Collective Skill Formation in the

Knowledge Economy Giuliano Bonoli

Visit to download the full and correct content document:
https://ebookmass.com/product/collective-skill-formation-in-the-knowledge-economy-
giuliano-bonoli/
More products digital (pdf, epub, mobi) instant
download maybe you interests ...

Human Capital and Production Structure in the Greek

Economy : Knowledge, Abilities, Skills Panagiotis E.
Petrakis

https://ebookmass.com/product/human-capital-and-production-
structure-in-the-greek-economy-knowledge-abilities-skills-
panagiotis-e-petrakis/

The Rise and Fall of OPEC in the Twentieth Century

Giuliano Garavini

https://ebookmass.com/product/the-rise-and-fall-of-opec-in-the-
twentieth-century-giuliano-garavini/

The Elemental Collective Montana Ash

https://ebookmass.com/product/the-elemental-collective-montana-
ash/

Marxism, Pedagogy, and the General Intellect: Beyond

the Knowledge Economy 1st Edition Derek R. Ford

https://ebookmass.com/product/marxism-pedagogy-and-the-general-
intellect-beyond-the-knowledge-economy-1st-edition-derek-r-ford/
The World Politics of Social Investment: Volume I:
Welfare States in the Knowledge Economy (International
Policy Exchange) Julian L. Garritzmann

https://ebookmass.com/product/the-world-politics-of-social-
investment-volume-i-welfare-states-in-the-knowledge-economy-
international-policy-exchange-julian-l-garritzmann/

Collective Memory in International Relations Kathrin

Bachleitner

https://ebookmass.com/product/collective-memory-in-international-
relations-kathrin-bachleitner/

Populism And The Politicization Of The COVID-19 Crisis

In Europe 1st Edition Edition Giuliano Bobba

https://ebookmass.com/product/populism-and-the-politicization-of-
the-covid-19-crisis-in-europe-1st-edition-edition-giuliano-bobba/

The Formation of Post-Classical Philosophy in Islam 1st

Edition Frank Griffel

https://ebookmass.com/product/the-formation-of-post-classical-
philosophy-in-islam-1st-edition-frank-griffel/

Before the Bible: The Liturgical Body and the Formation

of Scriptures in Early Judaism Judith Newman

https://ebookmass.com/product/before-the-bible-the-liturgical-
body-and-the-formation-of-scriptures-in-early-judaism-judith-
newman/
Collective Skill Formation in the Knowledge
Economy
 Collective Skill
Formation in the
Knowledge Economy

Edited by
Giuliano Bonoli
Patrick Emmenegger
 Great Clarendon Street, Oxford, OX2 6DP,
United Kingdom
Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford.
It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship,
and education by publishing worldwide. Oxford is a registered trade mark of
Oxford University Press in the UK and in certain other countries
© Oxford University Press 2022
The moral rights of the authors have been asserted
Impression: 1
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in
a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the
prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted
by law, by licence or under terms agreed with the appropriate reprographics
rights organization. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the
above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the
address above
You must not circulate this work in any other form
and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer
Published in the United States of America by Oxford University Press
198 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016, United States of America
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Data available
Library of Congress Control Number: 2022935509
ISBN 978–0–19–286625–7
DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780192866257.001.0001
Printed and bound by
CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon, CR0 4YY
Links to third party websites are provided by Oxford in good faith and
for information only. Oxford disclaims any responsibility for the materials
contained in any third party website referenced in this work.
Acknowledgements

Like other large collaborative projects, this volume would not have been pos-
sible without the support of various individuals and institutions. The book
was developed within the GOVPET Leading House project, which is gen-
erously financed by the Swiss State Secretariat for Education, Research and
Innovation (SERI). The book benefited greatly from the enthusiasm and the
commitment of the whole GOVPET team and of the members of the scien-
tific advisory board, many of whom are authors or co-authors of the book’s
chapters. They are the first to be thanked.
Gratitude is also due to the scientific advisory board and GOVPET team
members who are not part of the book, but whose advice throughout the
preparation of the project was extremely precious: Pepper Culpepper, Anke
Hassel, Cathie Jo Martin, and Justin Powell from the scientific advisory
board, and Scherwin Bajka, Carmen Baumeler, Sonja Engelage, Flavia Fos-
sati, Cecilia Ivardi Ganapini, Margarida Matos, Ihssane Otmani, Delia Pisoni,
Alexandra Strebel, and Linda Wanklin from the GOVPET team. Finally, we
would like to thank Chantal Kamm, Emily Murphy, and Matthias Pilz for
helpful feedback on earlier versions of the chapters.
A very important contribution was made by Alyssa Taylor, who proofread
and formatted the entire manuscript and greatly helped us improve the qual-
ity of our English. Finally, at Oxford University Press, we are very grateful to
Adam Swallow for managing this project from start to finish in an efficient
and friendly way.
Table of Contents

