On poverty in Central West Mexico

Abstract

The National Council for Evaluation of Social Development Policy in Mexico (CONEVAL) uses combined measures of poverty based on welfare lines related to income and a set of social deficiencies (multidimensional approach). However, it is feasible to generate another perspective based on their figures throughout a methodological alternative that, generally speaking, tries to deconstruct the concept of poverty proposed by CONEVAL. The objective of this article is to demonstrate how strategies to combat poverty in the Center West of Mexico have given mediocre results for more than a decade. This failure can be explained because a global approach to development problems has been left aside, to give priority to an economic growth agenda with a progressive discourse, where socio-economic and socio-territorial structures have not been taken in their real dimensions when designing public policies that reduce the problems of poverty in Mexico. The text is divided into five parts. First, the methodology is exposed; second, a journey is made from an approach of contemporary history based on the notion of poverty in the sphere of global public policy; third, some poverty figures are presented for the national context; forth, an overview of poverty in Jalisco and the Western Center of Mexico is discussed; and finally, an attempt to answer the following question: Where do people who are in extreme poverty in the Western Center of Mexico go once they leave this social condition?