward social mobility during the same period
that was due, in part, to the profits they made from agriculture. Balbino I – the eldest
sibling of this generation – far exceeded the social mobility of his parents and siblings
through artisanal production. He was both relatively wealthy and a well-known artisan
which positively affected his social standing. Buyers began to buy his pieces at high
prices, whilst the government awarded him important recognitions.
‘My father’s work is bought by collectors or the [government]…and

they all pay good money for it. Now his pieces have reached the 5 or
6000 thousand dollars; maybe more. I have a book in which a little
mask bathed with shade, which is not petatillo, is 400 dollars. The
mask is only 15 centimetres high. I still have the mould.’38
However, Balbino I’s family social mobility suffered a major setback in the late
1950s since his love for gambling and alcohol led them to bankruptcy and poverty. Their
38
142
situation worsened after he died in 1965 since the customers demanded their money back
for orders because the workshop did not supply the goods and the bank asked for the
house. Despite all this, Gabina and her three single children managed to pay the debts and
mortgage after some years of hard work and eventually bought a second property and two
second-hand vehicles. It was only after this that they regained their lost socio-economic
standing.
3.2 Events that encouraged social mobility
Marriage and artisanal production combined at different points of the lives of all the
individuals from the first and the second generations of the Labrador and the Lucano
lineages to encourage their upward social mobility. In all these cases, people were able to
keep their standard of living, and even to improve it, by devoting their productive time to
the manufacture of handicrafts. Most individuals also experienced intra-generational
social mobility after marriage although many times this was hardly visible, encouraged by
the support of their partners at the workshop.
Even when endogamic marriages were the predominant form of matrimony for the
first two generations of both lineages, there were also some exogamic unions. The
predominance of the former sheds light on the nature of the regional economy that
sustained artisanal production and small-scale agriculture and trade.
Exogamic matrimonies from the first two generations of both lineages shed light
on two crucial factors of the patterns of social mobility at that time. The first is the
importance of artisanal production for both the household and the local economy in a
rural context. After marriage, the possibilities for ordinary, illiterate and poor individuals
of earning a living were limited to any form of artisanal production, agriculture, domestic
and personal services and other minor jobs. Thus, artisanal work not only was an activity
143
that provided the means for survival for nearly half of the economically active population
of Tlaquepaque, Tonalá, Tepatitlán and several other counties from Jalisco State
(according to the 1905 census, 1905: 19), but was also a compulsory step after
matrimony.
The second factor is related to the elevated presence of endogamic marriages in
the first two generations of both lineages and its link with the broader economy. In the
Labrador lineage, the couple from the first and the second generations were already
artisans by the time they married, whilst in the Lucanos’ case, both Viviana and Gabina
learned the trade from their partners after marriage. The fact that artisans married artisans
is not circumstantial since in all cases handicraft manufacturing took place at home on a
daily basis from early morning to late evening. This not only restricted the leisure time of
those involved, it also reduced their social networks. For most of them, the selling of
merchandise at open markets and fairs and assisting at religious and local festivities were
the only social events. This explains why they tended to meet other artisans or people
closely related to this activity. Likewise, this reflects the hardly visible impact of
modernity and capitalism on this region of Mexico between 1880 and 1940.
3.2.1 The effects of marriage and education on women.
Marriage did not have a negative effect on the social mobility of the women of the first
generation of both lineages. This is because women and men had a similar background in
both cultural – all were illiterate – and social – all had an artisan origin – terms at the time
of matrimony. In these cases, women’s upward social mobility – that is, an improved
economic life – was encouraged by their partners’ economic standing at the time of their
marriage.
144
Emerenciana Labrador and Viviana Lucano were poor women of artisan origin
who had no education. The two of them married illiterate artisan men, Ángel and Agustín
respectively, each of who owned a property where they established their home and
workshop after marriage. In both cases, the wives became workers in and co-owners of
the workshops that their husbands were the heads of. The fact that they married men who
owned properties and who had a better economic standing encouraged their upward social
mobility, but such social mobility was not an inherent gift with marriage, but rather a
privilege they earned through hard work.
In Mexico, from the 16th century onwards, essential forms of colonial capitalism
led to some separation of domestic and work places (see Carrera, 1954: 280-1; Semo,
1973: 156-7 and 163-4; Pérez, 1996: 62-3; Trujillo, 1997: 38; von Mentz, 1999: 124 for
further references) but the family continued to be the workforce for all forms of family
businesses, particularly in rural areas. This pattern extended until the mid 20th century
since there was no law that protected artisanal work. However, capitalism influenced the
internal structure and the roles individuals played in family workshops since men, the
heads of the household, also appointed themselves as heads of the workshop. In doing so,
they assumed that they were the only breadwinner and in this logic, upward social
mobility for their women and children was possible only if they helped them support the
household. Thus, marrying individuals who owned properties did not assure women’s
social mobility; on the contrary, it had to be earned through hard work.
Marriage and education had a strong impact on the trajectories of the women from
the second generation of both lineages. Dolores Labrador married Blas who, like her, was
an illiterate artisan. Neither owned properties or had capital with which to establish their
own home, and they were obliged to move temporarily to Dolores’ parents home. This
145
had a negative effect on her situation; however, Dolores regained her position after she
inherited a plot of land from her parents:
‘My mom and dad’s place [was in front of] my maternal

grandmother, because we all lived on the same block. I mean, we
were neighbours, we, my granny and all my aunts and uncles. They
all lived right in front of our house and my mom and my dad lived
right in front of them [sic]. The only thing that separated us was the
street. My grandpa gave my mom the lot after she married my dad;
that’s why we entered each other’s house just like that.’39
Dolores’ sisters – Soledad and Felipa – had a similar pattern of social mobility
after marriage, but in contrast to their sister, one married a railroad worker and the other
an insurance agent. Their husbands, like their father, did not own any property and they
were forced to join the paternal workshop until their father inherited a plot for them and
once they opened their own workshops, their situation stabilised. This contrasts with the
dynamics of the previous generation of women of the same lineage who, despite being
hardly mobile after marriage, were upwardly mobile.
In the Lucanos’ case, Gabina –a poor illiterate woman – experienced a significant
upward social mobility after marrying Balbino I. He was a better off and self-taught
artisan, a widower with three children who owned a large workshop. Her marriage
positively affected both her social mobility and social standing. The quotation below adds
a bit further to our knowledge of the conditions of this marriage:
‘My mother took her three stepchildren with her [after she married]
and my father, I mean, my father’s children were the same age as my
mother. Then, I mean, my mother was fifteen when she, when she
married my father and he was thirty five and the elder step-daughter
39
Interview 8, Eusebia Galán Labrador, third generation of the Lucano lineage. August 1997.
146
was fourteen and Natalia was like thirteen or twelve and my

youngest half-brother was like ten or eight years old.’40
The other Lucano women, Margarita and Guadalupe, married non-artisan men and just as
with the women from the first generation of their family, they were upwardly mobile
since their partners had a higher socio-economic and cultural background and owned their
own lands. In the case of Guadalupe, she abandoned the trade after marriage since her
husband did not want her to work given that his income was enough to cover their needs.
This finding is crucial to the explanation of the uneven development of artisanal
production in artisan families since the trade tends to be temporarily interrupted or
abandoned when families are economically stable.
3.2.2 The effects of marriage and education on men
The patterns of social mobility of the men of the first and the second generation of both
lineages confirm that they were also more socially mobile than women, even in exogamic
and inter-class marriages. This was due to their education and their role in the family as
future fathers and providers. Since their early adolescence, men are encouraged to engage
in activities that are financially or materially rewarding; tasks in which they usually
succeed earlier than women. This difference translates into a greater monetary solidity
and advantage over women at the time of marriage that is reflected in upward social
mobility and the control of the family.
In the case of the Labrador and the Lucano lineages, the fact that Emerenciana Labrador
and Viviana Lucano were illiterate and had neither personal assets nor capital at the time
of marrying Ángel and Agustín respectively did not affect the social mobility of their
40
147
husbands. This was possible since the latter owned some houses where the couples
established their own workshop after their marriage. Thus, if the family was not mobile
immediately after marriage, their economic stability and the increasing participation of
the children at the paternal workshop eventually had a positive effect on their social
mobility. This confirms that the socio-economic profile of women, however
disadvantaged it might have been in relation to the men, was irrelevant for the social
mobility of the latter during the late 19th and the early 20th century in Mexico if they had
assets. This was so since men themselves were also uneducated and the context in which
they lived demanded, for reasons of survival, practical knowledge and manual skills
rather than formal qualifications.
Exogamic marriages were more common in the second generation of both
lineages than in the first. This reflects the steady erosion of traditional socio-economic
models where same class alliances were the rule. However, men continued to be more
mobile after marriage although the pattern seen in the previous generation changed. Blas
Labrador was a poor self-taught orphan artisan who had neither possessions nor capital
when he married Dolores Labrador, an illiterate artisan woman from a better-off family.
Although this affected the social mobility of his wife, it had a positive effect on him for
two reasons. The first was that Dolores inherited a lot from her parents where the couple
built a modest house. The second was that his in-laws welcomed him into their workshop
where he, his wife and children, as well as the rest of his in-laws, worked:
‘We never thought ‘I am going to help [my grandmother/father]

because it’s convenient for me’. No, we all worked together.
Because as I was telling you, at my grandparents’ workshop –my
maternal grandparents I mean– my parents and all my aunts and
uncles were working together. It was a large hall and everybody sat
there and each of us had their own mould and when the time to fire
the kiln arrived, so they fired it and painted it and delivered [the
merchandise]’. And the buyer said ‘there were so many dozen of this
148
piece [how much do I owe you?]. [Then my grandfather said to my

parents, to my aunts and uncles] ‘how many dozens were yours and
how many yours? Here’s your money.’ And none of them got
annoyed.’41
In the Lucano’s case, even though Balbino I married a poor woman, he was
exceptionally mobile after marriage due to the economic success of the workshop and the
support of his wife who became an artisan. This was similarly the case for his brothers
Cirilo and Tomás Lucano who also married women from a lower socio-economic
background. This was possible since they all owned a house and were skilled artisans at
the time of marriage, which allowed them to open up their own workshop and eventually
become economically successful.
Although the evidence at hand is too limited to generalise that men were less
likely to be negatively affected than women by unequal marriages, it suggests that in the
case of a significant number of artisans it was probably the case. When less affluent men
married better off women, their possibilities of being upwardly mobile were higher than
when poor men married poor women since in such cases the social mobility was
extremely difficult to achieve due to the lack of vision, capital and assets. Furthermore,
women were downwardly mobile in these cases – as Thompson (1994: 63) also found out
in late 20th century England – but their possibilities of regaining such a position were
higher when they stopped depending on men, or at least stopped expecting to be
supported by them. Thompson (1994: 63) states, in this respect, that:
‘Men seem to have ascendant trajectories with the support of a

good marriage, but women, on the contrary, are typically limited
by it or well freed and alone.’
41
Interview 17, Eusebia Labrador, third generation of the Labradors lineage. January 2000.
149
Data also points to the fact that when less affluent men were upwardly mobile,
their rise was explained by the material and economic support of their partners.
4 Masculinity and femininity
The empirical evidence on the notions of femininity and masculinity of the first two
generations of both lineages is limited and does not allow a detailed analysis. This is
particularly true for the discussion of the first generation. Nonetheless, based on the
arguments and observations of individuals from the younger generations I can speculate
that their predecessors had more rigid values on the proper behaviour of men and women
in public life, on the importance of marriage and on the weight of fatherhood and
motherhood for them.
4.1 The social life of artisan men and women
The memories of the members of the third and the fourth generation of both lineages
point to the fact that the social life of their predecessors was poor. Informants suggested
that the most important, and maybe even the only, public activities of their ancestors were
family events such as anniversaries, birthdays, weddings, baptisms, religious events and
first communions. Yet, there were no significant gender differences in the patterns of
social activity with the exception of a slight change in their public activities after
marriage. Single women were allowed to attend relatives’ parties, run errands and go
downtown on Sunday after attending mass, whilst married women limited their activities
to their families, households and workshops. Men had pretty similar patterns but contrary
to women, they attended public events on their own, such as baseball games, and other
minor gatherings as this artisan recalls:

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‘I mean, my grandfather enjoyed, he seemed to enjoy baseball he

fancied watching it rather than playing it because he didn’t know
how to play. He just went there to watch. And my granny, well, she
didn’t, as far as I can remember she didn’t practice any, how do you
call it? Any sport. She had no hobbies. She only cooked, she enjoyed
cooking I guess [laughs]’.42
The evidence is inconclusive as to whether the patterns of social life of the first
generation changed as time went by and after marriage. Still, what strikes my attention is
the unanimous perception of the younger generations in relation to sex-driven activities
and power relationships between couples. Their memories recollections reflect that men’s
authoritarianism was accepted and tolerated since that was the way ‘things were’. Men
controlled and sanctioned the public behaviour of their kin – women in particular – and
decided how and when to invest the family economic resources. Their decisions were
hardly ever confronted by their partners since their own values of submission and respect
prevented them from doing so. Men’s decisions, whether appropriate or inappropriate for
the household or their kin, were most of the times unilateral though this usually led them
apart from their kin. The quotation below reflects on a daily life argument:
‘My grandmother used to, I mean, she used to say, she used to say:
‘oh sunshine, what can I do about it?...There’s nothing I can do
[about his authoritarianism]. And I said, if you say you can’t, then I
can’t do a thing either, right. And I say, she used to say she could do
nothing about [it] because it was a man’s thing. That’s what my
grandmother used to say. Well [I replied], in such a case, let’s leave
it like that’.43
42
Interview 5, Beatríz Panduro, fourth generation of the Labrador lineage. August 1997.
43
151
The passage not only reflects the rigidity of their notions of masculinity but also
on the notions of femininity of the women who were frequently as authoritarian as the
men but at the domestic level. They were the ones who supervised the children’s
behaviour, who lectured them about daily life issues and by doing so they reproduced the
values that constrained them and permeated their lives. The fragment that follows
illustrates this daily life process:
‘My mother [used to be the one who would say] ‘today we are going
to have steaks’. And regarding to beans there was no discussion, it
was compulsory to cook them everyday. [At home] we had beans,
maize, etc and after I finish my lunch, I separated the kernels from
the corn so I could cook the maize so it was ready before sunset so I
could go out. Because before sunset I sat in the front door of the
house where I met my friends and we all sang and all that. My
friends came to my place with the guitars and all the lasses and the
lads also came around…We hang around from 8 until 9:30pm or
even 10:00pm that is when they [our parents] called us to bed. It was
[a] healthy [environment] because as we used to say [sic], we sat
right outside the front door of the house. My father put a big log
right at the main entrance, it was from a Giant tree, we sat on it, our
friends stopped by and brought their guitars and we sang. But we
have to be obedient because my father gave my sister Juanita a good
scolding if she stayed later or talked to her boyfriend’.44
Even though the informants’ memories suggest that they did not share exactly the
same values as their grandparents and parents, it stands out that they referred to their
childhood memories as some of the most relaxing and happiest moments of their lives
since the family got together and did not face so many problems. At least that is the way
they remember it.
The informants did not perceive artisanal production, a home-based activity, as a
social disadvantage. Most rural households until the early 20th century were
44
152
economically self-sufficient which implied taking for granted that the entire family would
work at home or in the fields most of the day. This philosophy and inertia, in my opinion,
has softened the self-perception of these families with regards to their evident social
isolation. As my evidence shows, besides work it was domestic and religious life that
were the most important social arenas in which they interacted. This, in turn, reinforced
their notions of proper moral and social behaviour for each gender.
Informants did not remember any significant difference in the patterns of social
life of the first and the second generation. This suggested two things. The first, and most
evident, was that their recollections and knowledge were vaguer as we moved away from
their parents’ generation. This methodological problem has been addressed and discussed
by authors such as Friedlander (1996: 154-5), Haley (1996: 258-261) and Hareven (1996:
242). Although the latter in particular referred to American culture when she made the
statement I quote below, it helps to depict the situation I faced when interviewing
Mexican artisans:
‘By comparison to other cultures, for most Americans generational

memory spans a relatively brief period. The term generational
memory is employed here broadly to encompass the memories that
individuals have of their own families’ history, as well as more
general collective memories about the past. Most people do not even
remember, or even knew, their grandfathers’ occupation or place of
birth…A sense of history does not depend on the depth of
generational memory, but identity and consciousness do, because
they rest on the linkage of the individuals’ life history and family
history with specific historical moments’.
The second point was that notwithstanding the ambiguity of much of the data, all
artisans agreed that the lives of their grandparents and parents did not dramatically
153
change. Their perceptions were likely to be accurate since the expansion of modernity and
capitalism in the early 20th century did not cause – at least initially – significant social
changes. The evidence of Semo (1979), Muriá (1994) and Roberts (1995) confirms this
picture. This explains why the level of endogamic marriages for these two generations
was considerably higher than for the remaining two generations.
4.2 Marriage
There is neither enough empirical evidence nor literature at hand to fully explain the
factors influencing marriage for people born between 1880 and 1920. Although the socio-
economic context, the cultural background and family history can provide signs of why
they married at all, the sociological picture is incomplete. This raises some important
methodological issue since I set out to compare the generational differences on this
theme. Still, despite the vagueness of the informants regarding their predecessors, I was
able to recover the names, ages, places of birth, number of children, and age at the
moment of marriage from the first and the second generations. This allowed me to
analyse the relevance of marriage for individuals, the age at the moment of marriage and
the high levels of endogamic marriages as part of an effort to understand their notions of
masculinity and femininity.
Data shows that the main difference between the first two generations of the
Labradors and the Lucanos regarding their patterns of marriage was a higher presence of
exogamic marriages. It can be deduced by the age at which they married and the fact that
all individuals from the two generations and lineages married, that this event was one of
the most important in their lives and therefore, played a crucial role in their identity.
Even though the early development of capitalism, urbanisation and modernity initially did
not radically encourage new patterns of social mobility and the emergence of new
154
economic sectors, it still had a degree of influence on the complexity of marriage
alliances in the decades of the early 20th century. In the Labrador case, two women
married outsiders. One of them married a railroad worker in 1929 and the second, an
insurance agent in 1930. In the Lucanos’ case, four out of five children had exogamic
marriages. Two men married women with no particular occupation and two women
married farmers. These matrimonies took place between 1910 and 1917. The age of the
women in both cases was between 13 and 19, whilst that of the men was between 16 and
18.
Men and women married during their early adolescence. Yet, the term
adolescence is inadequate since it connotes a rather contemporary perception of the
proper age for individuals to marry. Still, the fact that they married at that age is closely
related to their identity and their economic relevance for the household. Industrialisation
separated almost all forms of production from the domestic sphere and transferred them
to the public domain. This gradually led to the regulation of working conditions as well as
the preference for male workers (see Thompson, 1977: 115; Scott, 1988: 95; Morris,
1990: 60; and Chant and Craske, 2003: 218-9). As the economy specialised and
demanded a more qualified workforce, the State created educational institutions but it was
largely the parents who afforded most of the training of the children (Minge, 1986: 21 and
Qvortrup, 2001: 91). This changed the composition and the stability of the household
since children had to be supported and lived longer periods at home. This implied that life
events such as marriage were temporarily postponed due to school attendance. Marriage
was ultimately a compulsory stage, and also a necessary step towards economic stability,
and in its institutional context it tended to confirm and reproduce notions of masculinity
and femininity. The family trees number 1, 2, 3 and 4 show the names, places and dates
of birth and approximate dates at the moment of marriage of the artisans and non-artisans
155
of the first two generations of both lineages. They confirm my argument on the relevance
of this event for most individuals born during this period.