List of Figures viii

List of Tables ix
List of Contributors x

1. Collective Skill Formation in a Knowledge Economy:

Challenges and Dilemmas 1
Giuliano Bonoli and Patrick Emmenegger
2. Occupations and Collective Skill Formation in
the Knowledge Economy: Exploring Differential
Employment Integration for the German Case 31
Christian Ebner, Sandra Hirtz, and Daniela Rohrbach-Schmidt
3. Reshaping the Role of Professional Associations and
the Federal State in Swiss VET: Ambiguous Reactions
to the Knowledge Economy 55
Regula Bürgi, Philipp Eigenmann, and Philipp Gonon
4. Still Egalitarian? How the Knowledge Economy Is
Changing Vocational Education and Training in
Denmark and Sweden 76
Martin B. Carstensen and Christian Lyhne Ibsen
5. Efficiency, Social Inclusion, and the Dutch Pathway
towards Vocational Education and Training Reform 101
Dennie Oude Nijhuis
6. The Politics of Social Inclusion in Collective Skill
Formation Systems: Actors, Coalitions, and Policies 128
Leonard Geyer and Niccolo Durazzi
7. Employer Visibility and Sectors as Predictors of
Egalitarian Values in VET: A Mixed-method Study of
Recruiters’ Views on Apprentice Candidates 154
Anna Wilson
8. Pride and Prejudice? The Influence of Occupational
Prestige on an Integration Programme for Refugees in
Switzerland 181
Annatina Aerne
 Table of Contents vii

9. The Credibility of Vocational Qualifications as a

Barrier to Increasing the Flexibility of Collective Skill
Formation Systems: An Analysis of the Slow Expansion
of Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) in Switzerland 204
Markus Maurer
10. Employer Influence in Vocational Education and
Training: Germany and Sweden Compared 229
Marius R. Busemeyer and Kathleen Thelen
11. Employers’ Cooperation in the Knowledge Economy:
Continuing Vocational Training in Switzerland 255
Gina Di Maio and Christine Trampusch
12. Enhancing Permeability through Cooperation: The
Case of Vocational and Academic Worlds of Learning in
the Knowledge Economy 281
Nadine Bernhard and Lukas Graf
13. Declining Collectivism at the Higher and Lower End:
The Increasing Role of the Austrian State in Times of
Technological Change 308
Lina Seitzl and Daniel Franz Unterweger
14. How Collective Skill Formation Systems Adapt to a
Knowledge Economy 334
Patrick Emmenegger and Giuliano Bonoli

Index 350
List of Figures

5.1 The structure of the Dutch educational system in the early 1980s 105
5.2 The current structure of the Dutch educational system 117
8.1 Actors involved in the implementation of INVOL 189
13.1 Number of participants in public training workshops according to AMS
data, 2001–2019 316
13.2 Number of all apprentices, apprentices in public training workshops and
training organizations in the ICT occupations, 2002–2018 324
13.3 Share of firm-based and non-firm-based VET training in the ICT
occupations, 2002–2018 325
List of Tables

