Maya children working in the streets: Value mismatches from the village to the street setting

Abstract

In the highlands of Chiapas, Mexico, a large number of indigenous Maya people have relocated from their villages to an urban centre where many families, especially mothers and children, work as street vendors. We were interested in the typical cultural expectations for the development of Maya girls, the ways that these expected patterns were interrupted by street work, and the ways that girls and families dealt with this novel situation. In order to provide a more complete picture, we compared the daily experiences of girls who work on the street with those of their male counterparts and with the routines of girls who lived in traditional, rural settings. Our data include ethnographic observations and a census (N = 250–300), informal chats (N = 250–300), and semi‐structured interviews with children (N = 51) and adults (N = 25). Using Greenfield's theory of social change and development, we found a coexistence of value matches and mismatches. These addressed adherence to tradition versus embracing ethnic variety and innovation valued in money‐based market economies and collective responsibility versus individual choice and expression. This mix of values occurred in the domains of gender roles for work, motivation for street work, leisure time, and schooling.

Costs and benefits of cultural value mismatch in the globalising era: A commentary on the special issue “cross‐cultural value mismatch: A by‐product of migration and population diversity around the world” (IJP, December, 2018)

“…This suggests that value mismatch and associated distress are common but constitute only one side of the coin in the acculturation process, while cultural adaptation and resilience, as another side of the coin, prevail in the long run and among the majority of sojourners and immigrants. In this vein, coexistence of value match and mismatch is not only possible (e.g., among Maya girls, see: Tovote & Maynard, ), but also to be accepted, for example, in immigrant policies in Germany (Bossong & Keller, ). More important, the dynamic model (with value mismatch as part of the acculturation process) was directly supported by longitudinal studies on value mismatch.…”

“…In‐depth study of this topic has the potential to open up a new venue for future work on social change and cultural psychology. In the special issue “c ross‐cultural value mismatch: a by‐product of migration and population diversity around the world ,” nine research teams, who are from the United States, Germany, Spain, Switzerland, Israel, and China, took an important step forward by identifying cultural value mismatches and associated distress among ethnic minorities (Huss, Ganayiem, & Braun‐Lewensohn, ; Nadan, Roer‐Strier, Gemara, Engdau‐Vanda, & Tener, ), immigrants or internationals (Aumann & Titzmann, ; Bossong & Keller, ; Galzer et al, 2018; Mercado & Trumbull, ; Vasquez‐Salgado, Ramirez, & Greenfield, ), and rural populations (Tovote & Maynard, ; Wu et al, ).…”

Cross‐cultural value mismatch: A by‐product of migration and population diversity around the world

“…Equally important, social change within a society can lead to a mismatch between pre-existing cultural values and adaptation to a new environment. As the articles in this special issue show, these interlinked sources of diversity lead to value mismatch on multiple levels: within individuals (Bedouin youth -Huss, Ganayiem, & Braun-Lewensohn, 2018), within families (Russian immigrants to Germany and Israel- Aumann & Titzmann, 2018), between values adaptive in rural villages and those adaptive in the city (Maya children working in city streets- Tovote & Maynard, 2018;rural and urban populations in China-Wu, Zhou, Chen, Cai, & Sundararajan, 2018), between clients and therapeutic models (Ultra-Orthodox Jews and Ethiopian immigrants in Israel-Nadan, Roer-Strier, Gemara, Engdau-Vanda, & Tener, 2018), between educational institutions and the families they serve (Turkish and Russian immigrant mothers, low-income German mothers in German daycare centres- Bossong & Keller, 2018), between educational institutions and their students (Latino youth from immigrant families studying at a U.S. university-Vasquez-Salgado, Ramirez, & Greenfield, 2018), between international students and domestic students at a U.S. university -Glazer, Simonovich, Roach, & Carmona, 2018) and even between educational institutions and the immigrant teachers they employ (teachers from Asia and Latin America employed in U.S. schools- Mercado & Trumbull, 2018). This special issue delineates and analyses these value mismatches and conflicts, investigating their causes and their consequences.…”

“…It can also occur in the delivery of social services (Nadan et al, , in Israel) or in the adaptation to urban settings under conditions of rapid social change (Wu et al, , in China). At the same time, Tovote and Maynard () emphasise how the value of family obligation can be adapted to urban conditions by indigenous Maya families in Chiapas, Mexico.…”

“…In China, the focal issue is massive urban migration (Wu et al, ). In a special class are the indigenous groups that experience not only value mismatch but huge discrimination from the cultural groups who have conquered them (Bedouins in Israel, Huss et al, ; Maya in Mexico, Tovote & Maynard, ).…”