156
Family tree 1. First generation of the Labrador lineage.

157
Family tree 2. Second generation of the Labrador lineage.

158
Family tree 3. First generation of the Lucano lineage.

159
Family tree 4. Second generation of the Lucano lineage.

160
4.3 Motherhood and fatherhood
Having a family was as important for the notions of femininity and masculinity of the
artisans as marriage. It was an inherent part of family life since through offspring couples
could fulfil their feelings of satisfaction and achieve emotional and economic stability.
Data also suggests a significant gender difference in their notions of parenthood. Women
stated that for their grandmothers and mothers having children after marriage was
compulsory except if they were infertile. Informants from both lineages also believed that
motherhood was a gift through which they achieved a sense of fulfilment. The quotation
illustrates this perception:
‘[Maternity] it’s a gift in itself, isn’t it? It’s a gift because you have
the opportunity to be a mother and so many women don’t have that
chance, right...It must be very sad not to see, not to have the chance
of feeling totally fulfilled, right; I mean, as a woman, to be a mother,
right. Because you can be totally fulfilled in many other aspects but
not as a mother, [without children] you don’t achieve a complete
fulfilment. And my mother was happy when she was pregnant, [it
was] something good for her. I saw that my father was also very
happy when she was [pregnant] and I imagine my grandmother was
also very happy when she was too otherwise they wouldn’t have
children, right.’45
Although men were shyer when I asked them to speculate on how their
predecessors might have felt about fatherhood and their role in the upbringing of their
children, the answers denoted that children were seen as an inherent stage of marriage.
Still, their memories suggest that they had distant relationships with their offspring –
whether male or female – since they delegated the care of the family to their wives. This
45
Interview 5, Beatríz Panduro, fourth generation of the Lucano lineage. August 1997.
161
favoured the construction of closer emotional links between the children and the mothers
since the fathers dedicated most of their time to their role as providers:
‘I believe I didn’t have [a close relationship with my father] because

to a certain extent I was little [when he died] and all I did was to
attend school and I, I can’t say I had a good relationship with him
because when you are at school you can spend very little time at
home. And, and we did not have a close relationship…We hardly
ever talked about ourselves…To be honest I don’t, I really don’t
remember many things about [my father]’.46
This memory illustrates the role each gender played in the household and the
family and the rigidity of the notions of masculinity and femininity under which the two
generations of both lineages were raised.
Evidence also shows an important feature of the two generations of the two
lineages in relation to the size of the family. The two generations of the Labradors and the
Lucanos had only five children when the average family size for 1900 was higher. This
was not the outcome of a family planning method but rather the result of women’s and
young children’s health problems. The women had the same number of live and dead
children with the exception of Gabina Lucano, from the second generation of that lineage,
who had eight miscarriages and five live births, as her son Santos remembers:
‘AC: and related to your own family, I mean, to your siblings, you
were the child number…?
Santos: mmm, I am the, I am the number 5. I mean, I am the fifth
live child…
AC: is Teresa [the second live child] 10 years older than your elder
brother Balbino [the third live child]?
Santos: Indeed she is…
AC: Why is she 10 years older than your brother Balbino?
46
162
Santos: Because there were several miscarriages. How many

children [considering the miscarriages and those who lived] do you
think we were? Make a guess! I was the child number thirteen, I was
the last…and Elena was the eldest. According to my birth certificate,
I was the child number thirteen but only five of us survived.’47
Motherhood took on a very important meaning for both genders since giving birth
was life threatening for mother and child; in rural areas where the health infrastructure
was, and still is, very limited, only a midwife attended a woman in labour and the
physician came only in extreme cases. According to Estadísticas Históricas (1994: 192),
in 1903 over 1/4 out of 1000 children under 1 year old died. The figure dropped to 125.7
in the 1940s.
The fact that the four women from the first two generations under question had
five children each is a coincidence that deserves to be analysed. Although the evidence at
hand is limited, I can be relatively confident based on the data and on my own
observations that the fertility and the family size patterns between 1880 and 1940 reflect
not only the values of motherhood and fatherhood of the artisans but also of most
individuals born during this period. The patterns allow for three further considerations.
The first considers the close ties between the health of the women and the
children, their access to health services and the size of the family. When women and
children had access to health services during pregnancy and illness, families composed of
ten or more members took a nuclear form. The second suggests links between the women
and the children who faced health problems during pregnancy and early infancy and the
inadequate information about, and access to, health services. In these cases families
tended to be smaller – nearly half the average for the period – and took on a nuclear form
and the age gap between each sibling usually was up to 15 years. The third consideration
47
163
observes that when women faced acute pregnancy problems and were attended by
midwives at home, they died during childbirth leaving usually one or two children. The
need for a mother for the children and company for themselves encouraged men to marry
for a second and even for a third time, leading to the formation of complex households.
These considerations not only relate to the notions of motherhood and fatherhood of the
artisan families but also to their values of femininity and masculinity that, through the
hardships of marriage (leadership, child bearing and raising, financial and environmental
limitations, loss and death) were put to the test.
5 Informal and formal sectors: an approach to their understanding through
artisanal production
In 1987, 33 per cent of the economically active population of Mexico was considered part
of the informal sector (Roberts, 1995: 78). In November 2004, Reforma stated that the
percentage had grown to 40 percent. Leaving aside the methodological and theoretical
discussion on how institutions constructed these figures, it stands out that an increasing
number of people became involved in informal activities, not only in Mexico but also
around the world (see Mingione, 1985: 30-51; Corden and Eardley, 1999: 209; Hammam,
1986: 159 and Tilly, 1986: 28-29). This is of primary importance for the understanding of
the survival of artisanal production since the number of people earning their living
through a job that provides them with working benefits, holidays, social security and
housing credits, is reducing in the face of the most aggressive capitalist expansion.
I would like to highlight the fact that some authors (Connolly, 1985; Mingione,
1985; Pahl and Wallace, 1985; Safa, 1992 and González de la Rocha, 1994) have pointed
out that in many countries the living standards of low and semi-skilled formal and
informal workers are relatively the same. This suggests the fallacy of productivity and
164
benefits – decent housing, a well-paid job and fringe benefits – that the formal sector
supposes to grant them. This situation also reflects the conspicuous nature of both types
of economies. These facts consider the failure of capitalism as the Utopian model of
equality and wealth around the world, but particularly in the underdeveloped countries
where it directly fosters the emergence of informal activities and, therefore, the
reproduction of the labour force.
The boundaries of the formal and the informal sectors are blurred and variable and
vary as an essential factor in the reproduction of the labour force from country to country,
and even from continent to continent, due to historical and economic reasons. This is
worth considering since, as Connolly (1985: 62) stated, whilst in the First World it was
defined as ‘employment disguised as unemployment, the informal sector in the Third
World is unemployment disguised as employment’. This implies that the question of how
informal work is defined and what type of activities fall into this category must be
addressed in this work in order to give an idea of its nature and extent.
Most authors doing research on employment and poverty eventually face the
discussion of the formality or informality of the economy to refer to the wide and variant
set of activities that allow people to reproduce both work and themselves. In literature on
Latin America (such as Lomnitz, 1975; Alonso, 1980; Escobar, 1988; Chant and Craske,
2003), the formal sector has been traditionally associated with modernity, technology,
high qualifications, good wages and decent working conditions, whilst the informal one is
linked to traditional modes of production, handmade tools, low or no skills, irregular
wages and precarious working conditions (Roberts, 1995 and Zataraín, 1990).
If we approach the informal sector considering these attributes, it will lead us to
simply contend that it is unproductive and that it limits the expansion of capitalism. This,
therefore, will hamper the possibility of considering its impact on the overall economy
165
and above all, on its unquestionable role in the re/production of the labour force. Chiefly,
and departing from my empirical evidence and literature (Lomnitz, 1977; Conolly, 1985;
Safa, 1990; Roberts, 1995 and ENIGH), the informal sector is diverse in both social and
economic terms. It also stands out for either self-employing individuals or employing
them in small enterprises and in both cases, their income is variable and usually low
which puts them at the borderline of poverty. Informal workers also tend to concentrate in
urban settings. Roberts (1995: 176) states in this respect that:
‘many of the economic opportunities of cities in developing

countries, particularly in the informal sector of small-scale
enterprises and self-employment, are based on the spatial
heterogeneity of the city that enables, for example, the food
vendor, street trader or domestic servants to live close to their
clients’.
The informal sector emerged from the formal sector since most of the population
did not fit into the capitalist modern sector due to their socio-economic and cultural
origin. That is, the rapid pace of industrialisation, land speculation and the concentration
of income –all characteristics of capitalism – steadily excluded poorly qualified and low-
income individuals from the benefits of this growth. Let us look at the changing position
of artisanal production in the overall economy as the capitalist-driven economy displaced
self-consumption activities.
It is not risky to argue that artisanal production was considered the most formal
form of production during the Colonial period in Mexico. The work of Semo (1973: 120,
161-183), Novelo (1996: 95-114), Pérez Toledo (1996: 51-64) and von Mentz (1999:
173-181) point this out. It was fiscally and quality-controlled besides having a
hierarchical work division between masters, apprentices and assistants. Rural production
166
– including poor urban artisans – escaped these regulations since it was mainly produced
for self-consumption and local markets and generated profits that were difficult to
measure. Capital-intensive industrialisation and the growth of the service sector from
1940 on demanded a better-educated population, which left the less educated excluded
from this development and dependant on informal activities.
Most of these activities targeted both better-paid individuals who demanded items
that factories did not manufacture and low paid sectors for whom industry did not
produce due to the low margin of profits. These are the doors that unemployed, low-paid
and poor people opened seeking to satisfy their needs.
If we look back at previous chapters, we will find that for the four generations of
the two lineages – regardless of the vicissitudes each of them faced – artisanal production
played two roles. On the one hand it was the most regular and formal form of income. I
use the term “formal” in order to underline its continuity throughout 120 years as well as
the conditions under which it was done. Yet, as new forms of production and organisation
replaced artisanal work, families had to engage in temporary informal activities to
survive.
The second point is related to the previous since as the processes of production in
the different economic sectors modernised, and as they increased their profitability and
exploited the labour force of the workers, self-consumption activities acquired their
informal character. Within this landscape, both artisanal production and small-scale
agriculture – the pillars of self-sufficient regional economies such as that of Jalisco State
– started to be considered so.

167
5.1 The informal sector seen through empirical data
My evidence and that from other scholars (Mingione, 1985: 20-21), Conolly (1985: 79-
81), Roberts (1995: 116-120) and Chant (2003: 203-208) confirm that some areas of the
informal sector – the so-called ‘reserve army’ in Marxist literature – contribute to
capitalist accumulation. This shows the inadequacy of counterposing the two economic
models that led to an overriding and conflicting discussion. Through my case studies, I
will discuss how such an assumption is inappropriate in both empirical and
methodological terms.
I have discussed that most informal activities develop at the edge of formal ones
and that they employ low skilled and/or low paid workers. Artisanal production fits this
profile. From the 1940s onwards, at the time the tourist sector was born, artisans entered
the capitalist market through private capital that not only hired or exploited artisans but
also controlled the conditions, pace and costs of production of this activity. At an
empirical level, it is possible to sustain – based on my evidence – that artisans were
forced by their poverty, the age of their children and their lack or limited amount of
customers, to depend on intermediaries and suppliers. Sadly, for many of them this is a
never-ending dependency.
The above remark sheds light on the fact that artisanal production – an activity
placed at the heart of the informal economy – was profitable for producers and
intermediaries. On the one hand, the production entered the logic of capitalism by
exploiting the workforce of workers and by allowing intermediaries to accumulate capital.
On the other, the scarce profits artisans made allowed them to survive, to reproduce and
to produce the labour force for the formal and informal markets. And this was the
situation for artisans who did not depend on private capital as they were also entitled to
reproduce though in slightly better conditions.

168
Connolly (1985: 83-84), Selby et al (1990: 97) and Chant (2003: 218-224), and
my own data, confirm that women were more involved than men in informal activities. It
also stands out that whereas men tended to abandon the trade temporarily or definitively,
women carried paid or self-employed activities in parallel with their domestic chores and
the care of the family. All this confirms the challenges that the juxtaposition of artisanal
production with modernity and capitalism poses for both genders.
Artisans used their profits for two purposes. The profits earned at the workshop
were invested in generating more income. The case of the Labrador family is a fine
example. The women from the four generations invested money, although very limited
amounts of money, in the preparation of food – meals and bakery – and dressmaking
when they faced more acute periods of hardship. Another form was the investment of
resources in individuals who did unpaid work such as domestic work, mending clothes
and caring for the family that had a direct impact on individual and collective
consumption.
Another important implication of the antagonistic model is the impossibility to
acknowledge how, in fact, informal activities also contribute to the production and not
only the reproduction of the labour force. At different points and sections of the previous
chapters, I showed that artisans worked as informal paid workers. In the Labrador case,
this took place from the second generation onwards. Blas, for example, left his family
workshop to take a job as a full time baker whilst his children continued to produce
handicrafts. A generation later, Trino Panduro left his aunt’s workshop – where he
worked as a paid artisan – for another job in a local carpenter’s workshop. Years later, he
resigned and took a job as an artisan at his father’s workshop in exchange for a wage. In
the Lucano lineage, the same occurred but from the third generation onwards. Santos
Lucano left his mother’s workshop – where he also received a salary – to take a
169
temporary job as a leather painter. In all the cases, this money complemented the income
earned by their families at their workshop.
The above confirms two facts: that capitalism has a gender-differentiated impact
that places a greater burden of work on women when their partners’ income fails to make
ends meet. The second is that by simply counterposing broad features of the formal and
informal sectors, we obscure the possibilities of understanding and fully acknowledging
how the failures of capitalism affect the informal market and encourage the emergence of
informal activities.
5.2 Characteristics of the self-employed artisans
Based on my remarks and the attributes of artisanal production, it is possible to define the
informal sector as an empirically observable sphere with the risk of contravening some
theoretical frameworks. Still, this does not but confirm the variable and flexible nature of
this sector and the need to consider the elements that define it. Chiefly, low income and
the lack of social security and work benefits are correlated to this sector, according to
most authors researching the Latin American and Mexican economies (Connolly, 1985;
Benería and Roldán, 1987b and c; Escobar, 1988; Selby et al, 1990; González de la
Rocha, 1994; amongst others). Influenced by this discussion, I outlined the characteristics
of the artisan workers in an effort to contrast their conditions to those of the workers from
the formal sector:
a) Low wages (most of the time below the minimum wage)
b) Irregularity in their income
c) Irregularity in their sales (health, economic and level of productivity place
constraints on the extent and volume of the production and commercialisation)

170
d) Instability in the demand of handicrafts due to external socio-economic factors
(economic crisis, currency depreciation, drop in the purchasing power,
unemployment, etc)
e) Absence of medical services
f) Little or no affiliation to labour trades or organisations
g) Operating without licence
h) No access to credit
Although the data reflect the situation of the artisan sector,48 an increasing number
of formal workers engage in informal activities before the fall of their standard of living
due to the contravention of their work rights – lack of legal contracts – and benefits – lack
of social security – on the part of multinational and domestic companies that force them
to carry out informal activities.
The above mentioned, and the findings of several studies in relation to the
informal sector, confirm why the notions of solidarity of the individuals, their sacrifices,
their long working hours and their social networks were essential for their survival.
Furthermore, this picture also warns us of the highly organised and active nature of the
informal sector that provides the means of survival for millions of individuals. This shows
that the informal economy is, according to the Marxist framework, the indifferent answer
of society to the uneven and fast expansion of capitalism in underdeveloped countries.
48
A sector that according to Seminario (1997) involved 5 million artisans in the early 1990s. Yet, García
Canclini (1997) states that the figure was nearly 8 million for the same period. This contradiction reflects
the difficulty that institutions and most studies face when making estimations on the informal sector.
171
Conclusion
As one can see, there were strong reasons why artisanal production survived between
1880 and 1940 in Mexico. This was due, largely, to the self-sufficient character of the
economy of this region, the relevance of traditional activities and to the lack of an
educational and parallel economic infrastructure. Thus, although the State made important
efforts to urbanise, modernise and industrialise the economy from the early 20th century,
they did not have an immediate impact on the socio-economic structures. This is
confirmed when we see the number of people in each lineage employed in artisanal
production, the role of this activity for the household economy, the stability of the
patterns of social mobility and marriage as well as their notions of masculinity and
femininity. This landscape assured not only the production of handicrafts but also their
consumption in poor rural and urban areas where the habits of consumption were nearly
identical. Thus, family workshops from several Jalisco counties were the major source of
employment until the late 1930s, the decade in which the economy steadily shifted
towards a dependent-capitalism, that is, an economy heavily dependant on external
policies.
The position of the third and fourth generations of the two lineages before the
historical and socio-economic processes that took place from the mid 20th century
onwards will drastically differ from the conditions in which the previous two generations
grew up. I will address this situation in the remaining two chapters where it will be
evident that the patterns of family life, the composition of the household economy and
workshop production were steadily destroyed by the rapid expansion of modernity and
capitalism. This discussion will shed important light on the conditions under which
artisanal production survived amidst contradictory forces.

172
Chapter 4. A glance at the similarities and differences of third generation of the
Labrador and the Lucano lineages.
It is the purpose of this chapter to discuss the similarities and differences between the first
two generations of the Labrador and the Lucano lineages and the third one. The
discussion will show that despite the continuities, this generation suffered more than the
previous two in social, cultural and economic terms due to the rapid expansion of
modernity, economic shifts, the growth of the educational system and the capitalisation of
the economy. This discussion will allow me to sustain that families had to invest more
resources than their predecessors did in the education of the children in an effort to
survive and be socially mobile. The discussion also aims to show how the role of artisanal
production for the household economy weakened, how the conditions and age in which
the trade was passed down to the younger generations of artisans and non-artisans
changed and how their notions of masculinity and femininity modified in an effort to fit
into the dynamics of a modern life.
1 The family and the household economy and its changing role in relation to
workshop production: 1940-1970
The analysis of the 1940-1970 period data shows that the role of artisanal production in
the household economy weakened as modernity and industry expanded. In Tlaquepaque
County, these decades were characterised by the birth of the tourist and the service
sectors as well as the expansion of the existing ones, which resulted in a higher demand
for a more qualified workforce, a change in the patterns of social mobility and therefore,
in the values of what being a man or woman meant. The socio-economic changes steadily
obliged artisan families to invest their limited resources in the education of their children.
173
This eroded the role of artisanal production in the household economy and led to the
family’s increased dependence on the wages of the children.
Despite empirical and ethnographic evidence confirming that domestic units
survived during this period due to the income generated by children, artisans from all
generations and both lineages provided fragmented and evasive answers on the issue.
This sheds light on the artisan values of secrecy regarding parenthood, family life and
family economy, which play a crucial role in the survival of artisanal production. This
quotation reflects further on this:
Well, look, I never had, I mean, as far as our monthly or yearly

income refers, it varies a lot. As I just said, it varies a lot. For
example, this year, it was really, really, really…awful. People
who used to place orders have not turned up because they still
have plenty of merchandise left. I imagine they will start seeing
[soon] what type of merchandise they’ll need this year and then
they will order it. We are going to wait for them. That’s why I
can’t figure out how much I earn. I don’t have a clear idea right
now about our income.49
I believe their resistance is owing to three reasons. The first has to do with the
values of the artisans on parenthood; the second with the values of obedience and
submission by which children are raised; and the third, the fiscal situation of most of the
producers. Although in real life most members of the family have to work to support it,
the myth of the male breadwinner is persistent in practical terms and everyday life. Their
failure to support their families during the most productive stage of their lives affects their
own image of manhood. However, this does not affect their role and authority in the
family since they do their best to keep the internal hierarchy working for their own
benefit. They do so by diminishing the importance of the economic contribution of the
49
174
children and by avoiding discussion of the issue. Their, perhaps unconscious, aim is to
reduce the possibility of internal domestic conflicts that could jeopardise their position
within the family and household.
I believe that the ideals of obedience, submission and modesty by which children
were raised helped the male heads of household to preserve their privileged position at the
household and workshop and therefore, to preserve patriarchy. Poverty tends to reinforce
the ties between kin since supportiveness is seen as a fundamental value to defeat
hardship and ensure survival. In doing so, for children this implies providing economic or
material support whenever it is needed since, in future, they might benefit from such
solidarity. But children also offer help guided simply by their feelings of loyalty and
solidarity. Thus, despite the awareness of the relevance of their income, children tend not
to mention how hard they worked, how pressured they feel or the sacrifices they were
forced to make on behalf of the family since this could be interpreted as a sign of
arrogance, lack of humbleness and disrespect for the parents, above all the father.
The fiscal situation of most artisans in Mexico also plays a substantial part in the
refusal of artisans to discuss their domestic finances. Since Mexican legislation does not
regulate artisanal production made at family workshops (Problemas, 1997: 15), its control
is left in the hands of government officials and is largely considered in relation to its role
in the economy and the interests of private capital.
Broadly speaking, when this activity is policed and artisans are pressured to have
a fiscal license,50 it is very likely due to the economic pressure of the local Trade
Chamber to control the commercialisation of handicrafts, as in the case of Tlaquepaque
County. Evidence from a variety of studies (Barbash, 1993: 42; Torres and Rodríguez,
1996: 39 and Moctezuma, 2001: 383) confirms that, contrary to Tlaquepaque, in most
50
A legal permit demanded by the County Hall of Tlaquepaque of artisans in order to allow them to
produce and sell handicrafts.
175
tourist places in Mexico artisans are allowed to sell their merchandise directly to the
customers and, in some places, they are entitled to do so by paying small fees to the city
hall . This shows that when artisans are controlled by local governments, it is very likely
that businesspeople have complete control of the commercialisation of the handicrafts
made by local artisans as the artisans lack the economic and material means to transport
and sell their merchandise in farther markets. Thus, the refusal of informants to discuss
fiscal issues can be interpreted as a shelter from fiscal penalties in case of threat from
government officials or businesspeople.
A gender perspective also highlights significant differences in the perception of
the importance of the income provided by children to support the household. Men were
more reluctant than women to acknowledge the contribution of their offspring that
suggests the extent of the impact of economic readjustments on their images of
masculinity and fatherhood. The following quotation suggests such vulnerability:
I do believe that family relationships should not be affected by

that situation, or should they? In the case of…I mean, but it’s a
reality. The fact that children help [to support the household]
makes them have a high opinion of themselves in the family.
Nevertheless, that should not be! Because, as I ask my children,
do you contribute? Then do it but don’t go lecturing anyone.
Don’t use that [position] to lecture us. Do you contribute too?
Then, do it because you want, because you really feel like it, but
not because you [have to]. I think that way. I really like the
family cooperating for the sake of everybody. Imagine we all
had a paid job, we could say: “let’s save this amount, 100051
pesos, 500 pesos a month…you know we are four or five, how
much could we save every month? Then, what are you going to
do with that money? It’s a matter of reaching an agreement. I
have the disposition to do it and strongly believe in helping
each other; that would be terrific for everybody!’.52
51
Equivalent to 100 USD.
52
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The quotation shows that men made an important effort to keep their authority and
power in the household by adapting to the circumstances, i.e., by being flexible before the
increasing participation of children in the decision making and survival of the family. On
the contrary, women were less reluctant to acknowledge this help but their answers were
equally fragmented. Such contraposition suggests that even when, at least in theory,
women were not responsible for the support of the family and household, the external
economic changes also affected their position, as this female artisan states:
‘Once they [the children] started working and they were

single, they had all they needed. We didn’t have to spend
money buying them shoes, clothes, etc. They had all they
needed because they worked. They had shoes, they had
clothes, they bought everything. They started buying their
things they wanted to buy. However, by then we [my
husband and I] were stable, I mean, with our work we
were doing very well. We didn’t buy them things.’53
The economic stability of the parents was possible only because the children were
of working age and partially supported themselves. On the other hand, and very much to
my surprise, women’s answers reflected their intention to go unnoticed under the pronoun
‘we’. This is present even in situations where the income they generated was the pillar of
the household economy. It also stands out that they did not use their position to replace or
challenge men’s position. This allowed men to keep playing the breadwinner role. Morris
(1990: 122) found a similar pattern in the middle and upper classes in the USA and the
UK, which suggests the important role that the cultural values of masculinity/femininity
53
177
and fatherhood/motherhood play in the conservation of the patriarchal system and of
artisanal production.
During the 1940-1970 decades, Jalisco State underwent significant industrial growth
(Zataraín, 1979: 32). In the early 1970s, industry in Tlaquepaque County became the third
most productive in the state behind that of Zapopan and Guadalajara counties (Luna,
1998: 378). This threatened the position of artisan families whose production competed
with mass produced commodities. Such a situation reduced the income they made
through artisanal production and, as Diagrams 29 and 30 show, forced them to engage in
a number of formal and informal activities seeking to complement their living. This fact
in itself confirms the higher vulnerability of this generation when compared with the
previous ones as well as the increased complexity of their household economy.

