From Responsible Debtors to Citizens: Collective Identity in the Debtors’ Movement in Monterrey, Mexico

Collective identity is a key feature of social movements that gives agency to movement actors, but it is shaped and constrained by particular sociopolitical contexts. Using ethnographic data from extended field research, I analyze how the local sociopolitical context shapes the collective identity over the life course of the debtors’ movement that emerged in Mexico during the 1990s economic crisis. I demonstrate how El Barzón negotiates the local environment, creates boundaries, and solidifies a group consciousness as “responsible debtors.” Later in the movement’s life course, the Barzonistas renegotiate the local setting, redraw the boundaries, and expand their consciousness-building activities to affirm solidarity around a new identity. I argue that as the context changed from the debt crisis to neoliberal democracy, the Barzonistas’ collective identity shifted from responsible debtors to engaged citizens, enabling the movement to stay active for more than a decade. This article expands our understanding of how movement organizations can survive by redefining their collective identity.