The 1940s and 1950s in Mexico represented a period of rapid economic expansion accompanied by political consolidation by the PRI. Known as the “Mexican Miracle,” an emphasis on consumer goods also characterized these decades. As the Mexican economy grew, the population also increased. Children became a large segment of society. The post-revolutionary government prioritized childhood education and literacy. As a result, the Mexican population in general became more literate and more affluent. The media, both Mexican and international, moved to capture this market, through sales of comic books and magazines, as well as radio and television programs and the movies. All of these venues also served to sell products to children. According to the media, children could participate in this new transnational modernity through the consumption of these media.
Yet a backlash occurred to the idea that the best way for Mexicans to participate in modernity was through consumption, particularly consumption of transnational material goods and ideas. Catholic groups advocated a different modernity, one based on the morals and teachings of the Catholic Church. Groups like the Union Católica Femenina Mexicana (UCFM) and the Union Católica de Juventud Mexicana (UCJM) argued that in order for Mexico to prosper, children should engage in wholesome activities, such as sports, and that rather than reading comics, they should read uplifting books. Conservative magazines (non-church sponsored) like La Familia offered alternative visions of modernity as well. Mexican modernity, these groups argued, had to embrace a conservative morality and the Church’s teachings.
Based on papers of the UCFM and UCJM as well as La Familia, this paper explore conservative reactions to changes in Mexican society during the 1940s and 1950s.
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