178
Diagram 29. Household economy of the third generation of the Labrador lineage.
Gifts
House 1963
House 1993
Formal jobs Artisanal

(1962-1984)
production
Carpenter, potter, 2
nurses, secretary, (maternal
handicraft painter, workshop)
dressmaking teacher, 1962-1984
schoolteacher.
Household
economy
Informal jobs Artisanal

1964-2000 production
Selling of food (paternal
and homemade workshop)
bakery. 1984-2004
179
Diagram 30. Household economy of the third generation of the Lucano lineage.
Gifts
House 1976
House 1993
Vehicle 1993
Formal jobs Artisanal

(1999-) production,
Factory worker, (maternal
commission workshop)
salesperson &
accountant
1974-1993
Household
economy
Artisanal
Informal jobs production,
Leather painter (own workshop)
1975-1977 1993-2004
Industrialisation and urbanisation – two phenomena that characterised the 20th
century growth of Latin American economies, according to Benmayor and Vázquez
(1990), Roberts (1995) and Safa (1992) – forced artisan families to invest their scarce
resources in the education of their children in an effort to secure their survival. This
produced a steady shift from self-sufficient economies based on artisanal production and
agriculture to waged jobs. However, families still relied on informal temporary activities
such as the selling of food and homemade bakery to complement their living.
180
2.1 People who supported the household through artisanal production
Although artisanal production continued to be a central activity for the economy of the
third generation of the Labradors and the Lucanos, fewer members of both families
engaged in it on a full time basis in comparison to the first two generations. In the
Labradors’ case only 2 out of 14 children worked as full time artisans, whilst in the
Lucanos’ case, only the parents did. Let us analyse the conditions that led them to do so.
From the early 1960s to the mid 1970s, the Labradors earned most of their living through
artisanal production at the workshop run by the mother, Eusebia Labrador, who was a
practical, hard working and affectionate woman of poor artisan origin. She was also a
determined woman with a strong sense of solidarity that, in turn, played a vital role in the
survival of her fourteen children. Eusebia and family faced continuous poverty, which
encouraged her to open a small workshop in the modest rented house in which they lived.
181
Photograph 3. Eusebia Labrador. January 2000.
Eusebia was a full time artisan from 1962 to 1966, a period during which she was
helped by the two elder children, Luis and Beatríz, aged 12 and 11. The children worked
an average of six hours per day after school that for them represented the end of
childhood and childhood games. The profits that were generated at the workshop
complemented the income that Trino, the father, earned as a carpenter. Diagram number
182
31 shows the members of the family involved in artisanal production and the number of
family members that depended on it.
Diagram 31. Members of the Labrador family involved in artisanal production on a full time basis:
1962-.
Nuclear Full time artisans

Household 1962-
Parents and Mother and the two
their 9 children elder children
(Luis and Beatríz).
Trino, the father, was a laconic, quiet and hard working man who helped his
family with the manufacture of handicrafts after work, as his wife recalls. Although the
help was limited, it was important since he was a skilled and experienced potter:
‘He [Trino] worked outside home so he prepared the clay

early in the morning and headed to the carpenter’s workshop
and after work he helped us finish the pieces. And the next
day my daughter Beatríz and my son [Luis] and I worked all
day and then he [Trino] arrived home again and helped us do
the work…Beatríz and my eldest son [Luis]] were the ones
who worked most and the ones who most talked to each
other. My eldest son, he helped us to fire the kiln and [did] all
those [heavy] things whilst my husband was at work. Beatríz
and I painted the merchandise. We three were working and
painting, finishing one thing and starting the other’.54
54
183
In the Lucanos’ case, the manufacturing of handicrafts was the most important
source of income for the household until the mid 1980s. The large workshop was run by
Santos, a timid, religious, quiet and hard working person. He was the only member of the
family who continued the trade and therefore, the one who benefited from the prestige of
his family name. Santos was a skilled painter and trader with a strong sense of
commitment, self-discipline and solidarity towards his work and family. This
counterbalanced his lack of initiative to embark on new projects and economic activities.
Photograph 4. Santos Lucano. January 2000.
Santos was the only breadwinner for his wife and five children from the mid
1970s to the late 1980s. Earnings steadily shrank as industrial products, economic
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readjustments and changing habits of consumption threatened artisanal production. In
1989, the situation worsened after Elba died and, in 1993, Santos married Martha, a
divorced factory worker with three children of her own. Neither Santos nor the workshop
could provide sufficient means to support the two families, which ‘encouraged’ Martha to
learn the trade to ‘help’ Santos to support the family:
‘All children were very young and well, being here [at the
workshop] helping me to keep an eye on them so they were not
just wasting time. [My work] helped a lot [the family] because
in the past he [Santos] spent all day here working and I was at
home. He just had lunch and returned to the workshop, the girls
arrived from school and spent the entire evening watching TV
or doing their homework, and that was it. So I said to myself:
‘we are wasting time’. Housework is a never-ending task since
I can easily get up doing it and go to bed doing it and still there
will be something to be done, right? Here at the house we are
doing nothing productive, are we? And I thought to myself:
‘watching TV won’t take us anywhere’. So I said to him
[Santos]: ‘I’ll start going with you in the evenings to the
workshop’. And then I thought: ‘what about the girls? They are
going to be on their own in the evening! How could I possibly
know if something happens to them? In the past, we had no
phone line here at the workshop so I said to them: ‘let’s go, you
can do your homework there.’55
The disposition of Martha to ‘help’ Santos ended up in the obliged participation of
all the children in the workshop. They did menial work such as placing the merchandise
in a sunny area, loading the kiln before burning it or packing the pieces once they were
finished. Diagram 32 shows the number of members of both families engaged at artisanal
production once they spent the afternoons at the workshop.
55
185
Diagram 32. Members of the Labrador and the Ramírez families involved at artisanal production on
a full time basis.
Complex
household Full time artisans
Father and his 5 1993-
children and Father and his
mother and her 3 second wife
children
2.2 People who produced handicrafts on a part time basis
From the third generation onwards, most of the family members of the Labradors and
Lucanos engaged in artisanal production on a part time basis. This is meaningful since the
previous two generations worked full time at the paternal workshop, which confirms the
shift towards an economy sustained on waged and more skilled jobs.
The Labrador family was large so it benefited from the abundant unpaid workforce
throughout its entire domestic cycle as the individuals grew up. The workshop was full of
young teenagers and adults who worked at the workshop after school from 1966 to 1978,
as Diagram 33 shows.
Diagram 33. Members of the Labrador family involved in artisanal production on a part time basis.
Part time
Nuclear artisans
household (1966-1978)
Parents and Eusebia & Ofelia,
their 14 children Antonio, Enrique,
María, Martha &
Refugio.
186
The Labrador household greatly benefited from the work of these children, who
grew up in a loving but difficult situation where the values of solidarity and respect were
crucial for the survival of the family as their mother recalls:
‘We made small things to look important because my children

knew that once the merchandise was sold and all that, they would
have money for their books, their shoes, their school uniforms, or
whatever they needed. Therefore, they had to work and focus on
that because work was important to have money…we had to have
money for everything.’56
In the Lucanos’ case, from the early 1990s on all the children began working at
the paternal workshop after school, forced to do so by hardship. Although most of them
were unskilled and worked part time, this granted them economic stability during a
difficult period. It is worth commenting on the fact that in both family lineages, the
children learned the trade when the family faced poverty. Yet, the main difference
between them is that whilst the Lucano and Ramírez stepsiblings learned it as young
adults, the Labradors did so in their childhood and early adulthood. This is explained by
the relative economic stability of the former during the early stage of its domestic cycle as
we can deduct from Diagram 34.
56
187
Diagram 34. Members of the Labrador and the Ramírez families involved at artisanal production on
a part time basis.
Part time artisans

Complex 1993-
Household Santos, Martha,
Father and his 5 Belén Montserrat,
children and mother Ericka, Eunice,
and her 3 children. Paola, Santos, Araceli
and Martín.
2.3 People who lived at the paternal household but who did not work at it
We have seen that from the second generation onwards, households started to depend on
the wages earned by the children outside the household. This became a painful reality for
the third generation of both lineages since artisanal production could no longer generate
sufficient income to support the family. However, there are two main differences between
the Labradors and Lucanos regarding the relevance of wages for their domestic finances.
The first is the size of the family, and the second is the age at which the children found
their first paid job. Both combined to narrow the economic gap between the two units
from the mid 1960s onwards. From 1966 onwards the Labrador household was supported
by eight children – Beatríz, Ofelia, Antonio, Enrique, Hermenegilda, Rosa, Martha and
Consuelo – through their work as handicrafts painter and dressmaking teacher,
administrative secretary, bricklayer, air traffic controller, schoolteacher, nurses and
chartered accountant respectively, as Diagram 35 shows.

188
Members
1966-1984
Household Carpenter, potter, 2
composition nurses, handicraft
Parents and 14 painter, dressmaking
children teacher; secretary &
schoolteacher.
In the Lucanos case, only three children – Samuel, a factory worker; Cristina, a
commission salesperson; and Ericka, a chartered accountant – helped support the paternal
household from the late 1990s onwards. The impact of the economic contribution of the
children in both cases is unquestionable and hence the importance of the refusal of the
parents to acknowledge it, whether they worked at the workshop or had waged jobs.
Diagram 36 shows the composition of the household economy at this stage of the
domestic cycle.
Diagram 36. Members of the Lucano family who worked outside the paternal household
Complex Members
Household 1990-2004
Father and his 5 Factory worker,
children and chartered
mother and her 3 accountant and
children. commission
salesperson
The Labrador case deserves a close analysis. The fact that Eusebia had fourteen
children in the period of most intensive industrialisation, urbanisation and access to

189
education and birth control methods cannot be interpreted as recklessness or even
ignorance. She had what Bourdieu (1984: 29) called practical knowledge that allowed her
to achieve, through a large family, a better standard of living for herself and her children.
The expression ‘practical knowledge’ is extremely useful in this analysis since it sheds
light on the clash between the values taught to individuals through education, new forms
of organisation (to name a couple of events), and the need to adapt to the reality dictated
by the immediate circumstances. Eusebia grew up in a period during which birth control
methods and family planning were private decisions rather than public policies. However,
economic stagnation and overpopulation led the State to sensitise people to the problems
and cost of having large families. Although this effort was successful, its initial impact
was more evident on the urban and better-educated population that shared these principles
of modern life. Yet, for thousands of poor and poorly qualified individuals, large families
were equivalent to staying out of poverty. Thus, the fact that Eusebia gave birth to 14
children was deliberate since they were a resource against poverty, using the expression
of González de la Rocha (1994). However, a large family in itself was useless if the
children lacked the values of work, obedience and responsibility, so Eusebia made sure
they learned them as her words show:
‘They sometimes played with their friends out in the street, right?
However, I have to say I was very strict with them; I didn’t tolerate
them things that I didn’t like. I used to keep a tight rein on them,
everyday. Moreover, when they were home I didn’t like them to
waste the time. ‘Have you finished your homework?’. ‘Yes, I have.
If you have, then you are going to make a dozen of these little
pieces, you are going to make ten or so of this other, ok? Go ahead
then and make them. I didn’t like them just hanging around for the
sake of it. Yes, I allowed them to play and everything and I also
took them to the nearby fields to play ballgames or to the dam to
swim…That’s why I think that they, they fancied the idea of
working, that they had to work and that we had no time to waste. I
190
used to say to them: ‘the time one has got, has to be invested in
useful things, otherwise things don’t come easily’.57
The age at which the Labradors’ and Lucanos’ children started to work outside the
household also played a substantial role in their economic stability in the medium and
long run. Most of the Labrador siblings found their first job when they were at school,
whilst the Lucanos did so after finishing their degrees. However, in the Labrador’s case,
the children handed over a significant share of their wage to their mother that covered not
only the expenses of their support but also allowed the family to survive and defeat
poverty. This contradicts the argument of Morris (1990: 149) on the contribution of
children in the UK and the USA where, according to her evidence:
‘…young people are not expected to stay in the parental

home for very long after becoming wage earners their income
is not considered by parents deciding on their own standard
of living. Young people may derive food and shelter from
their parents but operate as partially independent spending
units’.
My case is at odds with this argument since young earners are welcome to stay at
the paternal household until they marry or migrate for work because their contribution is
essential for the support of the paternal household. In all cases, this money far exceeded
the cost of their maintenance, as the memory of this female suggests:
‘Sometimes my father says: ‘such is life, I have received more

support from the daughters than from the sons (laughs)’. I had
plenty of brothers and sisters, 9 women and 5 men, so things
were…that’s how things were, right? The boys were younger than
the girls, so we had to support them too, right? They were younger
57
191
and I mean, me, my mom, my brother and, we supported them; we

had to. Then, when my brothers got their first job and finished their
degrees and all that, then they had to support the household too.
That’s how things worked.’58
In poor families, kinship ties have a positive effect on the entire kin in the
medium or long run since the sacrifices and work of the children allow the rest of the
kinship to achieve a better standard of living. Yet, ties are also an ambivalent force as
Bertaux-Wiame (1993: 41) put it, since children who have already abandoned the
paternal household can always be called back to support members who face particular
disadvantaged situations. However, the direction of support can also run the other way;
those living at home and whose economic situation is stable or blossoming are also
candidates to support siblings who do not live at the paternal household and face poverty.
2.4 People who supported the paternal household but who did not live there
For the third generation of both lineages the economic support provided by the single and
the married children living outside the paternal households was essential for their survival
in the later stage of the domestic cycle. This was not the case of the former generations
that earned most of their living at the workshop. Furthermore, the financial help of
children with waged jobs not only allowed families to keep a given standard of living but
also to defeat poverty. Selby et al (1990: 113) found similar evidence in their large study
of Mexican households that shows that macro economic readjustments form persistent
patterns of household composition and dynamics across Mexico.
The impact of the support of these children was more evident in the Labradors’
case than in the Lucanos’ due to the household cycles and the size of the family. The
58
Interview 18, Beatríz Labrador, fourth generation of the Labrador lineage. January 2004.
192
Labradors started to depend on the economic and material help of the four elder children
– Luis, Beatríz, Ofelia and Antonio – from 1983 onwards. Although their exit diminished
their economic and material participation at the household, their support was crucial for
their parents and siblings. They continued to hand over money to their mother who
invested it in the education and the clothing of the younger siblings, as Diagram 37
confirms.
Diagram 37. Members of the Labrador family who supported the paternal household from their own
domestic units.
Nuclear
Household Members
1983- 1983-
Parents and Luis, Beatríz, Ofelia
their 9 children. and Antonio
The domestic cycle and size of the Lucano family, on the contrary, was quite
different from that of the Labradors. This explains why only one child – Ericka– helped
support the paternal household. The Lucano household started to receive economic help
from this child in 2002 after she married and left the paternal household. Although the
money she handed over to her stepmother was reduced, it helped them meet basic needs.
193
Diagram 38. Members of the Lucano family who supported the paternal from their own domestic
units.
Household
composition
2002- Members
children, mother Ericka
and her 3 children.
For the third generation of both lineages the exit from the paternal domestic unit
of children with paid jobs represented a greater threat to the economic stability than the
previous two. Evidence shows that there was tension between the parents and children
who abandoned the domestic unit although the problems eventually were sorted out to the
benefit of both. The following quotation reflects the disjunctions parents faced when
children started their own project:
‘The ones who worked most and all that were my eldest son
[Luis] and my daughter Beatríz. The younger [children] had
to work because the eldest got married. I have to say that the
most tenacious and all were the eldest! And of course I
resented it when they left because those hands weren’t there
to help me, they weren’t there to give money, they weren’t
there to help. So you can imagine how I resented it because
Beatríz and my eldest son [Luis] were the ones that talked to
each other the most. For example, I talked [asked them] for
something and they responded...so when [they] married, the
work and the house fell considerably.’59
The economic problems faced by the families were temporary since the younger
children eventually entered the labour market and started to support the paternal
59
194
household. This illustrates the importance of looking at the stage of both the domestic
cycle and of the development of capitalism and modernity together when we observe the
economic stability of the household in the long run.
The third generation of both lineages greatly benefited from gifts received by the parents
from children or even close relatives. This marks a sharp difference between the previous
two generations since their properties and vehicles were either bought with their own
resources or granted by the government as a part of the land distribution programme.
Largely, what this shows is the vulnerability of the generation under analysis as the
national economy collapsed and experienced several readjustments forcing them to appeal
to kinship solidarity in order to survive.
The impact of gifts such as cars and houses on poor families is unquestionable
since it opened up new opportunities for the entire kinship, provided it was used for the
benefit of most of its members. Thus, although the aid is mainly unexpected, it has a
strong impact on the economic stability of the household. Bertaux-Wiame (1993: 41)
adds that the symbolic value that gifts contain often forces individuals to take them and
makes them feel certain pressures because of the expectations they raise. However, in the
case of the Labrador and the Lucano families, the gifts had a positive effect.
The Labradors received three gifts at different stages of their domestic cycle,
which significantly improved their standard of living. The first was the most important for
the impact it had on the entire family. It was a 2-bedroom modest house given to Eusebia
and Trino in 1963 by María and Felipe, Trino’s paternal great aunt and uncle. After they
moved in, Eusebia understood that it was their lifetime opportunity to improve their
economy so she established a small workshop in the patio crowded by toddlers, young
195
children and laundry. The scarce profits were spent on food and clothing and as the
profits steadily increased, Eusebia invested them in the education of the children,
foreseeing that eventually it could lift them out of poverty.
‘We kept this house for us. We stayed here. Then, many years
went by, right? Because it was until he [my great uncle] was
about to die that he inherited us the house…We were all
adults by then and he saw himself very ill and told us: ‘this
house could be in your, in your father’s name but I won’t do
it since otherwise his parents might want it for themselves or
he [Trino] might sell it or something of the kind. That’s why I
am going to leave this house on your brother’s name
[Enrique]’, he told him. He also told my brother that this
house was going to be for everybody, right? For that, we had
to know what to do with it. My great uncle told us to bring
the notary, right? So he could leave things in order…He
chose Enrique because he thought he was going to be
responsible enough. My brother was single and my uncle told
him: ‘I know that when the time comes to get married arrives,
you won’t be influenced by your wife even though the house
is on your name’. He [my great uncle] said to him: ‘you know
Enrique that this house is for the family’. And so was that the
house was put in my brother’s name but in strict sense, it is
nobody’s property, it belongs to all of us’.60
The second present, a brick and tile workshop bought in 1982 by the eldest
children –Luis, Beatríz, Antonio, Ofelia and Hermenegilda – for their father, was another
important step in that direction. This allowed Trino, for the first time in his life, to be the
main breadwinner of the household. The third gift was a large house given to Trino and
Eusebia by their son Enrique after he was promoted and moved to Chiapas, a southern
Mexican city. The new property provided his parents and younger siblings with the
commodities they had always lacked. Diagram 39 shows the individuals who gave the
gifts to this generation, and the dates.
60
196
Diagram 39. People who gave gifts to the third generation of the Labrador lineage
Gifts
1963: modest house
Household (paternal great uncle)
economy 1982: workshop
(elder children)
1994: large house
(son)
Santos Lucano and his family also received three important gifts between 1963
and 1994. The first was a large house located in Guadalajara City that Santos and Elba
inherited from his father in-law after they married. Santos kept the house after his wife
and his father-in-law died. This played a major role in their economic stability at that time
and after he married for the second time in 1993 to Martha who had three children of her
own. That same year, after his mother died, he inherited a second house and a vehicle.
Professionally, the gifts secured their success since he had a large workshop and a solid
network of customers, besides being the only inheritor of the trade. However, the family’s
standard of living fell due to the fact that the petatillo market declined in the face of
competition from industrial products, because artisanal production was their main income
and because most of their children were attending school. Thus, although they initially
enjoyed better commodities and a higher standard of living than the Labradors and the
previous two generations of the lineage, in the end the gifts by themselves did not
improve their socio-economic situation. Diagram 40 shows the individuals who gave the
gifts to this generation, and the dates.