1.1 Skill formation systems in advanced economies 2

2.1 Predicted probabilities in per cent for the risk of earning low wages by
occupation 42
2.2 Predicted probabilities in per cent for the risk of performing a
low-skilled job by occupation 43
2.3 Predicted probabilities in per cent for the risk of having a temporary
contract by occupation 45
2.1A Descriptive sample statistics 53
5.1 Number of youths participating in upper-secondary vocational
education as part of a school-based and workplace-based pathways,
1970–2020 104
7.1 Factors influencing apprentice recruiters’ egalitarian values 165
7.2 Main answer categories derived from responses to qualitative survey 166
7.3 Summary of response frequency to qualitative survey questions, by
sector groups 167
7.1A Coding procedure for the ‘employer visibility’ variable 178
7.2A Sector groups based on similar business activity and sought apprentice
profile 178
7.3A Interviewee details 179
7.4A Details over cited respondents to qualitative survey cited in chapter 179
7.5A Complementary summary of responses to qualitative survey, by sector
groups 180
8.1 Interviewees 190
8.2 Hypothesized motives of PTOs to participate in the programme 198
10.1 Expansion of dual study programmes, 2004–2016 237
11.1A Overview of expert interviews 2016/2017 on higher vocational
education in Switzerland 280
12.1 Key examples for permeability between vocational and academic worlds
of learning—a multi-dimension analysis of the DuBAS case 300
List of Contributors
Annatina Aerne is a postdoctoral
researcher at the University of Lausanne
at the Swiss graduate school of public
administration (IDHEAP). Her current
research focuses on migration and labour
markets. Previously, she researched
organization and culture, focusing on the
art scene in Bogotá, Colombia.
Nadine Bernhard is a postdoctoral
researcher at the Centre for Comparative
and International Education at
Humboldt Universität zu Berlin in
Germany. Using institutional,
organizational, comparative, discourse
analytical, and/or ethnographical
approaches she works on questions of
institutional change, educational transfer,
internationalization, organizational
evolutions, educational practices, social
inequality, and diversity in education
(with the main focus on vocational
education and training and higher
education).
Giuliano Bonoli is a professor of social
policy at the Swiss graduate school of
public administration, University of
Lausanne. His main research focus is on
social and labour market policies, with an
interest in international comparisons, the
politics and the transformation of welfare
regimes.
Regula Bürgi works at the education
ministry of the canton of Lucerne,
Switzerland. Her research interests are
international organizations, history of
education, vocational and higher
education.
Marius R. Busemeyer is a full professor
of political science with a focus on
comparative political economy at the
University of Konstanz and speaker of
the Excellence Cluster ‘The Politics of
Inequality’ in Germany. He is also an
affiliated senior researcher at the WSI,
Düsseldorf. His research focuses on
comparative political economy and
welfare state research, education and
social policy, public spending, theories of
institutional change and public opinion
on the welfare state.
Martin B. Carstensen is professor with
special responsibilities in public
administration and politics in the
Department of Social Science and
Business, Roskilde University, in
Denmark. His work focuses on the
dynamics of institutional and ideational
change in key policy areas of advanced
economies like labour market policy,
education policy, and financial
regulation.
Gina Di Maio is a project and quality
manager in higher education at the
Zurich University of the Arts in
Switzerland. In her dissertation, she
investigated how to get employers to
cooperate and collectively provide
vocational training. She focused on
inclusiveness-enhancing training
programmes for disadvantaged
candidates as well as continuing
vocational training.
Niccolo Durazzi is a lecturer in the
political economy of social policy in the

School of Social and Political Science at
the University of Edinburgh in Scotland.
His research takes a comparative political
economy approach to examine advanced
capitalist countries’ transition in the
knowledge economy, with a particular
focus on education, skills, and labour
market policy.
Christian Ebner is a professor of
sociology at the Technische Universität
Braunschweig, Germany, where he
specializes in work and organizational
research. He is also a research fellow at
the Bundesinstitut für Berufsbildung. His
research interests comprise vocational
education and training, the
transformation of the working world, and
how occupations shape social
inequalities.
Philipp Eigenmann is head of research
and a lecturer in education at Thurgau
University of Teacher Education (PHTG)
in Kreuzlingen, Switzerland. His research
interests are history of education, higher
education, vocational education, and
teacher education.
Patrick Emmenegger is a professor of
comparative political economy and
public policy at the University of St.
Gallen in Switzerland. His research
focuses on education, skills, and labour
market policies, industrial relations,
democratization, state building, and
institutional theory.
Leonard Geyer is a researcher at the
European Centre for Social Welfare
Policy and Research in Vienna, Austria.
His research interests comprise
comparative political economy, (active)
labour market and skills policies, and the
role of social partners in determining
policy outcomes, wages, and working
conditions.
List of Contributors xi
Philipp Gonon is recently retired (in
2021) but is still working at the Institute
of Education at the University of Zurich
in Switzerland. His research focuses on
Swiss vocational education and training,
history and comparative international
VET and digitalization at a Secondary II
level.
Lukas Graf is an assistant professor of
educational governance at the Hertie
School, The University of Governance in
Berlin. He works at the intersection of
political economy, sociology, educational
science, and public policy. He combines
comparative, institutional, and
organizational approaches to analyse
questions of educational governance,
labour markets, social inequalities,
institutional changes, and
internationalization processes.
Sandra Hirtz is a research associate at the
Bundesinstitut für Berufsbildung
Forschungsdatenzentrum (BIBB
Research Data Centre (BIBB-FDZ)) in
Bonn, Germany. The focus of her
research is on the German vocational and
education training system. Her research
interests cover wage inequality in the
German labour market, especially with
regard to occupational and sectoral
stratification.
Christian Lyhne Ibsen is an associate
professor at FAOS, Department of
Sociology, University of Copenhagen in
Denmark. His research focuses on
collective bargaining, vocational
education and training, and the future of
work and employment relations.
Markus Maurer is a professor of
vocational education at the Zurich
University of Teacher Education in
Switzerland. His research focuses on
implementation of education and
xii List of Contributors
training policy reforms, on adults in
vocational education, as well as on
comparative analysis of education and
training systems.
Dennie Oude Nijhuis is a lecturer at the
Institute for History at Leiden University,
in the Netherlands. He specializes in the
comparative political economy of labour
markets and welfare states and the
political economy of European
integration. He is also the editor of
Business Interests and the Development of
the Modern Welfare State.
Daniela Rohrbach-Schmidt is a research
associate at the Bundesinstitut für
Berufsbildung Forschungsdatenzentrum
(BIBB Research Data Centre
(BIBB-FDZ)) in Bonn, Germany. Her
fields of research are vocational
education and training, occupations, and
social inequality.
Lina Seitzl is a member of the German
parliament. Previously, she worked as a
postdoctoral researcher at the School of
Economics and Political Science of the
University of St. Gallen, Switzerland and
was part of GOVPET, a centre of
excellence for research on the governance
of vocational and professional education
and training. Her research examines the
effects of digitization and the knowledge
economy on dual training systems.
Kathleen Thelen is Ford professor of
political science at the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology in the United
States and a permanent external member
of the Max Planck Institute for the Study
of Societies in Germany. Her work
centres on the origins, evolution, and
contemporary political economies of the
rich democracies. Her current work
focuses on the American political
economy and on the political economy of
platform capitalism.
Christine Trampusch is a professor of
comparative political economy at the
Cologne Center for Comparative Politics
(CCCP), University of Cologne in
Germany. Her research includes models
of capitalism, labour–business–
government relationships and
the change of institutions and policies.
Daniel Franz Unterweger is a researcher
and consultant at 3s: Research &
Consulting for Lifelong Learning, based
in Vienna. He is involved in several
projects for Cedefop and the European
Commission, and has previously
consulted the OECD on the governance
of skills policies. He is a former member
of GOVPET at the University of St.
Gallen (Switzerland).
Anna Wilson is a postdoctoral researcher
with the International Postdoctoral
Fellowship (GFF-IPF) at the School of
Economics and Political Science,
University of St. Gallen in Switzerland.
Her research interests lie mainly in firms’
strategies to address skill mismatches in
the knowledge economy, firms’ role in
including disadvantaged young people in
VET, and the institutional, internal, and
external conditions enabling and
constraining them.
1
Collective Skill Formation
in a Knowledge Economy
Challenges and Dilemmas

