Youth culture

The Rules: A Study of Mexico City’s Youth Culture
By Dennis and Janell Poulette February 2002

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TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................. 3 TOOLS TO KNOW THE RULES.................................................................................. 3 BASIC VALUES CONTINUUM .................................................................................... 5 HISTORY OF MEXICO.................................................................................................. 6 HISTORY OF MEXICO CITY....................................................................................... 7 DEMOGRAPHICS........................................................................................................... 9 GEOGRAPHY OF MEXICO........................................................................................ 10 GEOGRAPHY OF MEXICO CITY............................................................................. 10KINSHIP.......................................................................................................................... 11 EDUCATION SYSTEM................................................................................................. 14 BASIC VALUES CONTINUUM .................................................................................. 16 ECONOMY ..................................................................................................................... 18POLITICS ....................................................................................................................... 19 WORLDVIEW................................................................................................................ 20 CURRENT YOUTH MISSIONS ACTIVITY ............................................................. 25 YOUTH ISSUES............................................................................................................. 26 STRATEGY..................................................................................................................... 28

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Introduction When playing any game, the participants must recognize and understand the rules. When playingbasketball at a playground in any neighborhood, the participants must understand the rules of that context. The rules for the game change based on where you are playing. For example, if a person comes to a playground to play basketball who has never been there, they must ask where the boundaries are, what are the teams, and other things that are necessary to their success on that specific court.These rules must be established before the game begins to avoid trouble during the game. Missionaries are no different. Culture can be defined as the rules by which the game of life is played, and a successful missionary will attempt to understand the rules of the culture to which they are heading and will learn to play by those rules. The objective of this paper is to begin to inform the readerabout the youth culture in Mexico City and develop a preliminary strategy to implement through Youth Ministry International in Mexico. It has been limited to little personal interaction with the culture and considerable library research. Because it is the author’s first attempt to understand the youth culture of Mexico, it is sure to be “limited to general overview research of his targeted group”(Lewis 1991:29). The models for youth ministry that work in the United States according to the rules of that specific culture may not work for the rules of the culture in Mexico. The purpose for this research is to examine the rules in Mexico and develop a strategy for youth ministry that will succeed. Tools to Know the Rules It is necessary to understand some concepts briefly before examining the...