197
Diagram 40. People who gave gifts to the third generation of the Lucano lineage
Gifts
1977: house
Household (father in-law)
economy 1993: house
(mother)
1993: vehicle
(mother)
3 Social mobility
Artisans and non-artisans from the third generation of both lineages were far more mobile
than their predecessors. This was due to the intense modernisation, urbanisation and
industrialisation that the Mexican economy underwent between 1940 and 1970. These
phenomena increased, among other things, the levels of schooling of the population, the
birth of new socio-economic activities, the disappearance of traditional activities and the
shrinking and the enlargement of specific social sectors. Amidst this turmoil, the
economic potential of artisanal production weakened since families could no longer
maintain their lifestyle through it. Nevertheless, the incursion of the children into more
specialised fields – i.e. labour markets and schools – led to the birth of new patterns of
social mobility.
The expansion of capitalism and modernity deeply affected the socio-economic
and cultural profile of the Labrador and the Lucano households. Evidence confirms that
families not only had a larger number of non-artisans but also that they were, due to their
higher levels of schooling and economic stability, more socially mobile than the artisans.
However, the social mobility of the former was possible thanks to the sacrifices and
constant solidarity of the latter. Artisans gave up most of their goals to benefit of their
families, which translated into considerable disadvantages for them. They married at an
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older age than their siblings, they were poorer than their siblings when they married, they
had the lowest schooling levels of the family and they lacked the working experience that
overall hindered their social mobility and possibilities of entering into more specialised
fields. In short, these elements assured the survival of artisanal production for another
generation.
In a strict sense, the social achievements of the artisans and the non-artisans from
both lineages were identical despite the solid economic position and advantage of the first
generation of the Lucanos over the Labradors, as shown in the previous chapter.
However, their personalities, their practical knowledge and their skills were crucial in
contributing to particular outcomes.
The comparison between the trajectories of the artisans and the non-artisans reveals that
the social mobility of the former was achieved through artisanal production – the
workshop – whilst that of the latter was through family alliances – marriage – and work.
The analysis of these differences shows that artisans did not experience social mobility
whilst they lived and worked for the paternal household, and even after marriage since
they lacked the capital and the qualifications to move into another productive sector.
However, they were more mobile in the later stages of their life cycle due to the
economic and material support of their children. On the contrary, non-artisans were more
mobile even whilst they lived at the paternal household due to their waged jobs and
access to new social circles and inter-class marriages. When I looked at the initial and the
later stages of the life cycle of both groups it emerged that whilst artisans struggled to
survive, the non-artisans did better. However, at a later stage, their socio-economic
199
situation was similar. This can be explained by the personality and the determination of
the artisans that, in turn, reduced the socio-economic gap between the non-artisans.
Eusebia Labrador was the only artisan child of the third generation of the
Labrador family. She abandoned school when she was ten years old after her elder sister
married and left the paternal home and her eldest brother died. This spared her younger
siblings from the workshop and allowed them to attend school. Eusebia married an artisan
when she was fourteen but they lived in poverty since both lacked the money and the
skills to start a new life. This contrasted with the relatively better life of her siblings, as
she recalls:
‘All my siblings attended school. My sister Juanita did a

first aid course, she is a nurse; she is the eldest [of the
women]. She was a midwife nurse and the rest of my
sisters all attended primary school. My [maternal]
grandfather wanted us to be educated…After I got
married I understood that my life was going to be my
work and my children. And I always thought that my
children had to be better than I. I mean, more educated;
that they had to know more than I did…61 Back in those
years my illusion was to be a doctor that was my dream. I
would have preferred to be a doctor rather than a lawyer
and all that since my granddad and dad wanted me to be a
lawyer [laughs]. And listen, it was until my son Enrique
was born that I did a first aid course; I was already
married and my husband allowed me to do it and all that.
We were renting a house, we had our own space so I
attended this course for six months and so did my little
son and everything went great. I got all the good grades!
All of them! But then I failed to present my primary
school certificate, I didn’t have it! I was really sad but not
for me, for my children and I said: ‘my children have to
study and have to better themselves’.
61
200
The socio-economic standing of Eusebia and her children steadily improved after
years of communal sacrifice, hard work and investment in the education of the children.
This was so in a period where at a national level the figures of unemployment and poverty
were growing due to economic readjustments and the erosion of traditional activities.
The artisan and non-artisan members of the Lucano family, contrary to the
Labradors, achieved upward social mobility through artisanal production. Santos Lucano,
the only artisan of the family, earned his living by producing handicrafts whilst his elder
sisters Elena, Teresa and Gloria – who graduated as accountancy assistants – earned theirs
by selling handicrafts. The very fact that they studied accountancy is meaningful. They
did so in a period when the paternal workshop was more productive. Thompson (1994:
61) found in his study of the late 1980s in England that the children – women in particular
– whose fathers or partners were manual workers were prone to be office workers. In my
case, although the Lucano sisters were upwardly mobile through their careers, the failure
of their partners to support their families had a negative effect on their social mobility.
The status women gained through education was lost through marriage and was slowly
regained once they engaged in the commercialisation of handicrafts. This decision had a
definitive impact on their standard of living, as this fragment confirms:
‘My sister Teresa was ill paid [as a worker], right. She more
or less did…she rather adapted to her husband’s wage and
stopped producing handicrafts [after she married him] or
maybe it was because he didn’t know how to make
[handicrafts] that she said: ‘I cannot support myself with
handicraft production, can I?’. But the truth is that she never,
well she did come back to it [the trade] after she married; she
helped us do the petatillo. But soon after she quit again or
maybe it was because of her children that she realised that she
had to attend to them. I don’t know what happened to her but
she didn’t help us anymore and quit the trade for good. My
other sister too, the other one that was always [at the
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workshop] with us [my mother and I], she also stopped

producing handicrafts because it’s a lot easier to sell them
[than to make them]. When you sell you sell the product fully
finished, that’s it; and you know beforehand how much you
are going to earn, right? But one that is still involved in
making them…is different’.62
Through the commercialisation of handicrafts they regained the social mobility
they had lost after their marriage, thus ensuring their economic stability. Contrary to his
sisters, Santos was upwardly mobile before marrying since he was the only inheritor of
his family name and a wide network of customers. He experienced further social mobility
through the inheritance of two more properties and a second vehicle after his in-law and
his mother died. However, his position fell steadily due to competition and the difficult
economic situation of the country.
When we compare the situation of artisans and non-artisans at the end of their life
cycles it emerges that the latter managed to improve or at least to keep their social
standing. However, the differences are greater when we compare the position of Eusebia
and Santos at that stage. Eusebia was much poorer than Santos before and after marriage.
However, through the education and work of her elder children she was upwardly mobile
whilst Santos was unable to keep the standard of living in which he was raised and
maintained during the first years of marriage. Such change cannot be attributed only to
external events such as deaths, injuries, illness, mismanagement, economic readjustments,
the shrinking of the handicraft market and industrial competition, among other factors,
since they affected both lineages in the same way. However, the agency of each
individual or their inner life, as Stones (2001: 219) calls it, shows its complexity and its
interplay with macroeconomic events. The social structures of both artisans led them to
62
202
be respectful, obedient, loving and loyal as a sign of gratitude for the love, education and
care they received. However, their personal views on the level of family commitment,
determination, dependence, love and hope that things could be better if they sacrificed
time, work and personal benefits explains that difference.
Eusebia engaged in artisanal production with the determination to stop being poor
by investing in the education of her children, whilst Santos did so in order to take
advantage of the market and his family name. This decision reverted to him because he
was unable to keep his socio-economic position through artisanal production as his
predecessors had. He was trapped between the emerging values of modernity – the
education of the children and gaining more qualifications – and his fear of limiting the
chances of his offspring by forcing them to work at the workshop and to support the
household. In the long run, this attitude significantly determined their social standing and
that of their families.
The impact of marriage alliances and access to education on the social mobility of the
third generation of the Labradors and Lucanos was larger than in the previous two. The
analysis suggests that women were more mobile than men – usually downward – after
marriage due to interclass marriages. Thompson (1994: 61) found similar evidence in the
UK and, based on that evidence, he states that:
‘The discussion of social mobility in terms of male

occupation hardly ever allows to understand how marriage,
through maternity, is the cause of a markedly downward
social mobility for women’s careers (particularly for those
who have a higher occupational status than their husbands)’.
203
This remark is pertinent to underline that the women from the elder generations
who married men of similar status were upwardly mobile through artisanal production,
allowing them a modest though evident improvement in their standard of living.
However, the pattern reversed as external economic changes and poverty forced women
out of the households and workshops. Yet, women were able to regain their position
through their jobs or education after years of hard work. This contrasts with the social
mobility of men from the third generation who were more stable and mobile after
marriage due to their schooling and careers. Their greater stability reflects the fact that
they did not suffer to the same extent as their counterparts did from the external socio-
economic events that affected the families. This universal patterning has been discussed
by Arizpe and Aranda (1986: 176), Benería and Sen (1986: 148-149), Hammam (1986:
159) and Benería and Roldán (1987: 120), amongst many others. Whilst the social
mobility patterns of this generation were affected by marriages, jobs or education, those
of the former two generations were not. The difference can be explained by the way they
used their instruction to reach their goals. Likewise, it also stands out that parents made
an undifferentiated investment in the education of both sons and daughters, which reflects
their rather indiscriminate gender values in a period where it was still common to find
preferences for men.
3.2.1 The effects of marriage and education on women.
Contrary to the first two generations of both lineages, the marriages of most artisan and
non-artisan women of both lineages had a negative impact on their social mobility. As the
evidence from Thompson (1994: 60-63) shows, this pattern is universal in contemporary
societies. Eusebia Labrador married a better off man of artisan origin but they lived in
poverty since her family lacked the means to help them and her husband’s kin refused to
204
do so since they despised Eusebia for her socio-economic origin. This marked the
relationship Eusebia had with her in-laws for life. Yet, Eusebia considers that she faced
real hardship after she married and not during her childhood at her parents’ place:
‘You know what seemed very difficult to me? Going to

the corner shop and getting a kilo, a quarter, a peso or five
or ten cents of food. It was awful! It was awful because
my mum and my granny were in charge of that [buying
the food] so I didn’t know a thing about housing expenses
as to say ‘I know how much things cost’. Suddenly I got
married and I had to go shopping for food and it was very
little food. When I was at my parents’ place, I only
grabbed it, separated the kernels from the corn, cooked
the beans. If there was need to kill a chicken or two so I
did. I skinned it; I washed it and cooked it. There was no
need to get the food for the day!63
Her sisters were also downwardly as well as upwardly mobile as married women
but generally matrimony had a negative effect on most of them. Juanita, the only woman
in the family to finish secondary school, married an illiterate baker and moved to a
tenement house in Mexico City. Basilia and Catalina married a lorry driver and a butcher
respectively; neither completed their basic education. Their husbands were poorly paid
and did not have any fringe benefits, which forced their wives to find waged jobs to
alleviate their economy. However, the labour market of the early 1960s and 1970s started
to demand a more qualified workforce and the Labrador sisters, although they had
obtained primary school certificates, lacked work experience and more formal skills and
this forced them to work as servants. Viviana – the youngest of the family – married a
man who also had a primary school certificate. At the beginning, he initially earned a
satisfactory living as a bus driver, but his purchasing power dropped because of inflation.
63
205
Their situation worsened since he did not want Viviana to work outside the
household and eventually he did plumbing work in his free time to supplement their
earnings. During the later stages of their domestic cycles, the three sisters and their
families moved back to the paternal household, as they were unable to improve their
economy. The Lucano sisters were also more mobile after they married. Their youngest
brother Santos recalls:
‘Elena’s husband was one of the workers of the house [of the
workshop]. His father worked there too…and my sister
Teresa married Pascual, one of the workers of the bicycle
factory where my sister worked too. Actually that’s where
they met, they met at the factory’.64
Elena, the eldest of the Lucano children, experienced downward social mobility
after she married a worker from her mother’s workshop. Soon after, however, he quit his
in-law’s workshop and found an ill-paid job in another workshop where he felt he had
more freedom. He did not want Elena to work at the maternal workshop or to have a paid
job, which literally led them into poverty. Months later he migrated to Tijuana and
California for a long period, a strategy he followed at different points in his marriage and
a period during which he did not support his family. This forced Elena to return to the
maternal workshop where her family advised her to open up her own workshop or shop or
to look for a paid job as she had a technical degree. She refused to do so since she did not
want to upset her husband. This attached her to the position she acquired after marriage
and in time, affected that of her children.
Gloria and Teresa also experienced downward social mobility after they married
semi-skilled workers, with lower schooling levels than their own, who worked in factories
64
206
but who lost their jobs after the factories where they were working closed in the face of
international competition. Both sisters managed to regain they position after marriage.
Both opened and administered their own handicraft business which in the medium run,
also had a positive effect on their children’s social mobility.
The social mobility patterns of the women shows that they were socially stable
and even upwardly mobile in the years before their marriages due to the economic
situation of their families and their education. After their social position fell because of
economically disadvantageous marriages, they turned to their formal skills to find jobs or
to start their own businesses. Yet, why did these women marry men with lower socio-
economic positions?
I believe the image and education of their parents was essential in their selection
of partners. In both lineages, women built up their images of masculinity and fatherhood
through their own experiences as daughters and sisters. In the Labradors’ case, Blas was a
hard-working, affectionate and devoted father with little possibility of earning a living
through more skilled activities. In the Lucanos’ case, Balbino was a shrewd, authoritarian,
laconic and alcoholic father who hardly ever had physical contact with his children. These
events shaped their daughters’ values who, besides living in such contexts, were educated
to look for someone supportive and committed to his family rather than for individuals
with schooling and different education. Such views were supported by a socio-economic
context where values and skills were sufficient to earn a living and keep a family
together. This was fundamental when women elected their partners as they did not seem
to value their own background but rather trusted in the ability of their counterparts to earn
the living. However, their instruction and initiative were essential in their survival and in
the recovery of their lost social standing. This stands out markedly since the women of
the previous two generations were upwardly mobile through artisanal production and
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same-class marriages, as I have shown. This reflects the severe effects of modernity and
capitalism on families, particularly on women and regardless of their education and
profession. We have seen that they have similar or even higher levels of schooling than
their partners and that frequently they select same-class partners. Yet, these elements do
not assure their socio-economic status since when the economic situation of the family is
stable, women tend to give up their job to ‘look after the family’ and when their partners
fail to support the family, it is usually the women who carry out ‘complementary’ work to
‘help’ to support the household.
The impact of marriage and education on men is also evident; it encouraged their upward
social mobility since they married women with similar socio-economic and cultural
positions. Pablo, the only Labrador son, married a woman of similar skills and both were
upwardly mobile through his job. He quit artisanal production when he was seventeen and
found a job as a line repair assistant at the Comisión Federal de Electricidad65 (CFE).
Despite having only a primary school certificate, he was promoted three times due to the
several courses he attended at the company and because of his performance at work. The
support of his wife was vital for Pablo’s career since she encouraged him to look for
better opportunities.Eventually, he was in a position to provide economic help to his
parents and sisters.
Santos, the only man of the Lucano lineage, also experienced upward social
mobility, but in contrast to Pablo, this was immediately after his marriage and through the
inheritance of goods and properties. He married Elba, a better off and more educated
woman from Guadalajara whom he met when delivering merchandise to one of his
65
A telephone company, by then a monopoly.
208
mother’s customers. Although Santos was poor, he was a responsible, committed and
hard working person besides being the likely inheritor of a well-known family business.
Thus, although he lacked the means to establish his own household, Elba’s father
welcomed him as a son-in-law. Soon after he married he tried to teach the trade to his
wife and children, just as his grandparents and parents had, but Elba resisted since, for
her, the education of the children was a priority. She also encouraged Santos to look for a
better-paid and safer job but Santos failed to achieve this since he lacked the formal skills,
as he explains:
‘When I was young all I got [at my mother’s workshop] was

20 pesos a week and despite of it, I resisted and resisted.
After I got married, then I earned 500 pesos a week, right. It
was a huge difference, very different indeed. It might have
been, as I say, maybe that’s why my lady [wife] pressed me a
lot: ‘no Santos, you got to study something else, maybe doing
something different you’ll get more money’. I remember that
I once went to Teléfonos de México66 to ask for a job and I
had to go there thousands of times. You know workers have
to report to the trade leaders to see if [there is a chance of
something] and suddenly one of the secretaries told me: ‘fill
this form out and all that’…Would you believe if I say that I
failed the math test? Maths was my strong point when I was
at school. I helped all my classmates to do their homework
and I failed the test. After that I said to myself: ‘well [laughs],
this is the last straw’…Maybe it was my destiny to be an
artisan. Now that I think, if I look at it from that perspective,
it was my destiny.’67
Santos’ failure to obtain a waged job tied him to the artisanal production that he
foresaw as his only future. This marks a substantial difference with the attitude of his own
sisters and the Labrador women who were upwardly mobile thanks to their schooling.
Functionalist theory proposes that socio-economic and cultural changes are disseminated
66
By then the only telephone company in Mexico.
67
209
by society through the mechanisms of education, institutions, values and habits, amongst
other factors. One can see the force of this in Santos’s life. Thus, when Elba married
Santos, an individual that did not belong to her social circle, this affected her values and
the instruction of her children who did not learn the trade because she resisted living a
more traditional life. Elba was raised in this philosophy and wanted her offspring to do
the same. However, they were caught in the contradictions of tradition and modernity due
to economic crises, industrial competition and her own death. Yet, Santos was
downwardly mobile after marrying Martha, who did not have a high level of education,
due to the fact that she was poor and the income Santos generated as an artisan was
insufficient to support them all.
The recollections of the men and the women of both lineages clearly show how modernity
and capitalism steadily challenged their values and notions of motherhood/fatherhood and
femininity/masculinity. These changes modified their values of the family, work and
marriage, amongst others, and therefore modified the composition and sense of the
family, work and some institutions. During this period, men and women stopped earning
their living at home and entered the waged sector, which modified their position and
relationship with the family and their immediate context. Overall, this marked a sharp
difference with the more stable life of the previous two generations of both lineages
whose values faced less external pressure to change.

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The patterns of social life of this generation of artisans are identical to those of the
previous two. That is, a social life limited to family commitments such as birthday parties
and anniversaries, and religious gatherings such as baptisms, first communions and
weddings. Evidence also shows that the artisans of the family had a poorer social life than
their counterparts, and that the pattern became more acute for women after marriage.
Overall, it seemed that the social practices and structures ruling the lives of the artisan
families did not modify despite the turbulent socio-economic and cultural changes of the
1940-1970 decades. However, how did such continuity take place?
Poverty and the fact that the workshop was located at the household played a large role in
the social isolation of the Labrador and Lucano families, as well as in the construction of
their notions of masculinity and femininity. The evidence found by Corden and Eardley
(1999: 211) and Felstead and Jewson (2000: 109) in the USA and the UK in relation to
the isolation to which homeworking leads supports my argument. Fesltead and Jewson
(2000: 109) agree that the ‘lack of communication [of homeworkers] with other adults
and [the] lack of external stimulation tended to generate a sense of isolation’.
In the case of the artisan families, the process starts earlier than in other families
due to their intergenerational poverty. The networks of the artisans’ children of this
generation were particularly small since they were forced to give up school during their
childhood and adolescence due to the death or illness of one of the parents, the marriage
or death of an artisan sibling or the decline in the family’s level of poverty. Although the
rest of the family also resented these situations, they joined the workshop after school or
after doing their domestic chores, which allowed them more freedom to meet and make
friends. However, their social life was not very active either since it was also full of
family commitments. Thus, two important characteristics of the masculinity and

211
femininity of artisan families were the quietness and secrecy of their social life; a
characteristic driven by poverty and homeworking.
The analysis of data also shows that the isolation of artisans and non-artisans was
more acute after marriage and was particularly severe for women due to the burdens of
the domestic, family and artisanal work that left no room for personal hobbies or
entertainments. Michel (1989: 176) found similar evidence in his comparative study of
the impact of marriage and children on the traditional division of work at home. This
sheds light on how the aspects of social order and structures of artisanal production
(Bourdieu, 1984: 467-470) are universal in their patterning.
Although the married men of this generation were more engaged than women in
public activities, these activities were not very extensive and were limited to playing pool,
watching baseball games with neighbours and street gatherings after work during
weekdays. Regardless of the activity they did not inform their families how long or when
they would go out and how much they had spent. On the other hand, women’s activities
were related to their families and households – such as the weekly or daily shopping, the
taking and picking up of children to and from school and the weekly day out with the
family, usually on Sunday. These activities not only reinforced their identities and that of
their partners but also played an important role in the social image they projected to their
relatives and friends.
The stability of this pattern is also owed to the high consideration given to a quiet
social life and to attending family events as a sign of respect and affection for relatives.
However, this attitude also served to reinforce family ties in case they were needed.
Largely, the continuity was possible due to their poverty and to the fact that artisanal
production was the only activity through which they had real possibilities to earn a living,
regardless of the amount and regularity of their income.

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4.2 Marriage
Marriage was as significant for the identity of individuals of this generation as it was for
the previous two. Even though artisan men did not mention it directly as a major life
experience (see Benno de Keijzer, 2002: 38), Latin-American literature confirms its
relevance for both genders but particularly for the notions of work, family and fatherhood
for the men and of motherhood and family for the women. Regardless of their gender,
matrimony was essential to understand their perception of what it means to be a man and
woman. Yet, why is it that marriage continued to be one of the most important events for
the identities of individuals despite the socio-economic and cultural turbulence?
Through marriage, artisans not only assured themselves of company and affection
but also of support and care in old age, the most difficult stage of their lifecycle. These
were good reasons to make marriage significant despite the disadvantages it could bring.
However, it would be unfair to maintain that love was absent from their relationships
since couples cared for each other and showed their affection through details – special
meals, purchase of clothes, attentions during illness, etc – that reinforced their ties.
The persistence of marriage also owes, in my opinion, to at least another couple of
reasons: the double goal of marriage and the position that individuals achieved through it.
The economic situation of the Labrador and Lucano families at the moment of marriage
was precarious but this did not prevent them from going through with it. This suggests the
economic rewards it could bring. My argument sheds light on the disadvantaged
conditions under which women married that, far from assuring them economic stability
and commodities, led them – at least temporarily – into poverty. However, being single
was even more undesirable since the possibilities of being cared for and helped by
relatives and friends during sickness and old age were lower. Likewise, marriage played a
vital role in their financial stability.