Giuliano Bonoli and Patrick Emmenegger

1.1 Introduction

Skill formation has been subject to rapidly increasing attention in the last
decades, both in academic debates as well as politics. Generally, skill forma-
tion systems are expected to provide individuals with access to high-quality
training and the economy with a well-trained workforce. Yet skill formation
systems display important differences with regard to the division of tasks
between firms, intermediary associations, and the state in providing and
financing skill formation.1
Based on Busemeyer and Trampusch (2012: 11–15), we can distinguish
between liberal, segmentalist, statist, and collective skill formation systems
(see Table 1.1). In liberal regimes, the general education system and market-
based transactions are the primary providers of education and training.
Public commitment to skill formation is limited and firms are rarely involved
apart from basic on-the-job training. In contrast, segmentalist regimes rely
on internal labour markets and lifelong employment to retain employees.
In this way, large firms provide newly recruited employees with a consider-
able amount of high-quality training, for instance in firm-specific vocational
schools. However, public commitment to skill formation is low and small
firms are rarely involved. Most training therefore focuses on firm-specific
skills. Statist regimes feature a strong public commitment to skill formation
and full-time vocational schooling. However, since training is part of the

1 We thank Christian Lyhne Ibsen and Christine Trampusch for helpful comments on an earlier draft
of this chapter.

Giuliano Bonoli and Patrick Emmenegger, Collective Skill Formation in a Knowledge Economy. In: Collective Skill Formation in
the Knowledge Economy. Edited by Giuliano Bonoli and Patrick Emmenegger, Oxford University Press.
© Oxford University Press (2022). DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780192866257.003.0001
2 Giuliano Bonoli and Patrick Emmenegger

Table 1.1 Skill formation systems in advanced economies

Involvement of firms in VET

Low High

Public commitment High Statist (e.g. Sweden) Collective (e.g. Germany)

to VET
Low Liberal (e.g. United Kingdom) Segmentalist (e.g. Japan)

Source: Busemeyer and Trampusch (2012: 12).

