ABSTRACT
This chapter considers whether peasant attitudes can be changed in a way that favors both economic development and life-centered values. The peasants distrust each other and are afraid that both fellow villagers and outsiders will steal from them if they have the opportunity. Public works projects rather than cooperative enterprises are the kind of activity in which the villagers do work together successfully. Most villagers will state that they favor cooperation, and they may even cite the cooperative ideology of the Mexican Revolution, but their character and their actions contrast sharply with this ideology. The Mexican government's CONASUPO program is an example of a project that has been successful, because it has built-in safeguards that take account of the peasant's suspiciousness. A peasant who would act as a CONASUPO representative would be chosen by the village to be in charge of weighing the corn, grain, or whatever the village harvested.
