Louise E. Walker

Waking from the Dream: Mexico's Middle Classes after 1968 Louise E. Walker

Marc Notes: Originally published: in ebook format. 2013.; Includes bibliographical references and index.; When the postwar boom began to dissipate in the 1960s, Mexico's middle classes awoke to an economically terrifying world. And following massacres of students at peaceful protests in 1968 and 1971, one-party control of Mexican politics dissipated as well. The ruling Party of the Institutional Revolution struggled to recover its legitimacy. This title tells the story of this profound change from state-led development to neo-liberalism, and from a one-party state to electoral democracy. Biographical Note: Louise E. Walker is Associate Professor of History at Northeastern University. Table of Contents: List of Illustrations -- Acknowledgments -- Abbreviations -- Introduction: The Middle Classes and the Crisis of the Institutional Revolution -- Part I. Upheavals -- 1. Rebel Generation: Being a Middle-Class Radical, 1971-1976 -- 2. Cacerolazo: Rumors, Gossip, and the Conservative Middle Classes, 1973-1976 -- Part II. The Debt Economy -- 3. The Power of PetrOleo: Black Gold and Middle-Class Noir, 1977-1981 -- 4. Consumer-Citizens: Inflation, Credit, and Taxing the Middle Classes, 1973-1985 -- Part III. Fault Lines of Neoliberalism -- 5. La Crisis: On the Front Lines of Austerity and Apertura, 1981-1988 -- 6. Earthquake: Civil Society in the Rubble of Tlatelolco, 1985-1988 -- Conclusion: The Debris of a Miracle -- Appendix: Quantifying the Middle Classes -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index. Review Quotes: "This [is a] valuable contribution to ethnographic understanding of middle classes in latter 20th century Mexico . . . Walker argues convincingly that scholarly bias to exclusively study leftist politics creates not only omissions, but distortions. This work offers compelling support for her argument that the Mexican middle classes need to be viewed as heterogeneous, and as full political, economic and social agents who are capable of creating important effects in the nation. Walker's comprehensive coverage enables readers without knowledge of Mexico to get a fuller sense of the political, economic, and social landscape . . . This study analyzes recent Mexican history in depth and breadth, and with vigor and creativity."Maureen O'Dougherty, "The Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Anthropology""Review Quotes: "Louise Walker presents an evocative and highly informative study of the middle classes during several decades of economic and political crisis and upheaval in Mexico . . . ["Waking from the Dream"] invites critical conversations about the middle class in Latin America, histories of neoliberalism, and class formation. Now that we are rethinking the second half of the twentieth century in Latin America, undergraduate and graduate students alike would be wise to read carefully this book."Ricardo Lopez, "Histoire sociale/Social History""Review Quotes: "[Walker] has spent a decade accumulating an extraordinarily broad range of resources, including excellent archival sources, documented in some fifty plus pages of notes, which incorporate additional insights worth perusing. She has discovered useful interpretations about government agents, as well as their revealing observations over time. Many of her examples include direct quotes from middle class Mexicans who are presented in a variety of contexts during this period, adding color and veracity to her arguments . . . [A]ny scholar of Latin America interested in the role of the middle classes will benefit significantly from both her methodology and her findings in this objective analysis of a neglected but influential topic in twentieth-century history."Roderic Ai Camp, "American Historical Review""Review Quotes: ""Waking from the Dream" adds an important layer to the study of the urban middle class in post-revolutionary Mexico . . . "Waking from the Dream" provides a welcome addition to the study of urban Mexico."Melixa Abad Izquierdo, "Canadian Journal of History""Review Quotes: "Walker's work should point the way for a great deal of research in the years to come."Alexander Dawson, " The Americas: A Quarterly Review of Latin American History ""Publisher Marketing: When the postwar boom began to dissipate in the late 1960s, Mexico's middle classes awoke to a new, economically terrifying world. And following massacres of students at peaceful protests in 1968 and 1971, one-party control of Mexican politics dissipated as well. The ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party struggled to recover its legitimacy, but instead saw its support begin to erode. In the following decades, Mexico's middle classes ended up shaping the history of economic and political crisis, facilitating the emergence of neo-liberalism and the transition to democracy. "Waking from the Dream" tells the story of this profound change from state-led development to neo-liberalism, and from a one-party state to electoral democracy. It describes the fraught history of these tectonic shifts, as politicians and citizens experimented with different strategies to end a series of crises. In the first study to dig deeply into the drama of the middle classes in this period, Walker shows how the most consequential struggles over Mexico's economy and political system occurred between the middle classes and the ruling party.

Contributor Bio:  Walker, Louise Louise Walker is a young designer who graduated in commercial photography from the Arts University Bournemouth. Introduced to craft in her second year of university, she is now working as a full time designer and professional knitter. "Boden, Knit Today", and "Crafty Magazine" have commissioned her bespoke knits and her work has also been seen on the Alan Titchmarsh show, in the Daily Mail and recently sold some of her work to the model Claudia Schiffer. She has a blog (http: //sincerelylouise.blogspot.co.uk/) and sells her own designs from her Esty shop (http: //www.etsy.com/shop/SincerelyLouise)