US Middle Class Envied & Disdained

[jeffrey]

Interesting little piece in <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2006-04-02-families_x.htm">USA Today</a>:

<blockquote>"There's a very clear criticism of American life, at least in Mexico, as being overly individualistic, as being selfish," says Jennifer Hirsch, associate professor of sociomedical sciences at Columbia University. "My experience of life in rural Mexico is that it's a society that takes much more pleasure from human connection."

But she says there also are aspects of America that Mexicans seek to emulate. "People want to shop like Americans," she says. "There is a great global envy for American patterns of consumption." <blockquote>