Societal Attitudes and Organized Crime in Mexico: The Case of Michoacan, Mexico
Dr. Jerjes Izcoatl Aguirre Ochoa, Dr. Hugo Amador Herrera Torres

Abstract
The objective of this article is to analyze a qualitative study which reviewed a community’s perception about the organized crime group the Templar Knights in Michoacan, considering three analytical categories: cultural factors, the focus of institutional decay, and the theory of institutional legitimacy. The results of this study supported the cultural tendency to explain organized crime in the region of “Tierra Caliente” in Michoacan. However, an integral explanation for the emergence of organized criminal groups with a social base would have to come from a dual focus that considers a structural connotation, referring to the economic levels and welfare of the people, as well as a cultural explanation which considers a complexity of social factors which in turn create a appropriate environment for organized crime. The study’s results seem to confirm that organized criminal groups in Michoacan have an important social presence. Therefore, the strategy of fighting crime in Mexico should be oriented towards the problem’s social and structural causes and not only follow a police and military-oriented focus.

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