Factors related to the appearance of post-materialist values in subsistence, intermediate, and commercial producers in Rural Development District 006, La Antigua, Veracruz, Mexico

Post-materialist approach, intends to observe how the appearance of such values, may introduce social behaviors to benefit the environment and therefore contribute to the sustainable rural development. In this sense, to identify the relationship between the appearance of post-materialist values among rural producers of the Rural Development District 006, La Antigua, Veracruz, Mexico, with its socio-cultural dynamics. During August-September 2007, 30 subsistence farmers, 20 commercial farmers, and 30 farmers managing operations having both objectives (intermediate to the two extremes) were interviewed. Farmers were selected by using the following criteria: interaction level with institutions, agro ecosystem diversification and innovation of management practices. Principal components analysis showed that first component explains 39.21% of the variance. Education level (+0.88), socioeconomic status (+0.72), post-materialism index (+0.39), and reaction capacity to network communication (+0.18) were positively correlated with the first component, the first two had higher correlation. Two groups were identified with first component, one with high post-materialist values (PMV) and other with low PMV. The group with high PMV formed mainly by commercial farmers, showed that age was negatively correlated with the component, whereas education level and socioeconomic status will increase as the component increases. The group with low PMV was mainly formed by subsistence and farmers managing operations, as well the component decreases as age increases, whereas education level and socioeconomic status are low. Finally, we found that appearance of post-materialist values is associated to socio-cultural index.