general education system, firm involvement remains limited. These systems

therefore often struggle to facilitate a smooth transition from training into
employment.
This book focuses on collective skill formation systems, which are charac-
terized by a strong public commitment to and high involvement of firms in
the training effort. Four specific features distinguish collective systems from
the other regimes. First, they are based on dual training combining school-
based and work-based learning—increasingly also at the post-secondary
level (Graf 2018). Second, employers and their associations are involved in
the financing and administration of training, meaning that collective skill
formation regimes presuppose inter-firm cooperation and employers’ will-
ingness to engage in collective action. Third, intermediary organizations,
including trade unions, play an important role in the administration and
development of these systems. Finally, collective systems lead to certified and
standardized occupational skills that are portable between firms. The most
prominent examples are the vocational education and training (VET) sys-
tems of Austria, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, and Switzerland. Yet
elements of collective systems are increasingly adopted in other countries as
well (Busemeyer and Trampusch 2012: 14–15).
Collective skill formation systems have been long hailed for their capac-
ity to straddle the twin demands of supplying relevant skills to employers
and offering a point of access for large groups of the population (including
working-class youth) to stable and relatively well-paid jobs (Thelen 2014).
Unsurprisingly, then, the European Union (EU) is strongly pushing its mem-
ber states to develop and strengthen dual training in the framework of
collective skill formation systems. Based on the Copenhagen Process (started
in 2002) and further enhanced with the 2010 Bruges Communiqué (Euro-
pean Union 2010) and the 2015 Riga Conclusions (European Union 2015),
the EU is actively promoting work-based learning, in particular with regard
to dual apprenticeships and by involving the social partners in the governance
of these systems.
 Collective Skill Formation in a Knowledge Economy 3

Yet the rise of the knowledge economy has put a question mark over
whether such solidaristic outcomes are still possible to sustain (Anderson
and Hassel 2013; Thelen 2014; Bonoli and Emmenegger 2021; Carstensen
and Ibsen 2021). Increasingly knowledge-intensive forms of production lead
to demands for new, higher, and ever-changing skills, which creates a num-
ber of challenges for skill formation systems, both with regard to their ability
to supply relevant skills to employers and offering a point of access for large
groups of the population. For instance, labour market polarization created
by automation processes is reducing the pool of mid-skilled jobs that in the
past have greatly contributed to middle-class well-being and that were made
accessible through vocational training (Autor 2010).
These challenges are compounded by a number of concomitant develop-
ments, in particular growing social inequality and the emergence of multicul-
tural societies. Social inequality has been rising in most advanced economies
in recent decades (OECD 2008; Piketty 2013; Atkinson 2015). Inequalities in
income and resources are associated with inequality in the ability to learn
and school achievement (OECD 2019a), generating problems of access to
demanding VET programmes for those at the bottom of the distribution.
Such inequalities are further exacerbated by the emergence of multicultural
societies that result from mass migration to advanced economies. For indi-
viduals with a migration background, access to dual VET can be problematic,
as they may suffer from disadvantages both in the education system and in
the labour market side of dual VET.
Clearly, changing levels of social inequality are in part also related to the
shift towards a knowledge economy. Labour market polarization created by
automation processes is a case in point (Kristal and Cohen 2017; Murphy and
Oesch 2018). Yet macro-structural pressures such as technological change do
not automatically translate into levels of social inequality. Instead, they are
mediated by social and political institutions, most notably education and skill
formation systems that have the potential to both accentuate and weaken the
effects of these structural trends (Emmenegger et al. 2012).
The shift to a knowledge economy and the concomitant expansion of
social inequalities are pulling collective skill formation systems in opposite
directions. Vocational training must remain competitive and integrative in
a context that changes and makes both functions more challenging. Adopt-
ing a political economy perspective, the contributions to this book examine
how collective skill formation systems cope with and are adapted to a knowl-
edge economy in the context of growing social inequalities. This perspective
implies that, in addition to changes in the socio-economic context, we
highlight the power of actors and conflicts of interest, emphasize the role of
institutions in structuring political and economic processes, and stress the
4 Giuliano Bonoli and Patrick Emmenegger

challenges of cooperation and collective action (Streeck 2009; Thelen 2014;

Busemeyer 2015).
In this introductory chapter, we first review structural economic, social,
and macro-political trends that challenge collective skill formation systems.
Our focus is on the growing relevance of knowledge-intensive production
processes. However, we also emphasize other macro-trends that, as argued
above, are crucial for these systems’ ability to perform an integrative func-
tion: the rise in social inequality and the emergence of multicultural societies.
Subsequently, we discuss what we argue to be the two main dilemmas col-
lective skill formation systems face in a knowledge economy: (1) balancing
efficiency and inclusiveness in an increasingly knowledge-intensive economy
and (2) collective action in the age of de-collectivization. The final section
reviews the contributions to this volume.

1.2 Challenges

Collective skill formation systems have managed to produce appreciable

outcomes both in terms of efficiency and inclusiveness (Busemeyer 2015).
However, a number of ongoing socio-structural and macro-political trends
have the potential to disrupt the successful operation of these systems. In
this book, we focus on the key trends that are part of the overall transition to
a knowledge economy. On the one hand, increasingly knowledge-intensive
forms of production are likely to lead to demands for new, higher, and
ever-changing skills. This puts pressure on collective skill formation system’s
ability to provide industry with the necessary skills and contributes to the
decline of collectivism as a form of coordination in advanced economies.
On the other hand, trends that are happening concomitantly amplify these
challenges. These include the rise in social inequality and the emergence of
multicultural societies, which are reinforcing inequalities in terms of skill
acquisition and making it harder for collective skill formation system to fulfil
their integrative function.
Our focus on these challenges is not meant to deny the relevance of
other structural trends. However, macro-trends often interact and accentuate
each other. For instance, digitalization, deindustrialization, and globaliza-
tion all create pressure on low-skilled work in advanced economies and
demand a stronger focus on more knowledge-intensive forms of production.
We argue that it is not productive to try to isolate these structural trends
to create some artificial conceptual separation. Instead, we subsume these
structural economic, political, and social trends under the label ‘knowledge
 Collective Skill Formation in a Knowledge Economy 5