213
Marriage also played an important role for the identities of the Labrador and the
Lucano families because it allowed individuals to enter the adult world where they were
entitled to social respect, recognition and for women – at least in theory – more freedom.
When we compare the prestige, protection and freedom that individuals from this
generation acquired through it, we can see that there is virtually no difference in relation
to the former two generations. Nonetheless, as with their predecessors, for both genders
the cost to pay for being married was high since marriage seemed to be the safest way to
achieve personal goals but this implied sacrifices and commitments that they did not
always like. However, they went ahead with it, encouraged by their own expectations of
life and by their training as women and men.
With both lineages, the perception of the third generation of the best age to marry
was affected by their higher schooling and the industrialisation of the economy. The
labour market between 1940 and 1970 was growing and diversifying and demanded a
more skilled workforce (Roberts, 1995: 152). This growth translated into new job
opportunities for both men and women, which equally affected their notions of success
and competitiveness. This is seen in the age at which individuals started to marry from the
third generation onwards, a particularly remarkable pattern for the non-artisans of both
lineages.
Largely, the change in the pattern of the age at the moment of marriage for both
lineages suggests important gender differences between generations and between the
artisans and non-artisans. Broadly speaking, the first two generations of men – artisans
and non-artisans – married before their early twenties. The picture changed for the third
generation of both families since on average the artisans married at 26, whilst for the non-
artisans the average age was 21. Women behaved in a similar way. The first two
214
generations – artisans and non-artisans – married at 14 whilst for the third generation, the
average age was 18.75.
The average age of marriage for women must be analysed closely. The Labrador
women married at an average age of 15.75, whilst the Lucanos did so at 20.6. The
difference is explained through the better-off position and higher schooling of the
Lucanos while the Labradors faced poverty at different stages of their childhood and
adolescence which took them out of school, whereas their counterparts were freed from
working in the workshop because of their economic situation which also, allowed them to
obtain technical qualifications.
The age of marriage of artisans also deserves a close look since up to this
generation they were comparatively older when they married, and their marriages also
caused family tensions. In the Lucano’s case, Santos was 26 when he married and was, by
far, the eldest of his siblings to do so since the average age of marriage for this family
was 20.6. His counterpart, Trino Panduro, husband of Eusebia Labrador, also married at
26. Santos, as Trino had done, had to postpone his wedding due to his lack of money, and
because he was his mother’s right hand man at the workshop as well as his mother
disapproving of his decision. The fragment below illustrates more of this situation:
‘I believe we are indispensable as children. But that’s the

question, isn’t it? Because, because one might think that one is
important, that one is important for somebody or something. Or
maybe I was important [for my mother’s workshop] and didn’t
realise [back then] because when I decided I wanted to marry I
had a lot of problems with my mother. My mother didn’t want
me to marry because I was going to quit the workshop, right.
Then, maybe I can say I was important for her. But I, despite I
was getting married I never though in leaving the workshop. I
was going to continue to work, how was I suppose to do it? It
didn’t matter since all it mattered was that I was going to
continue despite getting married because I had no other work’.68
68
215
Although the Labrador’s case does not completely fit into this pattern – Eusebia
married at 14, the same age as her grandmother and mother – her marriage also upset her
parents. She was the only child of working age at the paternal household after her eldest
brother Felipe died in an accident, her sister Juanita had married and moved to Mexico
City and her family faced poverty. These incidents led her parents to take her out of
school since they needed help at the household and the workshop and when she informed
them she was going to marry Trino, her decision both surprised and concerned them
because of her age and the importance of her work, as the following quotation confirms:
‘My grandma used to tell us that, I mean, that my mum was

going to understand how difficult it was to see a young
daughter getting married. Because, because she [my mum]
was very young, right. They didn’t want [her to marry] and
[when] my mum listens to this [story] all she says is that she
did it because…But we haven’t [paid for it] so far because we
all have married older than she did’.69
The passage reflects on the changing notions of marriage of her parents due to the
pervasiveness of education, modernity and capitalism. While they wanted their children
to have a better life, their economic situation hindered such a project. For Eusebia,
although she foresaw a life outside of artisanal production, her limited schooling and
excessive burden of work encouraged her to marry seeking the freedom and rewards she
lacked at the paternal household. Morris (1990: 158) found similar evidence in the UK
where the moral control of parents on the behaviour of young women also led them out of
the paternal household. But this was not only because ‘they were [also] expected to
contribute to domestic work in a way boys were not.’ (Morris, 1990: 158). This shows
69
216
that some aspects of the values of femininity and masculinity of the artisan families
changed between 1940 and 1970, mainly due to external phenomena. The family trees
number 5 and 6 show the place and date of birth, age at the moment of marriage, levels of
schooling, trades and professions of every member of the third generation of the Labrador
and the Lucano lineages.

217
Family tree 5. 3rd generation of the Labrador lineage.

218
Family tree 6. 3rd and 4th generation of the Lucano lineage.

219
Motherhood and fatherhood were as important for the notions of femininity and
masculinity of the Labrador and the Lucano families of the third generation as they were
for the previous two. Such continuity owes, chiefly, to the dependence of the household
on the economic help provided by the children and to the importance of reproducing the
social order and structures that allowed their survival.
The arrival of progeny was the immediate step after marriage since this increased
the families’ chances of survival. Throughout this thesis, I have discussed the weight of
the offspring for the economy of the household and for the third generation this was more
evident then ever before. They had to rely on the support of the children more than their
predecessors did due to the abrupt expansion of modernity and capitalism. These
phenomena caused, amongst other things, an increase in the cost of the rearing of the
children, the reduction of the income generated through artisanal production and the need
to better their schooling levels. Thus, modern values and practices transformed both the
mentalities and the size of the family70 – the Labradors had fourteen children whilst the
Lucanos had five.71 This confirms that the need to assure the living encouraged them to
adopt a pragmatic position before the size of the family due to their intergenerational
poverty, poorly paid jobs and lack of social benefits, amongst others. But not only, also
their values of fulfilment and satisfaction also led them to decide so despite the significant
change in family size and planning seen in urban areas.
Parents, through the transmission of their values, reinforced their own identities
and helped children to build theirs in an effort to reproduce the social practices and
structures on which their survival and social order relied. This is so even when the values
70
‘Fewer children to give them more’ was the slogan under which the National Council for Population
(CONAPO) targeted the population from the 1970s onwards.
71
The urban mean household size for 1970 was 6.8 according to Tasa Global de Fecundidad 1960-2000.
Estimaciones del Consejo Nacional de Población, www.conapo.org.mx
220
they themselves learned and transmitted caused them discomfort and pain. Furthermore,
these values contained gender stereotypes – women are soft, obedient, subordinate to
men, take care of daily unimportant things, whilst men are strong, independent,
authoritarian and take care of practical and important things – that help to keep a given
social order that protects their position, their identity and the social structures that validate
such behaviour. The following quotation shows this complex interplay:
‘It’s not that I resented men but for example; let me give you a
clear example. How many men do you see at school meetings?
Two, three…and where are the rest? It would seem that children
only have a mother. The father is always absent because he
works, because he, I don’t know what else! And he just shows up
at the graduation ceremony…And my sisters say: ‘well, my
mum, I mean, my mum spoiled my father because, because she
never let him know, for example, that we needed things at home,
right’. Because my father says [when we ask him why], ‘I don’t
know a thing, it was your mother’s business’.72
Perhaps the most important change in the masculinity and femininity of the third
generation of both lineages is their effort to construct relationships that were more
egalitarian with the children, as the quotation reflects. This is meaningful since, as I
showed in Chapter 3, most of these individuals grew up in households where fathers
exercised an exacerbated authoritarianism and where mothers played submissive roles
enforced and encouraged by their own values of womanhood. Still, these notions
progressively changed as they entered different socio-economic groups through marriage,
school and work and through the powerful cultural influence of the mass media. These
phenomena affected both genders who did their best to modify this aspect of their values,
as is indicated by the following fragment:
72
221
‘It’s very hard, it’s very hard being a father but all I can say is
that we have to respect our children. We should not yell at them
even when we have the authority to do so. The authority should
be exercised in a different way even when one is the
breadwinner. It’s not a matter of being the one who earns the
money that gives you the right to spend it. If one is already
married, then the money belongs to the family and that is what
we have to teach our children. But the truth is that one has to
listen and talk to them, right. If I manage to do that, then I could
call myself an ideal father’.73
5 The relevance of partners in the flow and quality of information: a troublesome
situation.
I met Santos Lucano for the first time through a mutual friend. This was crucial for my
research since Santos was a cautious and laconic person who, according to him, hardly
ever talked about his private life. I explained to Santos the purpose of my visit, the
tentative extent and number of interviews and the possibility of talking to his wife,
children and some of his relatives. He agreed to do so and set the date for our first
interview that took place in the hall of his workshop with low music and voices as a
background. This encounter was excellent in terms of the quality of information and the
rapport we had. He told me, with a shaking voice and tears, the poverty in which his
father left them after he died and how his mother got them through. I was touched since,
for him, I was a young strange woman and despite this, he shared his memories with me.
This led me to take for granted that the subsequent interviews would be easy given the
rapport and sympathy we had established.
Yet, our second interview was completely different since Santos gave me a
laconic welcome and pressed me to start the interview because he was busy. I did not
know what to do and I thought that he might be embarrassed because of his behaviour
73
222
during the previous meeting so I did not bring up that issue in the discussion, but his
answers were evasive and short. I suggested that he focus on the family tree. He agreed,
and through this, I learned that his first wife Elba had died of cancer and that he had
married for a second time to Martha, a woman with three children. I asked him some
details about Martha; he kept silent for a few seconds and when he was about to answer
an angry loud voice coming from a window next to me replied that those details were not
necessary since she was not born an artisan. I was confused and understood that Santos
was nervous because she had been listening to us. I did my best to explain to her the goal
of my research but she refused to cooperate. I thought it convenient to give them time to
reconsider their participation and finished the interview after a couple of questions. A
week later I rang Santos who confirmed that they were still interested and we set a date
for our next interview.
Why was Martha so upset? I believe there are four reasons for her reaction. The
first has to do with her jealousy of Santos. She resented the conditions of our first
interview – rapport, empathy, tears, quiet voices and discussion of painful personal
memories – and the fact that I was a younger single woman. She might have thought that
by being friendly, Santos was flirting.
The second reason is linked to her position in relation to Santos’s children. She
struggled to gain their trust since they not only found themselves with a new mother but
also with three new siblings of the same age who suffered as much as they did in adapting
to the new conditions. The Lucano children rejected her presence but as time went on,
Martha managed to be a substitute mother for them, as her statement suggests ‘they now
call me mother and ask for my advice on some things and that means I am someone for
them’.74
74
223
The third reason is related to the issues of religion and morality pertaining to the
position of Martha Ramírez and her children at the Lucano house. The children from the
two families had been raised under different principles about the importance of religion,
morality and education. Although Martha was a Catholic, a person who had suffered from
an excessive moralistic education and had struggled to afford her limited education, she
did not press her stepchildren on this respect.
‘They are important issues for me [the education and religion of

the children], but for them? I don’t know. I don’t know because
you know…at school they learn many things, right. Then, I
believe that they can say whatever they want, whatever they
want! At the end, they all will say ‘thanks God I am atheist and
find a job’ [laughs].75
These issues and differences were inherent in Santos’ discourse and Martha was
uncomfortable when he directly or indirectly discussed them.
The fourth reason is correlated to the influence of Martha in the way the children,
including her own children remember Elba, Santos’ first wife,. This is evident both when
she is around and when she is away. When the topic of Elba came up for discussion, the
children’s answers lacked any affective dimension that could have denoted that they
missed her or that they had spent good times together. When Martha was not around,
there was more fluidity in their recollections although the answers were brief and limited
to general statements, even when they came from Elba’s own children, as this fragment
shows:
‘She [Elba] always liked us to attend mass, she liked us to take

flowers [to the church] and she liked us to pray before going to
75
224
bed. I don’t know, she instilled these ideas [in us]. And they are
some things that I sometimes say: ‘well, but I no longer believe
in this!’. Still, they are there, right at the bottom of my head and
it is very difficult to say ‘I’m going to forget about this’. I could,
but as my parents taught them to me and I attended a religious
school,76 then it’s a pillar for me’.
Religion seemed to be the most important memory and link between Elba and her
children, particularly for Montserrat, the eldest daughter. However, the way she
remembers her mother lacked an emotional tone that could have suggested she was fond
of her. She might seem to be suggesting that getting rid of the ideas her mother instilled
upon her would be the most practical thing to do since she now has her own opinion
about religion. However, by refusing to do so she kept this link with her infancy and her
memories of her mother.
The quotation also states that she has tried to forget these ideas but she could not.
Why, then, is the most vivid memory of her mother something to be changed? The
analysis of empirical evidence points at two directions. The first is the fact that after Elba
died, Santos did not remind his children about Elba to correct them. After he married for
the second time, Martha was left in charge of this task, and she did so within her own
parameters and Santos did not interfere. He was busy at the workshop and above all, he
was not expected to do so. The second point raises the question of whether they
deliberately avoided recalling her because it was a painful memory, or because they
wanted to show their respect for Martha. She was a jealous woman who resented not
being treated as the mother and chief behind the family and made that clear by raising her
voice and stating commands based on that role.
76
In Mexico, most private schools are religiously driven and therefore the formation of children in this field
is compulsory.
225
Santos kept a similar position and avoided recalling positive memories of Elba.
Yet, he showed a willingness to express the fact that she weakened their domestic
economy by resisting to learn the trade and by preventing him from teaching it to their
children. He also stressed that Martha did not resist and therefore they managed to get
through:
‘After we got married she tried to learn, we made some clay

things, right. I tried to teach her but it didn’t last that much,
maybe one or two months. She didn’t like it. With her [Martha],
we’ve been working for nearly 14 years and, she said she was
going to do it [to become an artisan] during our second year [of
marriage] because she didn’t want to stay home watching TV.
And that’s it, since then, we have worked together and since then
she’s after me [laughs]’. And now things are different, because
there are four, six hands doing this and that’s different’. 77
I have discussed this point earlier but I raise it again here with a different
meaning. Santos used it to justify his failure as a breadwinner and to underline the role
that, in his opinion, women must have roles assigned to them in the family based on the
social order. Despite Santos having inherited a solid network of customers, a car, a house
and a workshop, he did not have economic success as an artisan. However, Santos was
unable to design, either with Elba or later on with Martha, a joint strategy to improve their
conditions. On the other hand, after he married for the second time and the income he
generated at the workshop proved insufficient to meet the needs of eleven people, he
blamed Elba for it with the argument that ‘if my children had known the trade, another
thing would have been different for us’.78
77
78
226
Yet, the equation is not so simple since the Lucano family began to face financial
problems at the end of 1993. Months later, his mother Gabina died which was an extra
blow to his monetary situation since he stopped receiving the additional money she
handed out to him to meet extra expenses, and the maternal workshop disappeared when
Santos refused to work for his sister in exchange for a salary. Their situation worsened at
the beginning of 1995 when the Mexican economy collapsed and the markets shrank.
All these events encouraged Martha, Santos’ second wife, to become an artisan
and to share her husband’s opinion on the failure of Elba to support him. All the children
shared such a perception when they compared the attitude of both women and when
Santos discussed the importance of women as economic providers. Nonetheless, the fact
is that Elba died in 1989 and after that Santos did not teach the trade to his children since
by then he still received the financial help from his mother. Yet, the fact that they all
believed that Elba was the one to blame for their situation – a situation that Martha has
helped to construct – is real in its consequences, borrowing the expression from W. I
Thomas (1971: 274).
It is important to consider that the answers provided by the Lucano and the
Ramírez families in relation to Elba were less ambiguous after Martha agreed, a year
later, to be interviewed. Still, their perception about Elba did not change, which suggests
that this family event is central to their history since it was used as a basis to lecture about
the values and virtues of kinship, marriage and womanhood. The position of Santos after
Martha was interviewed was particularly interesting since he not only talked more easily
about Elba but was also more outspoken. This event confirms the relevance for the
interviewer and the informant of both realising interviews in neutral or favourable settings
(as Thompson (1984: 122), Shopes (1996: 237) and Raleigh (1994: 56), amongst others,
suggest), as well as of considering the importance of closely related people and the
227
presence of third parties in the progress and the quality of the information. The fragment
below illustrates the change I discussed:
‘As I was saying, if that person is willing to [learn the trade],

she or he can become one [artisan], right. She or he could
become an artisan. For example, my mother wasn’t born an
artisan and she became one. My wife (Martha) wasn’t born an
artisan either but despite everything, she’s becoming one. Then,
I believe that people shouldn’t find fault with becoming an
artisan, it’s a matter of choice and everybody can do it, right. If
we are going to talk openly [about my first wife], then she
didn’t become an artisan, she didn’t like it at all’.79
This troublesome situation confirms the complexity and richness of in-depth
interviews in the process of meaning making as well as of the awareness of the
informants of the interpretation of their experiences. Such practice involves both the
informant and the interviewers and must be considered when the analysis is made since
the way we remember and how we do it, as Stacey (1991: 111-115) suggests, is a
‘cultural construction and always a construction of self as well as of the other’.80 This,
once more, confirms the fact that interviewing is not merely an innocent and purely
retrieving process but rather an encounter where both interviewer and informant give
meaning to the issue under discussion. Thus, by reflecting on the relevance of these
elements in the interpretation of data we accept that ‘reality’ is not just there waiting to be
captured and discussed but rather waiting to be broke down and analysed. By approaching
our objects of study from this perspective, we accept the need and the compromise in
making clear to the readers from what position we have answered the questions that
guided our research.
79
80
Quoted by Raleigh (1994: 1) at Recording Oral History. A practical guide for social scientists, London:
Sage.
228
Conclusion
Growing socio-economic and cultural differences between the periods 1910-1940 and
1940-1970 have resulted in an increase in overt patterns of the family and the household
economy, the composition of the household economy, social mobility and the masculinity
and femininity of urban artisan families. By looking at these events, one can see that
artisanal production faced the most problems during the last decades of the 20th century
but that interestingly, it managed to survive due to the monetary cooperation of the
different members of the family. And this took place during the most aggressive
expansion of modernity and capitalism on the urban Mexican sectors. All this took place
in a period where the economy experienced and adopted different models seeking to
readjust the economy and face the several monetary crises. All this made life increasingly
difficult for the urban artisan and eroded their traditional lifestyle, at the time forcing
them to adapt to the new dynamics of the city. The transformation of this structure is still
to be seen and has implied the rapid abandonment of previous forms of social and
economic life as well as enormous sacrifices on the part of the families and individuals in
an effort to secure their survival. This is the result of the industrialisation and modernity
discussed earlier, which, despite its pervasiveness, has not been sufficiently powerful to
eliminate artisanal production. This activity still plays a significant role in both the
economic life and the identities of the families since people use and demand handicrafts
and this therefore allows artisans to engage in it, seeking to escape from extreme poverty.
229
Chapter 5. A glance at the continuities and the differences of the fourth generation
of the Labrador and the Lucano lineages
The purpose of this chapter is to look at the similarities and the differences between the
first three generations of the two lineages and the fourth one. The chapter also aims to
summarise the main features of the changes and to consider the continuities between
lineages in an effort to explain how artisanal production made at family workshops
survived during the most aggressive expansion of capitalism and modernity, that is, from
1970-2000. I will show how the long-preserved cohabitation of handicrafts and industry
weakened, forcing individuals to abandon the trade and to engage in formal and informal
activities as they seek to maintain their standard of living and social status.
1 The family and the household economy and its changing role in relation to
workshop production: 1970-2000.
Between 1970 and 2000 the severe economic changes that took place in Mexico had a
deep impact on the social and political arenas. At a social level, the free trade agreements,
the arrival of trans-national companies, the collapse of efficient medium and small sized
industries before multinational firms, the overvaluation of the currency, the economic
crises and the increasing levels of poverty and unemployment all weakened the living
standards of the middle and lower classes even more than during the previous decades. At
a political level, the parties had no choice but to support the monetary policies designed
by the State that threatened the working conditions and wages of the workers since they
secured the growth of the country. Largely, these decades saw the scenario in which the
uneven expansion of capitalism made clear Mexico’s dependence on the developed
economies.
230
Between 1970 and 1980 the changes in the balance of the external and internal
forces within Mexico deeply modified its socio-economic structures. Roberts (1995: 77)
states that this was not just a particular feature of Mexico but of Latin American
economies in general since they:
‘had acquired a desperate need of foreign investment as a

