Gabriel Barrios Cabrera: The anti-agrarian friend of the Campesino1

Abstract — This article considers the cacicazgo of Gabriel Barrios Cabrera in the Sierra de Puebla, Mexico during the 1920s. It analyses the ways in which he introduced social and economic development, and clarifies the apparent contradiction in his hostile response to agrarismo yet benevolence towards the region's campesinos. A picture emerges of a regional leader whose own philosophy and actions were fashioned by distinctly local views on land, autonomy and patronage. As such, his style of leadership defies neat categorisation and suggests that rural leaders could not help but reflect the characteristics and interests of the region in which they operated.     

Why are the highly educated more sympathetic towards welfare recipients?

Stigmatising stereotypes about welfare recipients play a crucial role in building public support for welfare retrenchment. Existing literature finds that the highly educated are more sympathetic towards welfare recipients. This is surprising given the economic advantage associated with educational attainment. Furthermore, educational attainment has increased even as sympathy for welfare recipients has declined. I address these puzzles using three decades of British survey data and find that it is the socially liberal attitudes rather than the economic advantage associated with higher education that explains why this group is sympathetic towards welfare recipients. These findings reveal an educational cleavage in stereotypes about welfare recipients, which is based on non-economic concerns, and has implications for support for welfare retrenchment and policies such as increased conditionality. This cleavage is weaker in more highly educated regions, implying that there are diminishing returns from increasing educational attainment in terms of sympathetic attitudes towards welfare recipients.