economy’, which captures well how economic activity is increasingly skill and
knowledge intensive.
The knowledge economy pushes firms to increasingly require new, higher,
and ever-changing skills. Yet it does so in a context of increasingly diverse
and unequal societies. In the following, we discuss how these developments
challenge collective skill formation systems.

1.2.1 The growing relevance of knowledge-intensive

production processes

Technological change that goes under the broad rubric of digitalization

is transforming the world of work (Thelen 2018; Crouch 2019; Grundke
et al. 2018). Digitalization refers to the phenomenon of replacing analogue
or physical processes through digital ones (Loebbecke and Picot 2015). It
denotes how production processes are automatized (computerization) and
how different parts of the producing equipment may be able to communicate
among themselves (internet of things). Digitalization does not only imply
the use of big data and digital technologies (machine learning, artificial intel-
ligence) in the production of goods, it also refers to the rise of platform firms
which provide digital services (online marketplaces, social media, app stores),
which lead to new labour market structures (gig economy).
These developments create a number of challenges for skill formation sys-
tems (Gonon 2019; Achtenhagen and Achtenhagen 2019; Rolandsson et al.
2019). Most of these challenges have to do with the growing importance of
knowledge-intensive production in advanced economies and with an accel-
erated pace of change due to technological innovation. These processes lead
to changing and higher skill needs as well as labour market polarization
since change is skill-biased and empowers multinational companies that
are more capital-intensive and less labour-intensive (Acemoglu and Autor
2011). Moreover, these developments are accentuated by ongoing processes
of globalization and deindustrialization. Less knowledge-intensive and more
routine-task-intensive occupations—precisely the traditional focus of col-
lective skill formation systems—are at the highest risk of suffering from
international trade (Owen and Johnston 2017). In addition, the decline of the
industrial sector and the expansion of the service economy challenge collec-
tive skill formation systems, because these systems were originally anchored
in the craft and industrial sectors and depend on neo-corporatist institutions
more prevalent in the industrial sector to function (Culpepper and Thelen
2008; Strebel et al. 2021).
6 Giuliano Bonoli and Patrick Emmenegger

In the context of knowledge-intensive production processes, we identify

three main challenges. First, the growing relevance of knowledge-intensive
production processes leads to new, higher, and ever-changing skill demands.
While predictions are difficult to make, the literature estimates that between
9 per cent (Arntz et al. 2016) and 47 per cent (Frey and Osborne 2013) of all
jobs are at risk of automation. However, in the same period, a similar number
of new jobs will be created. Yet these new jobs require different skills, which
implies that a large part of the labour force will have to be re-skilled in this
period (see also OECD 2017; Cedefop 2018; McKinsey Global Institute 2018).
However, as technological change and globalization make investments into
new equipment more attractive, production processes for most businesses
may benefit from automation and different parts of the producing equipment
may be able to communicate among themselves. Therefore, it is possible that
in production processes, digital technologies and infrastructure are increas-
ingly substituting labour (Kemmerling and Trampusch 2021). As investments
into capital and technology become more attractive alternatives, firms may
reduce investment in training (OECD 2017: 8). At the same, digitalization is
also related to offshoring processes (Brown et al. 2011; Goos et al. 2014).
In any case, technological change is skill biased, thus substituting for
workers performing routine tasks, while complementing workers performing
non-routine tasks (Autor 2010; Kristal and Cohen 2017). As a result, recent
studies suggest that the impact of technological change on skill demands leads
to a trend towards labour market polarization, with technological change
strengthening demand for non-routine cognitive jobs carried out in high-end
jobs and having little impact on demand for non-routine personal services
carried out in low-end jobs (Murphy and Oesch 2018). This development has
been clearly observed in the United States but also in several European coun-
tries (Autor 2010; Autor and Salomons 2017), with demand sometimes being
skewed towards the upper end of the skill distribution (Oesch and Menés
2010; Oesch 2013).
Given the increase in demand for high-skill labour, we can expect firms
to require an overall upskilling of training, which all else equal, is more
likely to exclude weaker students. As training curricula are revised so that
they comply with the requirements of technological innovation, they may
become less accessible for academically weaker students (Martin and Knud-
sen 2010). Moreover, collective skill formation systems have historically been
good at providing a well-trained workforce for mid-skilled occupations first
in industry and then in the services. They have thus contributed to providing
access to good quality mid-level jobs to individuals for whom tertiary educa-
tion is not accessible. In this respect, collective skill formation systems have
 Collective Skill Formation in a Knowledge Economy 7

