ABSTRACT
This chapter examines how universities and socioeconomic change in Mexico have, over the past three decades, been intertwined in a tense, sometimes arduous, and increasingly complex process of creation and dissolution of cultural identities. It considers the most visible traits of the multifarious experience of rapid expansion, politicization, and institutional diversification in public universities before attempting to provide an interpretation of some of the meanings it has had for institutions and for academics, and yet often passive participants. The chapter focuses on some of the broader cultural consequences of the manner in which higher education in Mexico has evolved. Since the 1920s, autonomy has been a central value in Mexican universities. In the 1940s Mexico made a push for industrialization and urbanization that, coupled with mass education, transformed the country over two generations. During a short period, Mexico made a shift to an urbanized society and the mass culture that comes with it.
