Abstract
Beginning in the 1980s, Mexico’s social and labour policies took a neo-liberal turn which exacerbated inequalities, poverty and social exclusion. The change of policy course that has occurred over the past decade has so far failed to bring about a critical review of the country’s economic model and its social consequences. The role of the State has been systematically cut back; social services have been outsourced to the market; and informal, family-based social protection has gained ground. Mexico’s social model has thus been reduced to a system that is almost exclusively concerned with protection for those living in extreme poverty.