ABSTRACT
One of the important characteristics of the decision making process in El Nopal is its strong communal character. Even individual decisions are always made with at least the tacit approval of the community. Two other major decisions of a similar type, but requiring less effort on the part of villagers, were made in El Nopal during the time of field work: the decision to get electricity for the whole village, and the decision to get water for all the huts in El Nopal. These two major decisions, as the decision to build the school, were motivated by the same long-range communal goal of accepting El Progreso. The decisions of Mazahuas from El Nopal are also characterized by a tradition of unanimity which makes for slow, rather than fast decisions, and by the absence of value of action for its own sake, and by emphasis on contemplative values. This adds to slowness of, at least, communal decisions.
