ABSTRACT
This chapter describes a key dimension of northernization: social and economic aspects of life on the Mexican side of the migrant circuits. It discusses two “northernized” communities where high proportions of the households specialize in the production of migrants and rely on labor migration for income. International labor migration appears to be a permanent feature of the increasingly interconnected global landscape. The chapter explores the relationship between migration and development by examining data on the livelihood patterns of people from several Mexican villages with strong traditions of migration. It aims to identify and compare three dimensions which play a crucial role in defining distinct social and economic patterns at the level of the migrant circuit: social and economic bases of the migrant circuits in Mexico, patterns of migration and US employment. The chapter examines selected cases of local private and community-level resource mobilization.