result of the distorted structure of production that depended
on considerable inputs of foreign capital and intermediate
goods, a decaying industrial infrastructure in need of
modernisation and limited sources of domestic capital
resulting from external indebtedness and capital flight’.
Multinational firms encouraged the opening of the economy, boosting the
development of the administrative and the service sectors that stimulated the creation of
industrial-urban enclaves for the middle and the working classes. Yet, the binomial
industrial-urban growth was uneven despite the efforts made by the State to reactivate
other areas by creating industrial parks and giving fiscal incentives; investors settled near
the centres where the infrastructure and workforce was concentrated. According to
Cardoso (1973) (quoted by Roberts, 1994: 75), the State shared control of the economy
with the global corporations and local companies that associated with it.
The new policies produced inequalities in income distribution and the living
standards (Foxley, 1976; quoted by Roberts, 1994: 74) of the working population as
multinational firms took full advantage of the abundant workforce and paid the workers
low wages. Likewise, large foreign firms had no visible impact on local economies since
only a tiny part of their inputs was home-produced. This led to new forms of economic
dependency that translated into the impoverishment of regions that did not appeal to
investors.
231
The tourist sector went through a similar process because domestic and
international visitors concentrated in areas where the transport infrastructures and
accommodation were larger and their solid expansion attracted foreign capital. According
to the Secretaría de Turismo81 (SECTUR), this sector was the third most important
monetary activity in Mexico in 1996 after export and petrol (Seminario, 1997: 66). This
had a direct impact on the consumption and commercialisation of handicrafts given that
markets and networks became more complex as they stretched over greater periods of
time and space. Up to this point, an extensive recreative infrastructure fitted all
purchasing powers and tastes.
According to Roberts (1995: 72), the fact that multinational firms produced
commodities for domestic upper and middle-class and foreign markets encouraged
similar patterns of consumption between underdeveloped and developed countries,
despite their socio-economic differences. Thus people from the former regions not only
had domestic electronic items but also invested resources in holidays, clothes and objects
to decorate their homes and offices. These changes in taste reflect the pervasiveness of
capitalism on the habits of consumption of the population who did their best to fit into
the new dynamics by modifying their attitudes and behaviour.
The above-mentioned can be clearly seen in the increase in production and
consumption of handicrafts. For most artisans, the increasing tourism represented the
opportunity to modify their merchandise and produce new ones as particular types of
artisanal production generated a significant income. The new products conveyed
historical features of the region where they were produced: for example, artisans in the
southern regions made handicrafts with pre-Hispanic motifs, whilst those in western and
central regions focused on the manufacture of colonial patterned goods. In this process,
81
Secretary of Tourism
232
the tourist sector – sponsored by both public and private funding – played an essential
role in the changing patterns of consumption since they supported, through finance and
advertisement, this change. Promotional campaigns underlined the mixture of cultures
and the appeal of a varied range of Mexican destinations, regardless of whether they were
beaches, mountains, colonial or pre-Hispanic landmarks. Most of them exploited broad
and unrealistic representations of Mexican culture and Mexicanity.82
Within this unstable landscape, the fourth generation of the Labrador and the
Lucano lineages managed to continue to earn part of their income through artisanal
production throughout the period between 1970 and 2000. Yet, the role of artisanal
production for the domestic economy changed as individuals saw no future in the activity
in the face of the expansion of new economic sectors, and as the younger generations
went through higher schooling and looked to enter the paid sector.
The two lineages faced enormous difficulties in attempting to generate an income through
artisanal production, but nevertheless they managed to do so during most of their
domestic cycle. Still, they had to complement their living with paid and formal jobs in an
effort to survive and to assure their social mobility. They did this through different
strategies due to diversities in the composition of the household economy which reflects
the stages of their domestic cycle, the conditions and moments in which they had to take
paid jobs, the external economic conditions surrounding them, their links with the size of
the family and their socio-economic standing. Diagrams 41 and 42 show the composition
of the home finances of each lineage.
82
Such as that of a man with a sombrero leaning against a cactus. Cacti have hard, long and thin prickles
that make it impossible to lean against them.
233
Diagram 41. Household economy of the fourth generation of the Labrador lineage.
Artisanal
production
1959-
Paid jobs
Gifts Factory worker
1992 1973-1985
House Dressmaking
teacher
1965-1998
Household
economy
Formal jobs
Office clerk Informal jobs
2003 Seamstress
Sales clerk 1978-2000
2002 Handicraft seller
2001-
Diagram 42. Household economy of the fourth generation of the Lucano lineage.
Formal jobs
Artisanal 2001-
production Household Factory worker,
1993- economy commission
salesperson &
accountant
The differences in the composition and the complexity of the household economy
of the Labradors and the relative simplicity of the Lucanos’ finances can be explained
234
through the stage of their domestic cycle. Beatríz Panduro, the only artisan of the fourth
generation of the Labradors, married in early 1980, left the paternal household and had
three children. In the Lucanos’ case, all the offspring were single with the exception of
one child, none had children and all lived at the paternal household. This explains the
active economic life of the Labrador household that had to exploit their limited formal
skills to make ends meet during the childhood of their children. This contrasts with the
succinct finances of the Lucano family, which at first sight might seem to suggest
monetary stability. It is, however, more an illustration of the participation of the family at
the paternal workshop.
The diagrams also show that the category of formal jobs gained importance as
children achieved technical and professional qualifications. Although there are some
coincidences in the composition of the finances of the third and fourth generations of both
lineages, for the latter, the money the younger generation was provided with by children
in paid employment was essential to their survival but did not actually improve their
lifestyle. Another important difference is the fact that informal jobs were also essential to
the reproduction of both families.
2.1 People who supported the household through artisanal production
Only one member of the fourth generation of both lineages worked as a full time artisan.
Other members did so when their time allowed and when the workshop had a large order
to deliver. This suggests that although the activity continued to be seen as a
developmental activity for the children, it was not very convenient to involve them at the
workshop since the consumption of handicrafts steadily dropped in the face of cheaper
industrial and imported goods. Enrique and Beatríz Labrador were artisans since
childhood; they continued with the trade after they married in 1982 and opened their clay
235
nativity scenes workshop. Although they supported their three children mainly through
artisanal production, only Enrique was a fulltime worker. Beatríz divided her time
between the domestic chores, the painting of handicrafts – at a relative’s workshop –, her
job as a sewing teacher and activities to promote the merchandise made by her husband.
The complex composition of their economy illustrates the precarious income he generated
at home. Diagram 43 illustrates this situation.
Diagram 43. Members of the Labrador family involved in artisanal production on a full time basis.
Household
composition Full time artisans
Parents and 1985
their 3 sons Father
Enrique was a considerate and hard working man who enjoyed being treated as
the head of the home and the workshop. He had strong notions on the role played by each
member of the family and was very strict with the education of his sons. Beatríz, was an
affectionate, shy, kind and intelligent woman whose notions on family commitment and
respect were remarkable. She devoted herself to the support and education of her children
who enjoyed a peaceful but austere – though stable and comfortable – lifestyle that was
due to the continuous sacrifices and work of their parents.

236
Photograph 5. Beatríz Panduro. January 2002.
Montserrat Lucano was born in an artisan family which pretty much determined
her own fate. She was forced, as her father and grandmother were, to learn the trade when
her family faced financial problems caused by the economic second marriage of her father
and the arrival of three more siblings. As with the rest of her siblings and stepsiblings, she
started working for the paternal household after school as a developmental activity. But
the situation changed in 1998 when Montserrat joined the family business as a full time
artisan after deciding to take a break from school as she did not know what course of
studies to choose. Montserrat and her stepsister Belén were encouraged by their father to
learn the rusty-clay technique because it was a novel cheap production. They attended a
course at a local handicraft school and eventually their parents put them in charge of this
task. Yet, Montserrat was the one who took control of the situation given that she spent
237
more time at the workshop than any of the other siblings. Photograph number 6 shows
Montserrat working on a rusty-clay production.
Photograph 6. Montserrat Lucano. January 2002.
Ana J Cuevas personal archive.
The production of rusty-clay handicrafts soon provided the Lucano family with its
largest income as customers liked the designs and colours, sizes and weight of the
merchandise that Montserrat – and Belén whenever her school timetable allowed her –
238
sold. Montserrat’s work provided the family the needed financial stability during their
most difficult years that coincided with the depreciation of the currency and the arrival of
trans-national firms. Diagram 44 illustrates the composition of the paternal household and
the number of children – including the Ramírez children – who worked full time in the
manufacturing of handicrafts.
Diagram 44. Members of the Lucano family involved in artisanal production on a full time basis.
Household
composition Full time artisans
Father and his 5 1996
children and mother Montserrat
and her 3 children
In the autumn of 2002, at the age of 23, Montserrat began her studies in
photography. She continued working as a full time artisan only at weekends and on
holidays. Her relative old age at the moment of entering college in relation to her own
siblings – the average university student age was 18 – reflects the fact that her initial
break from school became a four year recess forced by the poverty of her family. The
relevance of her work can be better understood when we consider that three of her elder
siblings and stepsiblings obtained their technical and BA qualifications and were able to
find formal jobs whilst she was a full time artisan.
2.2 People who produced handicrafts on a part time basis
The Labradors’ workshop never had part time artisans, whereas the Lucanos relied
heavily on part time workers from 1993 onwards. The recollections of the fourth
239
generation stated that although they were initially taken to the paternal workshop to be
looked after and to learn the trade ‘in case they need it’,83 their work positively impacted
on the domestic finances. Since that time onwards, all the Lucano and the Ramírez
children understood that they had to contribute to their own support whenever their
school timetables allowed them, as the quotation below shows:
‘Well, here’s a point. When I am at school there are some times

that I am overwhelmed by schoolwork and then I tell my
mother: “I can’t go to the workshop because I have lots of
homework”, and then she says: “fine, but if you finish early,
sort of early in the afternoon then you come [to the workshop]
because I have a lot of work to do”. And in such cases I better
rush to the workshop and help them and after I’m done, I do my
homework’.84
All the Lucano children continued to work at the paternal household until they
married, finished their degrees or found a paid job. Two of the Ramírez siblings, who
were older than the Lucanos, had already graduated and had paid jobs. Diagrams 45 and
46 illustrate the composition of the household economy of both lineages and the number
of part time artisans.
Diagram 45. Members of the Labrador family involved in artisanal production on a part time basis.
Household
composition Part time artisans
Parents and None
their 3 sons
83
Interview 12, Santos Lucano, third generation of the Lucano lineage, August 1997.
84
Interview 19, Montserrat Lucano and Belén Ramírez, fourth generation of the Lucano lineage. January
2002.
240
Diagram 46. Members of the Lucano family involved in artisanal production on a part time basis.
Household
composition Part time artisans
children and mother 7 children
and her 3 children
If we recall the importance of part time artisans for the first two generations of
both lineages we will see that their number increased as capitalism expanded. This throws
light on the flexibility of the families and households in adapting to changing
circumstances in an effort to continue to earn a living through artisanal production due to
their limited schooling and formal work experience. Mingione (1985: 49) found similar
evidence in his study of southern Italian informal workers that confirms that, regardless of
the stage and the logic of industrialism, manual activities were the resource to exploit in
their fight for survival.
2.3 People who lived at the paternal household but did not work at it
Both generations depended largely on the external wages of their members for their
survival. This marks a contrasting difference with the previous three generations since the
income provided by these individuals was used to improve their standard of living. Let us
consider the differences between the lineages.
The importance of the income of the Labrador members can be analysed in two
sections. The first relates to the participation of Beatríz Panduro, the mother, in
supporting the family. Her economic situation when she married was fairly solid since she
had two jobs, one as a handicraft painter and the other as a sewing teacher in a local
241
secondary school. Her income provided them with security. However, when her children
were young and after her husband Enrique resigned from his job (he had been working
for a local manufacture for 11 years), their economic situation became precarious. After
his resignation, Enrique worked full time at manufacturing nativity scenes, a skill he
mastered to perfection; he even had his own customers. Beatríz, on the other hand, did not
join him in his work. She decided to work at a paid job in order to bring more funds into
the household since they were facing a quite difficult economic situation brought upon
them by the worsening national economic crisis and the increasing unemployment of the
mid 1980s. This is how the couple remembered the importance of Beatríz’s income:
‘Beatríz: I was teaching, right? And I was paid a fortnightly

salary, mmm, yes, fortnightly, isn’t it Enrique [to her husband]?
Enrique: Yes…
Beatríz: Mmm, yes, it wasn’t that much, it wasn’t a good paid
job but even though it was a safe income; I mean, I received it
on a regular basis.
Interviewer: and how important was it for the family?
Beatríz: well, it was, it was…I reckon he [Enrique] knows
better [laughs].
E: it was indeed, how could it not be? It was, it was money that
entered into the house to pay the bills.
Beatríz: I reckon it was like 30 percent of our income, isn’t it?
E: 20 percent, 30 percent, more or less…
Beatríz: 20 percent or 30 percent, because I wasn’t well paid
[laughs]. It was not that much money but even though it was a
safe income.’85
It stands out that Beatríz asked her husband to define the importance of her wage
even when, as the mother, shopping for food and paying the bills were her duties.
Likewise, the fact that she kept her job as a sewing teacher, despite the low pay, sheds
85
Interview 18, Beatríz Panduro and Enrique Vázquez, fourth generation of the Labrador lineage. January
2004.
242
light on the relevance of her income for the household when their children were young.
This confirms that the income generated by Enrique – the breadwinner – at his workshop
was insufficient to support the household and therefore, stating that her income was more
important could have been interpreted by him as a challenge to his authority and position.
Yet, her attitude can also suggest that she wanted him to acknowledge her contribution.
I would like to highlight the fact that Beatríz also worked as a paid artisan at her
aunt Maria’s workshop until 1985, a job she left because her husband needed her.
However, they resented this situation and soon afterwards she began making clothes at
home to compensate for the missing income. In 1998, she had sight problems that
eventually impeded her continuing with this activity; but once again, in early 2001, she
began to buy in unfinished handicrafts from smaller workshops that she then painted at
home.
The fact that Beatríz engaged in paid jobs when they were better off than 20 years
ago, when their children were scholarship holders and even when one of them was
helping to support the paternal household through his half-time job as a shoe-shop clerk,
suggests that Beatríz sought to regain her partial economic independence from her
husband, as Enrique himself states:
‘For example, all that merchandise over there [points at

unfired clay pieces on the floor], she [Beatríz] buys them so
I have nothing to decide in that respect. When they [the
customers] ask me: ‘how much does this cost?’ then I say to
them: ‘talk to her because that’s her merchandise, she buys
it so she decides the price; I can’t do that’. But that’s only
in respect to the things she buys and that’s because I think
the customers are lately looking for her [to buy
merchandise]. Well, the new [customers], right. The ones
from previous years, they know they have to talk to me’.86
86
2004.
243
The Lucanos went through a similar situation but, unlike the Labradors, they faced
serious financial problems when the children were young adults. The income Santos
generated through artisanal production was insufficient to meet the household needs and
the cost of the schooling of their eight children. Two of the children – Cristina and
Araceli – graduated and found jobs but their brother Martin decided not to continue with
his education and started working at a local factory. The three of them helped to support
the paternal household, as the fragment below illustrates:
‘Belén: For example, my sister, the chartered accountant gives

food vouchers [to our mother],87 she always does that. Well, at
least she helps with that.
Montserrat: and every time they [my parents] say: “we don’t
have money or we’re running short of money”, Araceli (my
sister) is the one who contributes the most.
Belén: and so does Martín, my brother. He gets paid monthly
and then my mother comes and says: “woe is me, I have no
money at all” and [he] rapidly hands out his debit card so she
can get some cash [laughs]. Our three siblings give [money].
Very little some days and on others a bit more; but they always
give.
Montserrat: Cristina, she contributes too.
Belén: yes, she does but not that often because she works on a
commission basis and some times the commissions aren’t that
good.
Montserrat: she sometimes, she acts dumb! [Laughs]
Belén: [laughs]…then for example this week, she earned a good
commission, this fortnight she earned good money and gave
[my parents] 500 pesos,88 500 pesos that they did not count on
and that suited them very well.’89
Notwithstanding the different stages of the domestic cycle and the age gap
between the Labrador and the Lucano lineages, their survival relied heavily on the paid
87
Most workers from the public and private sector in Mexico receive 10 percent of their salary in food
stamps exchangeable at most supermarkets.
88
Equivalent to 50 USD.
89
Interview 19, Belén Ramírez and Montserrat Lucano, fourth generation of the Lucano lineage. January
2002.
244
and formal jobs of the children outside the household. The reality for the fourth
generation is that their survival is tied to the economic contribution of the better-educated
children and thus the need to instil in them the importance of solidarity and family
commitment. Diagrams 47 and 48 illustrate the number of the members of each lineage
who worked outside the paternal household and helped in its support.
Nuclear Members
composition 1982-
Parents and Beatríz and her
their 3 sons son Alfonso
Diagram 48. Members of the Lucano family who worked outside the paternal household.
Complex
household Members
Father and his 5 2002
children and Cristina and
mother and her 3 Martín
children
2.4 People who supported the paternal household but did not live there
For both lineages, the contribution of children who did not live at the paternal household
was relevant for their finances and, in both cases, they were children who: a) were in their
early twenties; b) were the better educated members of the family; c) had formal jobs – an
administrative assistant in the Labradors’ case and a sales commission person in the
Lucanos’; d) were financially independent as their partners had paid jobs too; and e) both
245
abandoned the paternal household after marriage. I want to underline the fact that in the
Lucanos’ case, the emphasis will be placed on the impact of this income on the well being
of the siblings due to the conditions discussed above. This being said, let us look at the
way this money was used.
In the Labrador family, the money was handed to Beatríz, the mother, who, as she
stated, did not look at this contribution as a chance to improve their own life style but
rather to support her children:
‘[That money] is more for, I mean, is for, is like a saving,

right? It is for them. When they need something, mmm,
mmm…when they need something they can’t afford or
something they like, or when we can’t afford something
then we give them their money back. We don’t, we don’t
use that money for the house, right? And that money is
important for us too…since it’s something we can save, I
mean, if we need something [for ourselves or the house]
then we will spend it, right. We will do that even when we
will later say ‘we have to pay them back’, right. I don’t
know, how would I say it? It is as if they were lending us
their money, so to speak. And we always try to replace it,
we try our best to save it, right? So when they need it, it’s
right there for them; above all now that they are at
school’.
Unlike the Labradors’ son, the Lucanos’ children also supported the household but
handed the money to their siblings when they faced extraordinary school expenses:
‘Belén: For example, my studies are expensive and

sometimes my parents do not have money to [meet these
extra expenses]; they just don’t have the money at that
particular time so I have to go to [my siblings] and ask
them [for money] and they give it to me and never ask the
money back. Then I say to them: ‘lend me some money
and when my mom has some I pay you back’.
Montserrat: but they know it is gone! [laughs]. The point
is that sometimes [studies] are expensive. Her studies
246
[graphic designer] are very expensive and so are mine

[photographer] and suddenly we just need this or the other
thing and sometimes they [my parents] think it is very
heavy to cope with all this. Then when we feel we have
asked [for money] too frequently then we go to our
siblings and they are the ones who give us [money].’90
Once again, the strong notions of both the artisans and non-artisans of the family
on solidarity and commitment stand out. The contribution of both, but particularly of the
latter, had a direct impact on education as their recollections confirm. This contrasts with
the situation of the first two generations of the lineage – and even with the situation of
Santos Lucano from the third generation –that had a stronger tendency to join the paternal
household after matrimony due to their lack of formal schooling and their role at the
paternal household. This suggests that formal education and the paid employment of the
offspring from the fourth generation allowed them a greater social and economic
independence. This was so even when their standard of living was not much superior to
that of their predecessors. Diagrams 49 and 50 show the dates and names of the
individuals who helped to support the paternal household whilst living away from it.
Diagram 49. Members of the fourth generation of the Labrador family who supported the paternal
household but did not live there.
Household
composition Members
Parents and 2002-
their 3 sons Enrique
90
Interview 19, Belén Ramírez and Montserrat Lucano, fourth generation of the Lucano lineage. January
2002.
247
Diagram 50.Members of the fourth generation of the Lucano family who supported the paternal
household but who did not live there.
Household
composition Members
children and mother Ericka
and her 3 children
The main difference between the Labrador and the Lucano families is that the Labradors
received gifts from relatives. In 1991, Beatríz and her family moved in to her parents’
house after they had moved to a larger house. She was chosen because she was the
poorest child of the family and the one who had worked the most to the benefit of her
siblings from her early adolescence until she married. Although Beatríz and her family
bought a small lot in 1987 where they planned to build a house, they lacked the means to
do it. These events encouraged her parents to favour her over her siblings, which might
denote a silent act of gratitude for her long years of work and sacrifice. But it was not
only because of this since the property had been bequeathed to Beatríz’s parents by their
relatives, María and Felipe, who had made clear that it had to be inhabited by those who
needed it the most. Beatríz’s parents had made their decision bearing this consideration in
mind. The diagram below shows the date on which they received the house, and the
following quotation reflects on this crucial decision for Beatríz’s family:
‘He [my uncle] told my brother to bring the notary home,

right? So he could write the deeds; he pretended to have
sold [this house] to my brother but once the notary was
here my uncle said [to everybody] that this house didn’t
248
belong to my brother but to the family. He [my uncle]

said: ‘you [Enrique] know very well this house belongs to
your family’. And that’s how this house was left in my
brother’s name and this house belongs, I mean, this is my
family’s house, no one owns this house at the moment, it
belongs to everybody.’91
Beatríz and her family welcomed the decision. Still, her recollections imply that it
was she who was entitled to inhabit the house, given her disadvantaged situation in
relation to her siblings and because of the conditions the property. Diagram 51 shows the
date and people who gave gifts to this generation of the lineage.
Diagram 51. People who gave gifts to the fourth generation of the Labrador family
Household
composition Gifts
Parents and 1991:House
their 3 sons (Parents)
Gifts were essential for the improvement of the standard of living of all the
generations of the Labrador and the Lucano lineages as economic shifts and restructuring
took place. This is particularly applicable for the third and the fourth generation of
artisans of the Lucano lineage. Although Santos inherited a well-known family name and
assets from his parents, he had no possibilities of capitalising on them due to the
economic crisis of the 1990s and the financial burden that his second marriage
represented. This situation is likely to repeat in the fourth generation regardless of
91
249
whether they have higher qualifications since their possibilities of accumulating capital or
enlarging the workshop through artisanal production are very much reduced. This
underlines the importance of the properties and capital that were bequeathed to them,
which also applies to non-artisans.
3 Social mobility
The first two generations of both lineages – 1880-1940 – had a hardly visible social
mobility because they were self-sufficient households that strongly depended on artisanal
and agricultural jobs. This was a reflection of the broader economy of the period and
marks a sharp contrast with the patterns of greater social mobility of the latter two
generations. This was due to the large transfer from agricultural and artisanal work to
urban and more qualified jobs. Filgueira and Geneleti (quoted by Roberts, 1995: 146)
found similar evidence in several Latin American countries, which suggests that my
empirical evidence has a bearing on, and relevance to, much broader processes than my
specific focus.
In the previous chapter I showed how most of the members of the third generation
were exceptionally upwardly mobile, even the artisans, as a result of their access to
education and the support provided by their children. Largely, these individuals had more
intergenerational social mobility than their predecessors. This pattern slowed down from
the late 1970s onwards as urbanisation and industrialisation were well advanced and a
large number of qualified individuals were competing for jobs that did not last given the
cuts in public expenditure and technological advancements. These events affected not
only the social mobility patterns of the fourth generations of the Labrador and the Lucano
families but also their purchasing power as they had to face the outcomes of the 1990s
250
economic crises and the effects of free market policies. Roberts (1995: 155) stated in this
respect that:
‘Between 1983 and 1988 there was a fall of the real wages
per worker of between 40 and 50 per cent. In this period, the
income concentration of the top 10 per cent of the population
appears to have increased, while the share of the lowest 40
percent declined as did that of the intermediate 50 per cent.
The government reduced food subsidies and expenditures on
the social services…[Free market policies aimed at]
stimulating the private sector and reducing the state
intervention in the economy…These had a negative impact
on the urban middle and working classes, especially the
lower middle classes, formal and informal working
classes…’
Interestingly enough, the number of artisans in the fourth generation of both
lineages diminished significantly in comparison to their predecessors. By looking at this
situation from a gender perspective we can see that women from this generation tended to
work as part time artisans for longer periods than men because they had parallel economic
activities. Men, on the contrary, had no choice but to focus on artisanal production due to
their lower schooling and breadwinner role. On the other hand, the better skills,
instruction, education, and even their personalities, encouraged them to integrate
themselves into the formal and informal markets.
Beatríz Panduro obtained her technical qualification as a dressmaker after finishing
primary school, and since the age of 12 she worked to support the paternal household.
251
The following quotation shows how her family’s poverty severely affected her life
choices and social mobility:
‘I’ve always enjoyed sewing and I still do. I managed to, I

