This article will serve as a commentary on the future of Latin America and on some possible alternatives for the problems facing it while taking worldwide issues and problems into account. It does not claim to formulate or reformulate existing theories on the management and dynamics of the global crisis that threaten the world today. It will, however, go into the premises on which our thinking is based and the various levels of distinction used in approaching these global problems.

The basic premise is that the relationship of man in society with nature has progressively deteriorated. Man is an integral part of nature, a fact that is increasingly being ignored. As society has increased in complexity and extent, there has been a growing alienation between man and the natural system of which he is a part. This has resulted in a series of crises between man and nature in areas such as the environment, food, energy, population, and so on, which are only different facets of the global crisis.

Territorial disputes have been an important factor influencing and embittering international relationships within Latin America, especially since the disagreements—often dating back to the early days of independence during the early 19th century—have been difficult to resolve because of the sensitivity of governments and public opinion to sovereignty issues. As a result, there is a marked reluctance to compromise. This not only makes the resolution of such disputes a remote possibility, but also discourages disputants from submitting the matter to a third party such as the United Nations. In the meantime, the very nature of these questions means that normal diplomatic and economic relations are likely to be interrupted by a conflict at any time. In many respects, the Anglo-Argentine dispute over the Falkland Islands (or Islas Malvinas) conforms to this general Latin American pattern even though it involves a European power.

Women's participation in the industrial labor force seems to have followed a universal pattern across nations and across historical periods. Available evidence suggests that in the early stages of industrialization young, single women are readily employed in industries manufacturing food, clothing, and other nondurable products. As industrialization progresses and more advanced technologies are introduced, women are replaced by men as the preferred industrial workers (Baker, 1964; Boserup, 1970; Safa, 1977; Scott and Tilly, 1975).

The period 1968-1976 in Mexico is characterized by an expanded cultural infrastructure and an acute expression of ideas with not inconsequential political ramifications. Such an intellectual configuration is one of the key elements in Mexican history, with periodic evidence available at least since the eighteenth century of ideological and educational movements that paralleled governmental reform or influenced a theory of state. This experience demonstrates how intellectuals may help tilt history in a certain direction as well as transmit an illustrative documentation of change. Not the least noteworthy legacy of the recent period was its impact on Mexican studies in generating a preoccupation with the intellectual and the state.