ABSTRACT
This chapter shows how the process of depeasantization has proceeded in the Mexican countryside, both nationally and regionally. It addresses the main causes and outcomes of this process: A double crisis of capitalist agriculture and peasant economy has resulted in an important social differentiation among the peasantry. The chapter outlines the basic contours of the double crisis of Mexican agriculture, one referring to the capitalist sector, and the other to the peasant economy. It presents a spectrum of social differentiation of agrarian producers in Mexico, based on the 1970 census data. The crises of Mexico's rural economy, with capitalist agriculture on the one hand and peasant farming on the other, have resulted in social differentiation among the peasantry within a capitalism that has not expanded the proletarian class proportionately. The chapter also presents an analysis of peasant social differentiation in Mexico between 1960 and 1994.