managed to graduate in this area. I learned the skills. But
besides the sewing thing and all that, I wish I had been, I mean,
I wish I had attended the medicine school…I mean, I like it a
lot but I couldn’t; all I could afford was the sewing course and I
also worked the handicraft thing. I wish I had had the means to
go ahead, I mean, to keep studying, right?...But in my case I, I
rather studied dressmaking and all that because, because there
weren’t that many possibilities for me to study some other thing
because we were a large family and I saw the need in which we
were, right? So I rather liked dressmaking and handicraft
manufacturing. But, you see, I’m happy because I could help
my family through by doing that. Even though I don’t hold a
BA and had a job, I’m happy. I made a lot of things through
this [laughs], I made a lot of things out of this [sobs and softly
blows her nose]’.92
Montserrat Lucano, her counterpart, started working for her paternal workshop at
the age of 18, forced into doing so through the family’s poverty, and only after their
situation mitigated did she enter the university. Although her family’s situation also
determined the possibilities for her to carry on with her own life, their relative financial
stability allowed her to continue with her studies and to choose the course she most liked.
These differences confirm the impact of kin’s socio-economic position on the lives and
social mobility of artisan children.
By looking at and comparing the trajectories of these two women to that of their
siblings, it emerged that they were less mobile since they had lower schooling, had to
postpone or definitively interrupt their education and marriage plans and had to find paid
jobs or work full time at the workshop. Their brothers and sisters, on the contrary, were in
92
2002.
252
a better position to leave the trade and devote themselves to their professions and
families, which matched the patterns of social mobility of the artisans and non-artisans of
the previous generations of both lineages.
By comparing the social mobility of Beatríz Panduro to that of her great
grandmother, grandmother and mother, it emerged that she was more mobile than them
through her education (Beatríz finished primary school whilst her predecessors were
illiterate and half-illiterate), her work (she had paid jobs whilst their predecessors were
self-employed artisans and food vendors) and her marriage (she married a formal paid
worker whilst her predecessors married self-employed artisans). However, when I
compared Beatríz’s trajectory to that of her siblings, women and men alike, it emerged
that whilst she had to take jobs as a handicraft painter, sewing teacher, handicraft trader
and dressmaker, her siblings were upwardly mobile through their higher schooling and
formal jobs.
A similar pattern emerged when I compared the trajectory of her husband Enrique
and her brothers and brothers-in-law. All of them were upwardly mobile through
schooling and jobs rather than through artisanal production, but Enrique’s situation
changed from the mid 1970s onwards when his social mobility stagnated due to his
schooling level – he had a primary school certificate. Not only did his chances of further
social mobility disappear but also his purchasing power dropped as a result of economic
readjustments and policies:
‘He[my father] also had his own workshop and we all

worked there but I didn’t like that work anymore and left
the workshop for the factory and I worked there more or
less 11 years. But then again, I got fed up with the job and
I resigned because I worked all day and couldn’t buy a
thing so I came home and started working this [the clay].
And here I am, I am very happy because…because no one
orders me around whatsoever. In the factory, I saw I
253
wasn’t going to achieve a thing and I worked all day.

Some cousins of mine also worked there [at the factory]
and they are still there but they just can’t get out of it’.93
Enrique’s decision to resign from his paid job was taken in the hope of achieving
more freedom and profits. The work of Pozos (1992), Pozas (1993) and Roberts (1995)
sheds light on the fact that the economic and industrial restructuring changes in Mexico in
the late 1970s affected mainly workers with the lowest levels of education. From the early
1980s, factories demanded more educated workers and Enrique, who lacked schooling,
saw that the possibilities of being promoted and even of keeping his job were greatly
reduced.
Montserrat Lucano, as with Beatríz Panduro, was more mobile than her
predecessors but less socially mobile than her siblings at the time of the interviews. Her
three siblings and stepsiblings have experienced upward social mobility through
education and formal employment. They were all younger than Montserrat when they
entered college, - – and were younger and more qualified than her when they obtained
their first job. Even so, their standard of living did not improve in the same proportion as
it had for the previous generation through artisanal production.
I would like to stress that Ericka Lucano was the first female member of the
lineage to achieve a BA degree as well as the first to leave the paternal household after
marriage. This is explained by her economic self-sufficiency and her husband’s work.
This contrasts with the case of the women from the third generation of the lineage who
also attained significant social mobility through their education but later lost it by
disadvantageous marriage alliances and the lack of paid employment.
93
Interview 5, Beatríz Panduro and Enrique Vázquez, fourth generation of the Labrador lineage. August
1997.
254
Even though the third and the fourth generations of the Lucano lineage – Santos,
Martín and Santos respectively – were more mobile than their predecessors because of
their education, none of them has achieved intra-generational social mobility through
artisanal production as the first and the second generation did. Likewise, none of them has
been able to achieve the economic and social success that Balbino I achieved (from the
second generation of the lineage) neither through artisanal production nor through
education and employment. Of equal relevance is the fact that, up to this point, no male
member of this lineage had obtained a professional degree.
This gender-driven pattern was seen in the third generation of the lineage, which
contrasts with the situation of the Labrador men who were all upwardly mobile through
education and employment. The higher social mobility of women over men through
education and employment points at two situations. The first is that families invested the
same amount of economic resources in the education of women regardless of their having
a paid job or not because it confirmed their status. They understood that encouraging the
girls’ education was a good investment because although in theory they were not
expected to support the family, in practice they tended to do so when their partners could
not. The second point has to do with the apparent naivety with which parents invested in
the education of women. Their practical knowledge and daily life experience suggested to
them that education was the best outlay, since through formal jobs – no matter how low
paid they were – the family was in a better position to fight poverty. This shows that
through education, parents sought to ensure their survival and upward social mobility.
255
The role of marriage, education and employment were crucial for the social mobility of
the fourth generations of both lineages as they determined their position in a broader
context. Data confirms that even though the schooling levels of all the individuals of the
fourth generation of the two families were higher, though marriage alliances were less
contrasting than in the previous generations and there was a higher number of individuals
working in the formal sector, their patterns of social mobility were more static. At this
point, the analytical category of artisans and non-artisans allowed fewer meaningful
differences between the two groups. The living standards of the two groups were low and
in a strict sense, they depended on each other’s income to keep their life style.
3.2.1 The effects of marriage and education on women
Marriage continued to be a structurally negative event for most women with a higher
education and income than their partners. Nonetheless, they endured these
psychologically stressful unions for a lifetime, encouraged by their notions of
womanhood, support and family. The analysis shows that their initial fall reverted
through the investment of resources in food and shelter and, whenever possible, in the
children’s education. Although the evidence of Gershuny (1985; 131-152), Morris (1990:
117-122), Selby et al (1990: 77, 95 and 97) and Chant and Craske (2003: 212-213) is
different to mine, it is interesting to find close similarities concerning women’s wages and
the use of this money and its relation to household work strategies, income inequality and
asymmetrical work exchange. This allows me to state that conjugal differences on
household management and the priorities of matrimony affect the social mobility of
women in same-origin unions not only in artisan contexts but also in different cultural
contexts.
256
Beatríz Panduro was a handicraft painter and a sewing teacher by the time she
married Enrique, a worker of humble artisan origin. These facts consolidated her socio-
economic status and had an immediate effect on her social mobility. Yet, two years later
her social standing was compromised after their income shrank because of her husband’s
resignation. From that moment onwards she struggled to keep her position, which she
recovered by complementing their income through several paid jobs.
The social mobility of Beatríz’s sisters after marriage also suffered important
changes. The lower occupation status and schooling of six of her brother-in-laws affected
the social mobility her sisters had gained through education and jobs. The cases of
Hermenegilda – a primary school headteacher – and Ofelia – a chartered accountant at a
large bookstore – stand out. Hermenegilda married a school janitor who was also a
modest farmer. Almost immediately after her marriage, her standard of living declined
because she and her husband disagreed on who must pay for the commodities each of
them wanted. Hermenegilda’s husband felt entitled – as the head of household – to spend
his wife’s income for his own needs without any discussion. Hermegilda’s sister, Beatríz,
illustrates this difficult situation:
‘[Hermenegilda’s] husband is a heavy drinker and she had

already left him, I mean, he’s a janitor and she’s the school
principal which makes a big difference in terms of their
income, right? And she told him that Enrique [my husband]
gave me all his earnings but she instead gave him all her
income; she gave it all to him but he drinks a lot so when he
just didn’t show up I told her: can’t you see it? you shouldn’t
be doing this! [laughs]. You better keep your money for
yourself. Let him spend his own money on drinks or
whatsoever but you have to say to him: ‘you have to hand
me a fortnightly allowance and the rest of the money you can
spend it on yourself or on drinks even if that pleases you but
you first have to give me an allowance’. And I also told her:
‘you first have to give me some money and the rest you
might keep it for yourself’. Because otherwise she is going to
spoil him, right. Because she had also opened a joint
257
account, right; but as he was entitled too to withdraw money

when she tried to get some cash there was no money left!
And from that time onwards she understood what I said to
her: ‘it’s a lot better if each of you manage your own
money’…
Enrique: he spent it all on drinks and women!
Beatríz: and then I said: ‘you better invest that money on a
lot so he has no chance to, I mean, how could he possibly
dare to say ‘it’s mine’?’. From now onwards you better
invest your money in a house so he can’t any longer ask you:
where’s the money? you know that your income is going to
be invested in something that is going to be used by your
family’. And she [my sister] replied: ‘you’re right’. And
that’s how they built their house…’.94
Her sister Consuelo faced a similar situation; as her income gave her more
freedom, her husband, a soldier, became increasingly ill tempered. In this case, her
husband refused to pick her up after work, to take her to the supermarket or to run errands
because the gas was very expensive and the tyres would wear down’.95 His reaction is an
indication of chauvinism, a man that wants to have total control over any situation and
cannot accept the fact that his wife earns a good salary, has more freedom and has
something to say in family matters.
In the case of Ericka Lucano, she was able to improve her lifestyle and household
commodities through her own income and that of her husband. Yet, the fact that she
supported the household created a tense atmosphere. Her husband refused to let her know
what his monthly income was, or to pay the household expenses – a situation that caused
Ericka’s father great concern, as he himself states:
‘Even if we are the ones who earn the money, it’s not our
money, it’s everybody’s…if you’re already married, then it
is the family’s money and that’s the piece of advice we have
94
2002.
95
258
to give [to our children]. We need to…we need to do so

above all with our married child. I tell her: ‘teach him to
share his money with you; you two better learn once and for
all how to run [a household]’. But then my in-law says: ‘no
way, it’s my money’. But it’s not his money because he’s
already married and therefore, it belongs to both and that’s
what you have to learn and what you [my daughter] has to
teach him because it’s now her turn to educate him and if she
starts right away, then her marriage is going to last. Because
all those [marital] conflicts, nowadays the relationships are, I
mean, everybody wants to manage her/his own money as a
separate thing and the two of them want to wear the
pants…‘I give more money, you give less, I do this, you
don’t do that…’ It’s a never ending story!.’96
The quotations show that even when individuals suffered the consequences of
behaving according to the values they were taught, they reproduced these values and
passed them down to their children. This helps to keep the prevalent social order and
above all, the patriarchal system. This, as we saw, not only affected the social mobility of
the artisans but also affected their lives and personalities. It stands out that in most cases
professional women did not use their position to challenge men’s authority but rather to
lighten their burden of work by buying nursing and domestic services whenever that was
possible. On the other hand, those who worked in clerical or technical jobs – and artisans,
too, as my evidence shows – were more able to rely on kin and friends to look after their
children. This coincides with the evidence found by Morris (1990: 101) in the USA. Let
us now consider how marriage affected men.
96
259
Marriage had a positive impact on the social mobility of most men, both artisans and non-
artisans, of the two lineages and across the four generations. Contrary to the trajectories
of the women, those of the men were largely based on the economic, material and
physical contribution of their partners even in quite disadvantaged marriages such as that
of Balbino I and Gabina Lucano – a better off artisan who married an illiterate poor
woman, the daughter of a mule rider. Without exception, men were more mobile after
marriage than before it, which can be explained through the analysis of their life and
labour cycles.
Enrique Vazquez was downwardly and upwardly mobile at different points of his
life. Enrique married Beatríz Panduro who had two paid jobs that together with his
income as a formal paid worker, allowed them to rent and modestly furnish their own
home. The first years following their marriage were stable but after Enrique resigned his
job at the factory and became a self-employed artisan, his economic circumstances were
reduced and he had to move to his parents’ home where he joined his mother’s workshop.
During these years his wife’s income and the gifts she received from her parents allowed
him to regain his position. In 1992, he and his family moved to his parents-in-law’s house
where he was able to open his own workshop that he was the head of and that he himself
administered.
Enrique’s case illustrates at least three important points. The first is that formal
workers were upwardly mobile until the early 1980s through a real improvement in their
purchasing power. The second is the fact that from the 1980s on, the patterns of social
mobility of the middle and working class were modified by cuts in public expenditure,
economic crises, a drop in their wages and the contravention of their working rights as
multinational companies dominated production. The third point is the relevance of

260
women’s income for both the social mobility of men and the well-beingwell being of the
household. Morris (1990: 120) found in her comparative study of the USA and the UK
that women’s wages contributed to the improvement of the domestic unit’s living
standard, whereas in the cases of working class households where women stayed at home,
these households lived near the edge of poverty.
By comparing Enrique’s trajectory to that of his parents it also emerges that
despite the vicissitudes he faced throughout his working life, he far exceeded them
through his education (he holds a primary school certificate whilst his parents were semi-
illiterate), his occupation (he was a formal worker whilst his parents and siblings were
artisans) and his housing situation (he lives in a larger house with better facilities).
The social mobility of men with technical or professional qualifications was less
attached to their partners’ contribution and, in most cases, they were upwardly mobile
before marriage although they experienced the greatest social mobility after it. The case
of Enrique Labrador is a fine example. He was intra-generationally mobile before
marriage – just as his siblings were – through education and occupation. He was an air
traffic controller at the Jalisco Military Base and the first male of the lineage to hold a
professional qualification. Although he married a white-collar worker, his income was far
larger than hers, which encouraged him to ask her to resign from her job after their first
child was born. He experienced further social mobility in 1989 and 1994 after being
promoted and transferred to the military bases of Chiapas and Acapulco. These events not
only had a direct on his own social mobility but also on that of his parents and her sister
Beatríz, as the quotation shows:
‘I’ve been living in this house for four years, for only four
years. We moved in to this house four years ago but it’s not
mine. It’s Enrique’s, the one who is an air traffic controller. He
261
lives in Acapulco right now, he bought it four years ago, was it

four years ago? Mmm, no, he bought it five years ago. He was
working at the military base in Guadalajara and then he was
transferred to Chiapas and then as he had to move to Chiapas
and the house was to be inhabited…one day he just popped in
and said: ‘Mom, I want you to move to my place’. And I said:
‘no way, I’m doing perfectly fine where I am. After I got
married and moved out from your [paternal] grandparents’
place, I’ve been living here [the house we inherited from María
and Felipe] and I am moving nowhere’…But, well, I used to
live in Rosales Street, I mean, in Allende Street, where Beatríz
lives at the moment, and I said to my son: ‘I’m moving
nowhere’. And one fine day he and the others [my children]
packed all my stuff –I was not around– and when I arrived
home they just told me: ‘we moved your things to the other
house’…’97
Even though the fourth generation of both lineages had no choice but to adapt their values
to an increasingly modern and capitalist life, family – regardless of size and composition
– and marriage continued to be two important events in the construction not only of their
identity but also of their economic fortunes. Such continuity reflects the failure of the
State, as the regulator of social policies, and of capitalism, as the ruling economic model,
to improve the standards of living of most individuals. This led to the transmission of the
cultural values that secured their survival and the reproduction of the social contexts in
which they were embedded.
The social life of the fourth generation, above all for the artisans, was slightly more active
than that of the previous generation because they made social networks at school and at
work. Even for this group, however, family and workshop activities took up most of their
97
262
leisure time. In the case of the artisans, their social circles were smaller; their partners and
most of their friends were linked to handicraft manufacturing.
The fact that artisans, and workers of artisan origin inserted in the formal sector,
led rather isolated lives socially sheds a new light on their patterns of socialisation since
they were substantially alike. The fact that both groups were raised in contexts of poverty,
where work was compulsory and free time was scarce or jealously granted, determined
their notions in this respect. This is likely, since non-artisans were never really freed from
the moral responsibility of supporting their siblings and parents as the material discussed
in the previous chapters illustrated. Quite the contrary, even when modernity and
capitalism were supposed to enhance their possibilities of a better life through well-paid
jobs, their expansion put the existence of families of marginal origin at risk.
4.2 Marriage
Marriage was as important for the fourth generation of the Labrador and the Lucano
lineages as it was for the former three and it played a vital role in the construction of their
identity. Such continuity confirms the human need of company, affection and care as well
as the rights to which marriage entitles individuals, as many authors have found (see
Davies, 1998; Arber, 1999; McKie, Bowlby and Gregory 1999; Viveros, 1999; and
Benno de Keijzer, 2002; amongst others).
The artisans from the fourth generations were proportionally more independent
and liable to face fewer difficulties with their parents at the moment of marriage. Chiefly,
their higher levels of education, their relative economic independence and the
contribution of other siblings to the support of the paternal household made this possible.
Let us look at this situation from a gender perspective.

263
The Labrador women of the fourth generation – both artisans and non-artisans –
married at an average age of 27.15 years, whilst for the Lucano family it was 25. This
comparison can be misleading since whilst 6 out of 9 Labrador women had already
married at the time of the last interview, only 1 out of 6 Lucano siblings had done so.
Here, once again, the age gap between lineages is meaningful, which is relevant to
consider since most of them are dating or just entering this stage.
The higher schooling of these individuals increased their possibilities of survival
and their position before marriage, which was not their only option as a life choice. The
recollections of Beatríz confirm this picture and the way she saw herself before this event
despite her low schooling:
‘I got married old, right? Because my mother married when

she was 14, she was to turn 15 when she was already married
and I got married at 29…It was a good age [to marry], I
mean, it was more formal, I don’t know how to put it. It
seemed like a good age [to get married] to me. My mom says
that she rather liked her age to get married, but I mean, years
ago women tended to marry younger. It must have been that
they lacked education or maybe they thought that, I mean,
that by the mere fact of reaching a certain age or something
that it meant that they were ready to marry but that is no
longer the situation. Nowadays women think more about
being better educated, in preparing themselves for [life] and
in having more options to decide when to marry.’98
As for the age of men at the moment of marriage, their higher levels of schooling
had the same effect. Their average age was 27.7, which is 7.7 years more than the first
two generations, and 1.7 more than the third. In this case, the comparison between
lineages is not possible since all the Lucano men were single. Yet, the fact that Martín –
98
264
the eldest male of this generation, who turned 23 in 2005 – had no girlfriend or plans to
marry suggests the continuity of this pattern.
Of equal importance is the gender difference of the age at the moment of marriage
among the Labrador children. Women married on average at 29 years whilst men did so
at 27. This suggests that, although marriage was definitively an important step in their
lives, their education and economic independence allowed them to delay this event. They
had the means and were therefore in a position to decide so, as Beatríz stated. Once again,
the age gap between the two lineages deserves a closer look. It clearly reflects that the
notions of marriage, motherhood and family of individuals born between 1970 and 1980
were different from those born between 1960 and 1970. The following fragment sheds
light on how women were more vulnerable than men in the capitalist-modern period in
having to deal with the demands of all the family members besides also seeking to be
professionally, emotionally and economically successful in an increasingly changing
context that did not precisely benefit them:
‘AC: how important is marriage for you?