been able to perform a socially integrative function also thanks to the exis-
tence of a strong demand for labour in the middle of the skill distribution
(Thelen 2014). With labour market polarization and the decline of demand
for mid-skilled professionals, this integrative function may be put at risk.
Second, digitalization, globalization, and deindustrialization increase the
pace of economic change (e.g. due to accelerated production processes, rad-
ical technological innovation, or changing product markets) and thus create
uncertainty about the skills firms will require in the future. Put differently,
training decisions for firms might become riskier since they are increasingly
unsure about their future skill demands. Similarly, because skill formation
requires young individuals to ‘accept the long deferral of gratifications that
is the essence of investing’, for them, skill formation ‘presupposes a degree
of certainty as to what one is likely to need and value in the future’ (Streeck
1989: 92). If there is growing uncertainty about future value of (occupational)
skills, talented youth might increasingly opt for general education, which is
considered the ‘safer’ and more flexible option, thus further contributing to
academic drift (Iversen and Soskice 2001). Research has not yet answered the
question whether collective skill formation systems can adapt (fast enough)
to the needs of a knowledge economy, and whether and how they differ in
meeting this challenge from liberal or statist training systems (but see Ander-
son and Hassel 2013; Chuan and Ibsen 2021). If they cannot, firms may no
longer turn to collective skill formation systems to meet their training needs.
In addition, in the light of previous adaptation processes, it is unclear
whether technological change will complicate the reconciliation of social
inclusiveness and economic efficiency (Bonoli and Emmenegger 2021). More
ambitious and knowledge-intensive programmes may need stricter entry
requirements, thereby de facto becoming inaccessible to academically less
inclined students (Martin and Knudsen 2010; Carstensen and Ibsen 2021). At
the same time, prospective apprentices increasingly face the risk of learning
an occupation, which the labour market of the future will not demand. Con-
sequently, having insufficient or obsolete skills has emerged as a new social
risk (Bonoli 2005). Given these uncertainties, apprentices might increasingly
opt for training opportunities that focus on transferable and more general
skills (Estevez-Abe et al. 2001), which could contribute to a devaluation of
vocational education.
Third, by removing constraints (e.g. geographical restrictions on business
activities), digitalization, globalization, and to a lesser extent deindustrializa-
tion also increase the structural power of business and weaken the ability of
collective actors to integrate firms (Thelen and Busemeyer 2012; Emmeneg-
ger and Seitzl 2019)—a ‘dualization’ process that can also be observed in
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
The Project Gutenberg eBook of The gods of
Mexico
 This ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United
States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away
or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License
included with this ebook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you
are not located in the United States, you will have to check the
laws of the country where you are located before using this
eBook.

Title: The gods of Mexico

Author: Lewis Spence

Release date: August 27, 2023 [eBook #71503]

Language: English

Original publication: New York: Frederick A. Stokes Company,

1923

Credits: Jeroen Hellingman and the Online Distributed

Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net/ for Project
Gutenberg (This file was produced from images
generously made available by The Internet
Archive/American Libraries.)

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GODS

OF MEXICO ***
[Contents]

[Contents]

THE GODS of
MEXICO

[Contents]
NEPHRITE FIGURE OF A DEATH-GOD.

(Now in the Stuttgart Museum.)

[Frontispiece

[Contents]
 THE
GODS OF MEXICO

By LEWIS SPENCE
FELLOW OF THE ROYAL
ANTHROPOLOGICAL
INSTITUTE OF GREAT BRITAIN AND
IRELAND
 ILLUSTRATED
NEW YORK
FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY
PUBLISHERS
1923

[Contents]

TO
MY WIFE,
WITH DEEPEST GRATITUDE
AND AFFECTION

[Contents]

(All rights reserved)

PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN [v]

[Contents]
 PREFACE

This book deals exclusively with the religion of the peoples of ancient
Mexico. With the history and archæology of that country I am not
concerned in these pages, unless where they have a bearing upon
the main subject. By “Mexico” I mean that region of North America
lying between the Tropic of Cancer and the Isthmus of Tehuantepec.
Thus only passing reference to the religion of the Maya of Yucatan or
the Quiche of Guatemala is made in the way of occasional
comparison.

