ABSTRACT
Important developments are transforming socialization patterns long associated with Mexico's political system. These developments are altering some of the bases of that system and the challenges it faces. This chapter considers political consequences of changes involving two major foci of socialization: education and mass media. Educational progress has been critical to political legitimacy since the revolution. The education ministry alone employs nearly one million people, almost 75% of the national government's total, and the major teachers' union itself has roughly 600,000 employees. Some observers fear that education is becoming even less attuned to mass/national needs than it has been. Educational decentralization is historically associated with terrible regional disparities in finance and quality; the revolution pushed educational centralization as necessary to political centralization. Amid all the problems and transformations in education, an elite has generally been able to protect itself in privileged sanctuaries. The positive impacts of educational changes on political stability are more direct and predictable than the negative consequences.