Belén: For me, it’s very important. I mean, it’s not my goal
at the moment but it’s definitely important.
Montserrat: Not for me, it’s not the most important thing for
me. It is not the thing that interests me most. It might be that
I have some other plans in my head at the moment and
maybe [marriage and children] will come later, right. But it’s
not my goal.
AC: Why is it so?
Montserrat: Well, I don’t know! Sometimes I just feel that if
I have a child I wouldn’t have the courage to educate him; I
mean, it may be that I need a job to think different. I don’t
know, maybe it’s also that I need to grow up more as a
person.99
Interviewer: Is it important for your parents that you marry?
Montserrat: It is indeed! They always ask us: ‘when are you
getting married? When will you find the right person? I don’t
know, they always stress this situation, right.
99
She turned 30 in April 2005.
265
Belén: they do but lately, they stopped doing it, right. ‘Well
[we said], it’s alright, I’m going to quit school and marry…’.
But once again they just come with the story: ‘I guess you
should be married by now…’ and things like that.’100
The family trees number 7 and 8 of the fourth generation of the Labrador and
Lucano lineages show the dates I am discussing and allows me to cast a close look at
these differences. The Lucano family tree, in particular, shows two factors that deserve to
be mentioned. The first is the age gap between the members of this generation and those
of the Labrador lineage. The second is the identical structure of this generation and the
third one. This is due to the fact that family trees aimed at underlining the
intergenerational transmission of the trade and, in the Lucano case, the artisans of the
family, Belen and Montserrat, are still single.
100
Interview 19, Montserrat Lucano and Belén Ramírez, fourth generation of the Lucano lineage. January
2004.
266
Family tree 7. 4th generation of the Labrador lineage.

267
Family tree 8. 3rd and 4th generation of the Lucano lineage.

268
The recollections of the fourth generation of the Labrador and the Lucano families show
that they were more aware than their predecessors about birth control methods and family
planning. The analysis pointed at two important differences between the lineages. All the
Labrador children believed that children were an inherent and immediate step after
marriage, whilst the Lucanos believed that the arrival of children could wait.
Most of the Labradors were already married and had children by the time of the
interviews whilst most of the Lucanos – 7 out of 8 – were single, lived at the paternal
household, were studying and were younger than the Labradors. These elements played
an important part in their notions of motherhood/fatherhood and the most appropriate
time to become a parent.
In both lineages the size of the family reduced generation after generation but this
change was most evident in the fourth generation, passing from 14 and 8 children
respectively, to 2.101 It is worth mentioning that such generational shrinking was not the
result of family planning but rather of health problems and lack of services, which
suggests how their education and socio-economic standings reinforced the importance of
large families as key elements of their images of motherhood/fatherhood. This is clearly
seen in the behaviour of the fourth generation whose members besides deciding to have
fewer kids, also had access to health services and were far better educated. These changes
reflect how the social conditions of modernity and capitalism encouraged them to
reorganise their family, sexual and work life in an effort to put themselves on a par with
the demands and pressures the changes created. The rising cost of education and support
for the children – the expenses of which families had to afford even when education was
101
In 1970 the mean number of children per woman was 6.8 (Estimaciones del Consejo Nacional de
Población, Tasa Global de Fecundidad 1960-2000, www.conapo.org.mx)
269
free and given that children depended upon and lived longer periods at their parental
household – stimulated them to alter past practices. Minge (1986: 17-18) and Qvortrup
(2001: 91) found similar evidence in this respect.
There are two important differences between the two families regarding their
notions of motherhood and fatherhood, even within the family itself. All the Labradors
had children within their first years of marriage whilst the Lucanos did not since they
preferred to be more stable in economic and work terms before having children. In the
latter case, only one child was married at the time of the interviews. Yet, both sets of
siblings were financially independent and with similar schooling levels (see family trees
in the above pages and the Appendix).
The fact that the Labrador siblings were born between the late 1950s and the early
1970s, whilst the Lucanos were born between the early 1970s and the early 1980s,
explains this difference. The latter were more exposed than the former, through mass
media and education, to health campaigns that underlined that an active sexual life and
children were not synonymous, above all if they were single. The fragment below shows
the slogan used by CONAPO in the 1970s and the 1980s to transform the attitudes and
values of the population with respect to birth control (Situación Demográfica, 1998: 160):
‘Back then [in the 1970s], [CONAPO] produced and launched

campaigns such as that of ‘Small families live better’ that are still
remembered by most of the population and whose content was
shared by 96% of the people of fertile age who live in the states
with higher fertility rates…[In] the 1980s, the slogan of the
National Population Council was ‘fewer children to give them a
lot’. It encouraged the reduction of births within a frame that
sought the improvement of the standard of living of the family’.
270
There is another relevant feature in relation to the above comment. Two of the
Labrador sisters became single mothers in their mid twenties who, in both cases, were
financially independent. However, they also left the paternal home when their children
were toddlers and were the first women of this lineage to do so. They decided to leave
after their parents began to exercise a stricter control on their social life and intervened in
the education of their children. Thus, although they abandoned the paternal household,
their mother continued to pick up the babies from the nursery school and to look after
them until they arrived home from work. This shows that despite the generational and
value differences, their mother was essential for their economic independence and success
as well as for their social mobility. Bertaux-Wiame (1993: 40) found similar evidence in
this respect to the impact of intergenerational support – mothers/daughters/sisters – on the
success of women in France. The following quotation shows the generational clash
between the daughters’ values and the values of their mother regarding family, sexuality
and marriage:
‘We thought about that, of course, we thought about having

kids back in the old days but we thought of that as a part of a
marriage. We didn’t think as they do today: ‘mmm, I will
have a child but that’s it, I don’t need a partner’. We thought
of having a family, a husband, a person with whom…, I
mean, we thought of being responsible. We thought a lot
about that and I always thought that if I, that if I ever had
children it was going to be because I was married. [I thought
that] if I had a family, I was going to live together with my
husband.’102
Eusebia Labrador stood up for her children when her partner failed to support
them, just as her mother and grandmother did when their partners could not support their
102
271
families. In a strict sense, she was the moral pillar of the household even when she
encouraged the children to acknowledge their father as the breadwinner and the moral
figurehead of the family. However, the fact that her daughters were single mothers
suggests two things: that their partners rejected their responsibility as fathers and ended
the relationship; and that, for these women, their financial independence and education
meant that raising their children without a partner was possible. Thus, their failure to live
according to the values they were taught suggests their efforts to free themselves from
disadvantageous relationships – such as those of their mother and sisters – even when the
social cost was high. They knew a partner did not guarantee the socio-economic
protection and the emotional support they needed. Likewise, even when they needed
affection, their decision to remain single is meaningful since it shows the difficulties in
having a satisfactory relationship and in fulfilling their roles as mothers, partners and
workers.
Conclusion
The survival of artisanal production between 1970 and 2000, a period in which the trade
was practically abandoned by most members of the families, was sustained on the paid
jobs of children involved in the formal sector. This marked a contrast with their
predecessors who complemented it with wages coming from the informal sector. Even
when the latter was characterised as unstable and subject to the major economic structures
of the formal activities, it was organised and provided monetary opportunities for most
individuals in urban settings. Such opportunities were distributed based on household
membership – some produced handicrafts whilst others attended school and later entered
the formal market– which confirms, once again, the key role of family ties for survival.
272
The composition of the household economy of the fourth generation confirmed
that their declining standards of living led domestic units to invest as many resources as
they could in the education of all the children by using all the available resources earned
through artisanal production. This confirms that, even when at certain periods individuals
managed to improve their social standing and social mobility through artisanal
production, such a position was typically lost in the face of external economic factors.
Yet, poverty and overwhelming difficulties encouraged them to exploit repeatedly their
human, social and material capital at hand as they sought to survive.
The heterogeneity of the households – artisans living under the same roof as flight
controllers, nurses, soldiers, janitors and teachers – shows the cultural and socio-
economic complexity of low-income units in underdeveloped countries. This situation is a
reflection of the effects of global structural changes on the social mobility, marriages,
identities and living standards of individuals during the last decades of the 20th century.
273
Conclusions
The analysis and evidence used to answer how artisanal production survived in the face of
modernity and capitalism in 20th century Mexico is clear. Artisans first engaged in this
activity encouraged by the opportunity to earn a living; later on, hunger and their limited
skills and education forced them to remain attached to it. This motivation combined with
a configuration of structured relations to provide the necessary conditions for the survival
of artisanal production. In approaching this problematic we saw that the uneven
expansion and contradictions of industrialism and urbanism severely affected the different
socio-economic sectors, mainly the most marginal ones. Whilst on the one hand it created
several and more specialised areas of production, on the other its rapid growth and
demands did not give the time or opportunity for the marginal population to be
incorporated in it. At the interstices of modernity and tradition, handicraft manufacturing
found a niche, albeit an insecure and intermittently beleaguered niche.
It is hard to state if families are better off now than they were 120 years
previously. Over a span of 60 years – from 1940 to 2000 – artisans passed from being
rural inhabitants of an agricultural, artisanal and small scale trade economy to being
inhabitants of a highly industrialised, modern and urban economy. This posed important
changes for their lifestyle, household economies, identities and survival strategies. The
first generations, despite their illiteracy and self-sufficiency, faced few monetary
problems since the broader economy relied on traditional activities that did not demand a
skilled labour force. The later generations, however, had to deal with increasing socio-
economic uncertainty from which their higher schooling and formal paid jobs did not
protect them. Yet, it is undeniable that if we consider progress as the specialisation of
productive activities and the access to basic services and education, then it is a fact that
the standards of living of individuals born after 1940 increased.

274
Regardless of the historical socio-economic stage under discussion, artisanal
production in family workshops was never a male-dominated activity but rather an
activity that tended to be headed by men in their role as heads of the households. This
cultural overlapping influenced the perception of male artisans who tended to consider it
as a male activity since they were usually the only members of the family to work full
time at handicraft manufacturing. This is not universal and it varies according to the type
of marriage and the origins of the couple. Yet, the work of women and children, – even
when it is done on a half time basis and is associated with low-level skills – produces the
largest part of the merchandise and therefore is essential to the reproduction of the
household.
Families have traditionally approached the role of artisanal production in the
family and household in two ways. The first is as a developmental activity for children
and as a support task for women in their roles as wives and mothers. The second is as an
economic enterprise through which families can fight against poverty.
Families were determined to fight against poverty and to improve their standard of
living throughout the 120 years under study. Insufficient earnings, acute periods of
hardship and poverty attached them to artisanal and other forms of economic activity,
seeking to achieve a more decent life. In their struggle, the state could not provide them
with the jobs, or the means to find jobs, in the newly emerging sectors. In the face of such
a scenario, some individuals designed clear strategies – by investing their scarce
resources in education, for example – and responded in the best possible way in order to
cover their needs, mainly through artisanal production and other minor economic
activities.
That task became steadily more difficult as modernity and capital-intensive
industrialism expanded, forcing them to rely on additional forms of income. Children

275
with higher levels of schooling entered the formal labour market and helped to support
the paternal household and educate the younger siblings. Crucial here was their solidarity
towards their family and their continuous economic support to the paternal household,
even when they had already physically abandoned it or were married. These elements are
essential to any understanding of the survival of the families and of artisanal production
in the face of capital-intensive production since their help first complemented the
domestic income and, decades later, became the pillar of the household, making the
training of all the family members as artisans less and less the norm.
The expansion of capitalism and modernity also affected gender identities.
Insufficient money to cover basic needs and hunger caused by the breadwinner’s low
earnings and the higher schooling of children, prompted new household dynamics.
Women, mothers in particular, were in need of independent funds to increase their
chances of a better future and social mobility through the education of their children.
Children, on the other hand, entered the labour market and gained both economic
independence and sufficient position to abandon the paternal household and the workshop
so as to marry or migrate in search of better job opportunities. These changes challenged
the traditional roles each played at the household and, although not deliberately, damaged
the position of the fathers as breadwinners and heads of household.
The changes in the role that each member of the artisan family played which
resulted from their economic participation in the support of the household varied in the
extent of their contribution and their gender values. Women who earned most of the
household income were able to decide when and how to invest their money, which
converted them into the moral pillar of the family. However, they did not openly
challenge the position of their partners but did their best to soften it by encouraging their
children to acknowledge their fathers as the main authority of the household. Women who
276
contributed in a smaller proportion through their paid jobs, or any other economic
activity, also had a say in family decision-making, but they were more dependent and had
fewer options to resist the authority of their partners, encouraged by their values of
wifehood and support. Women who helped their partners at the workshop had the weakest
position and had no choice but to submit to their position as their values suggested was
appropriate. Paid children, on the contrary, regardless of the extent of their contribution,
gained considerable power in the eyes of the parents, the father in particular, and tended
to offer moral and economic support to their mothers.
As for social mobility, the patterns of artisan families can be placed within a
broader social scenario in which groups suffered from the uneven expansion of urbanism
and industrialism. The main contribution in this respect is the possibility of seeing how
the standards of living of the artisans and that of paid workers suffered from the same
external events, regardless of whether they were inserted in the formal or the informal
sectors. Both groups were upwardly mobile and improved their living standard during the
period of largest economic growth between 1940 and 1970. However, both groups also
suffered due to the opening up of the economy, the economic crises and the import
substitution initiative. The works of Conolly, (1985); Selby et al (1990); Safa, (1992) and
Roberts, (1995), confirm that this trend shows the failure of the Mexican route to
capitalism to incorporate these types of workers into its productive system.
As the 20th century moved forward, economic growth and restructuring increased
the differences between the rich and the poor. Between 1940 and 1970, whilst the
working and the middle classes were socially mobile through education and real increases
in wages, the industrial and service sectors had not provided enough and well paid jobs
for individuals to support their families. This had a direct impact on encouraging the
277
steady growth of the informal sector that, during the last 40 years, has shown its complex
organisation, dynamism and role in the overall economy.
Findings on the social mobility of these families showed that the artisans of both genders
– particularly from the second generation onwards – were less mobile than non-artisans
due to:
a) Their lower levels of schooling and educational qualifications
b) Their lack of working experience
c) Their lack of capital
d) Their role at the family workshop
Artisans were trapped by the poverty of their families and had little alternative but
to stay at the workshop and sacrifice their goals for the common benefit. It was also
significant that the social mobility of the non-artisans was made possible through the
support of artisans who typically delayed their exit from the workshop, and also typically
married at an age older than their siblings. Artisans’ social mobility was also encouraged
and made possible by the material and economic contribution of the non-artisans through
loans, inheritance or the lending of properties. This was a silent way to reward their
efforts and long working hours.
The negative impact of marriage on women’s social mobility and its positive
impact on men’s trajectory is another good example of the gendered nature of the
dynamics and effects of capitalism on Mexico’s artisans. Parents invested the same
amount of resources in their children from which stands out the fact that women tended to
have higher schooling levels and better occupations that, nevertheless, were poorly paid.
Such trends are confirmed by the figures in most literature on the theme. Women’s
278
cultural values and family were crucial in their selection of partners that, in the short run,
negatively affected the social mobility they gained through their education and
occupations. Men, on the contrary, were socially mobile even in cross-class marriages
since their partners helped them to achieve economic stability and success by sacrificing
their own professional goals and carrying on with the family and domestic burdens, which
consequently encouraged their partners’ careers and social mobility. These patterns have
a strong tendency to be repeated in a range of different cultural circumstances, as the
work of Thompson (1994), Bertaux (1994) and Bertaux-Wiame (1995) confirm.
Women were more flexible than men in adapting to the changing economic,
political, demographic and social trends and this modified their notions of womanhood
and motherhood. This is reflected in their changing notions of family, marriage and work
that combined to affect men’s values, particularly those related to work since, as my
evidence showed, they hardly ever engaged in parallel jobs during times of hardship.
Quite the contrary, they tended rather to reinforce their position and their commitment to
artisanal production by devoting all their productive time to it. Regardless of the
economic sector and the region of the world, it seems to be that men tend to assume that
women have to be more flexible with their time and attitudes at home and at work. The
works of Mingione, (1985), Pahl and Wallace, (1985), Safa (1992), Morris (1990), Selby
et al (1994), Roberts (1995) and Felstead and Jewson (2000), and the convincing
evidence of this study in this respect, allows me to propose this. Equally striking was the
discovery that the participation of women in the formal and informal economy, not only
in Mexico but also in other cultural regions, grew as the household economy shrank.
Evidence confirms that men looked at women’s position in the labour market as part of
their moral duties towards the family, which reflects their intention to protect their
position in both the domestic and the public domains.

279
The efforts the State has made to even the socio-economic differences between
men and women are insufficient as Chant and Craske (2003) also found. Women
frequently pay a higher cost for such failures, entering the labour market not only under
more precarious conditions than men (with domestic burdens and family care under their
responsibility) but also receiving lower wages and inadequate maternity and nursery
benefits. These changes raise important challenges for both genders, to which men seem
more resilient to adapt.
The work of Morris (1990), Safa (1992), Selby et al (1994), Escobar (1988) and
Chant and Craske (2003) confirms that although women pay most of the cost of such
changes, men suffer more than women to adapt to the cultural changes that growing
modernity and capitalism brings. This is so since their roles and identities in the public
and the domestic sphere came under scrutiny. At the public level, the failures of the
labour market to offer workers decent wages and basic fringe benefits weakened their
position at home since a large part of their identity was built on their success as economic
providers. Their failure to fulfil such a role made them more vulnerable to internal
domestic tensions and, in this process, many of them exacerbated their authoritarianism in
an effort to protect their position and rights in the family through which they were also
granted social respect. At the domestic level, the growing dual-earners phenomenon
represented another challenge for their identity since they lost control over domestic and
family economic decisions. This is equivalent to behaving in a way that they were neither
taught nor willing to follow. For most of them, the need to discuss household and family
matters with their partners increased as values changed and these issues were no longer
their unique domain.
The impact of women’s wages on the survival and the standard of living of the
households is another factor in the change of gender identities. Men react to this transition
280
by neglecting or minimising the importance of such income (Morris, 1990; Safa, 1992;
González de la Rocha, 1994 and Chant and Craske, 2003) and such change leads to an
exacerbated authoritarianism, drugs, alcoholism and/or domestic violence. The need, or
even the wish, of women to be economically independent bears a direct relation to their
partners’ failure and to the spaces capitalism offers them, even under disadvantaged
conditions. This question is crucial to the study of women’s work since it affects them
regardless of their civil status, and evidence shows that the number of households
depending on their earnings has steadily and markedly increased.
Despite the changes in the patterns of marriage, family life and
motherhood/fatherhood of most individuals from urban settings, these continued to be
essential elements for their identity. Through them, people increased their chances of
survival and success. Paradoxically, the erosion of past certainties served to reconfirm the
strengths and conveniences of these traditional institutions and roles in the face of
increasing levels of poverty and unemployment. This also shows that in marginal sectors
people are entitled to ask their families for help based on the contribution they once made.
This confirms that lacking a family or partner is the fastest way to a life framed by
extreme poverty, as Selby et al (1990) found.
The continuity through 120 years of the transmission of the values of solidarity,
support and commitment is thus linked to hardship and poverty. These values are a
vehicle against social isolation, death, illness and unemployment (whether formal or
informal). These are indeed close links between family, marriage and
motherhood/fatherhood, and cultural values since their combination secures the
reproduction of the social order through which they secure their very survival.
281
Appendix
Family tree of the Labrador lineage

282
Family tree of the Lucano lineage

283
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The Survival of Family Artisans in the Face of Capitalist Modernity: An Oral

Thesis · January 2006

Ana Josefina Cuevas Hernández

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

An Oral History of Two Mexican Lineages

Ana Josefina Cuevas Hernandez

A thesis submitted for the degree of Ph.D.

To Alejandro and Gerardo who are my strength and joy.

To my mother who was always an example of perseverance and determination.

deeply influenced my formation as interviewer and listener.

To Miriam Glucksmann for being a sensitive listener and confident.

To the Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (CONACyT) and the Sociology

Department of Essex University for their financial support.

Mexico. My argument is that households were pressured to continue producing

over 120 years.

The discussion contributes to the understanding of the problematic of artisanal

production of family workshops from a novel standpoint that includes a combination of

political economy, sociological imagination and comparative historical sociology.

Table of family trees ............................................................................................................ 9

Table of diagrams .............................................................................................................. 10

Table of maps .................................................................................................................... 14

Table of photographs ......................................................................................................... 15

Table of tables ................................................................................................................... 16

Chapter 1. Disciplines that have traditionally approached artisanal production ..... 21

1.1 The social sciences ............................................................................................ 22

2.1 Historical sociology ........................................................................................... 24

3.1 Profile of informants .......................................................................................... 30

3.2 Family histories ................................................................................................. 35

3.3 The selection of families.................................................................................... 39

3.5.2 Gender differences in the analysis of memories ............................................ 42

3.6 Collective interviews ......................................................................................... 45

Chapter 2. Artisanal production and consumption in 20th century Tlaquepaque and

the role of families within it ............................................................................................ 49

1 A socio-economic introduction to the proper understanding of artisanal production in

late 19th and early 20th century Mexico ........................................................................... 49

2 The changing patterns of handicraft consumption: 1880-1910 ................................. 54

2.1 Changing patterns of handicraft production: 1880-1910 ................................... 57

3.1 The changing patterns of handicraft production: 1910-1940 ............................ 63

4.1 The changing patterns of handicraft production: 1940-1970 ............................ 73

5.1 The changing patterns of handicraft consumption: 1970-2000 ......................... 82

7 Types of families and households found by this research ......................................... 91

7.1 Relationships between nuclear families and households ................................... 93

generation of the Labrador and the Lucano lineages. ............................................... 114

production: 1880-1940. ................................................................................................... 115

2 The composition of the household economy ........................................................... 117

3.1 Spaces that encouraged social mobility ........................................................... 140

3.2.2 The effects of marriage and education on men............................................ 146

4 Masculinity and femininity ...................................................................................... 149

production ........................................................................................................................ 163

Chapter 4. A glance at the similarities and differences of third generation of the

Labrador and the Lucano lineages. ............................................................................. 172

production: 1940-1970 .................................................................................................... 172

2 The composition of the household economy ........................................................... 177

3.1 Spaces that encouraged social mobility ........................................................... 198

3.2.2 The effects of marriage and education on men............................................ 207

4 Masculinity and femininity ...................................................................................... 209

situation. .......................................................................................................................... 221

Conclusion ....................................................................................................................... 228

of the Labrador and the Lucano lineages .................................................................... 229

production: 1970-2000. ................................................................................................... 229

2 The composition of the household economy ........................................................... 232