Poverty, Aspirations, and Organized Crime in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico

Beyond money, power, and masculinity: Toward an analytical perspective on recruitment to Mexican drug trafficking organizations

“…When they are engaged in actively attracting members, recruiters convey messages that financial gain is a direct benefit of belonging to a criminal organization. The perception that organized crime is an avenue to the ‘good life’ is consistent with recent research that we noted above (Villegas, 2020). Therefore, it comes as no surprise that cartels find a rich source of recruits among the poor where they ‘reportedly can pay teenagers $5,000 for a single act of violence’ (Farwell and Arakelian, 2014: 45).…”

“…His statement implies that organized crime carries with it the fulfillment of emotional needs and material gain. In her study of organized crime members Villegas (2020) found that income support for the family was of primary importance as well as a motivating factor for viewing organized crime as a viable option for income as in Heriberto’s case. An active member of the Knights Templar cartel who was serving time for kidnapping, he was initially drawn to organized crime because his father was unable to support the family.…”

“…Much like Gamlin and Hawkes (2017) she drew parallels to violence, masculinity, and financial achievement among the impoverished of Mexico. Additional work that was important for this article is a recent examination of members and non-members of criminal organizations by Villegas (2020: 344) who found support for the view that criminal activity fulfilled aspirations for success among economically marginalized males in Ciudad Juárez . For participants in her study, organized crime was an alternative path of achieving ‘a good life’ much like legitimate economic pursuits.…”

“…Everyone wants to have the same things’. Guevara (2013: 140) noted that ‘Becoming a narco in the perception of juveniles may be the only viable way to get out of poverty for Mexico’s misfortunate youth’ (see also Campbell, 2009; Garcia-Reyes, 2018 and Villegas, 2020). Tepito inhabitant Jorge confirmed that ‘The kids from Tepito are attracted by all this cash, and they want to work for them ( La Unión de Tepito ) to have the same things’.…”

Legitimate and illegitimate consumer complaining behavior: a review and taxonomy

“…They argue that such acts are linked to societal norms, accentuated by the systemic over-emphasis on consumer sovereignty in service work. Chávez Villegas (2019) challenges the binary logic of segregating people as good and evil and emphasizes that social structure itself creates situations conducive to norm-breaking. In the consumption context, Fullerton and Punj (2004) argue that deviant consumers are representative of the general consumer population and are not a separate group.…”