I have thought it best at the outset to make these points clear beyond
the possibility of misapprehension. It was formerly usual to regard the
entire tract occupied by Central American civilization from the Tropic
of Cancer to Nicaragua as one and indivisible in its manifestations.
But it is now clear that the type of advancement peculiar to the more
northerly portion inhabited by the Nahua (Aztec and Chichimec)
peoples of Mexico proper presents numerous and striking
divergencies from the more southerly though related Maya civilization
of Yucatan and Guatemala. Regarding the priority of these two
cultures no doubt exists. The Maya was greatly the more ancient. But
during the century preceding the conquest of Mexico by Cortéz it had
been subjected to Nahua immigration and influences, especially as
regards its religious beliefs. It is therefore necessary to exercise
caution in the identification of Nahua or Mexican with Maya myths
and divine forms, and with this in view I have directed my researches
more especially to an examination of the deities and ritual practices
of the Mexican area, in the hope that once the fundamental beliefs of
this better-known [vi]region have been ascertained, the results arrived
at may be applied with some measure of confidence to the obscure
field of Maya belief. It seemed to me also essential, if progress were
to be made, to apply a more intensive method of investigation than
has hitherto been deemed possible or desirable to the first origins of
the Mexican gods, and it is especially with the results obtained by
this means that I am concerned rather than with the conclusions of
others.

I have chosen The Gods of Mexico as the title of this book, as its
contents refer more particularly to the development and general
description of the deities of ancient Anahuac than to the questions of
ritual, priesthood, or religious architecture. It has seemed to me that,
once the fundamental nature of the gods has been made clear, when
the multitudinous and conflicting details regarding them have been
sifted, collated, and reduced to order, more will have been done to
discover the whole purport of Mexican religion than if investigation
had been directed in particular to ritual practice. But that I have not
neglected the question of ritual is proved by the extended notices of
the festivals I have appended to the description of each of the gods. I
have, however, confined my descriptions and criticisms of ceremonial
to these, and have refrained from the illustration of the sacraments of
life and death, baptism, burial, and the like, as it is my hope to be
able to deal with the whole subject of ritualistic practice among the
Mexicans at a future date.

Many authorities, even should they sympathize with the endeavour

set forth in these pages, will question its timeousness. Our
knowledge of the religion of ancient Mexico, they will say, is still too
vague and too fragmentary to permit of the assemblage and criticism
of its material. Such a charge it is impossible to gainsay. Yet the
bitter-sweet experience of twenty years of meditation among the
ruins of the Mexican pantheon has emboldened me to attempt its
partial restoration by the aid of such reconstructive capacity as I
possess. My reasons for essaying this rather adventurous
undertaking are twofold. The first is, that although the [vii]time is
scarcely ripe for it, the venture may inspire more skilful investigators
to address themselves to the task of research in a subject that has
been unaccountably neglected in this country. The second is the
hope that those who come after me in the study of Mexican religion
may, as the result of my labours, be spared the many weary years of
groping that have fallen to my lot, and be enabled to commence their
journey from the point where I now stand.

Although political and financial conditions in Mexico frequently

arouse a passing agitation in the minds of British people, the
antiquities of that extraordinary land, various as Greece and
mysterious as Egypt, have failed to appeal to them with the same
degree of interest. We have not yet, perhaps, quite recovered from
the amazement with which in our own day we have seen the secret
gates of the East unlocked and the prodigies of Mesopotamia and
the endless dynasties of the Nile emerge therefrom. Yet an
archæology less venerable, but no less notable, pleads with us for
recognition from a continent so closely associated with the spirit of
modernity that we can scarcely believe in its ability to present us with
the credentials of respectable antiquity. American scientists, however,
have in recent years successfully addressed themselves to the
problems of Isthmian research, and the antiquaries of Germany and
France have, in certain respects, even improved upon their
endeavours. Great Britain alone remains insensible to the lure of old
Mexico, and small indeed is the band of workers that she has given
to this department of archæology.

No manifestation of the life and thought of ancient Mexico so well

deserves the attention of British students of antiquity as its
picturesque if bizarre religion. Our position in folklore is pre-eminent;
indeed we may with justice claim the reconstruction of traditional
science as due to the efforts of British scholarship. As the English
word “folklore” is in world-wide use, so is the terminology of the
science it denotes replete with English expressions; yet in British
works which deal with traditional lore the Mexican analogies
employed are almost invariably quoted at second-hand, sources of
the [viii]most unsatisfactory description are drawn upon to illustrate
Mexican belief, and it is obvious that the few modern treatises which
have sought to explain this most involved of all mythologies are not
sufficiently taken advantage of by authorities on folklore.

To those who possess even an elementary acquaintance with the

study of Mexican religion this will cause no surprise, for the initial
difficulties which confront even the experienced antiquary who
desires to gain a working knowledge of its principles are sufficiently
discouraging. In all likelihood the quest is sooner or later abandoned
in despair of acquiring that fundamental information from which it is
possible to proceed to a more profound knowledge of the subject.
The native languages, familiarity with which is desirable, are complex
and difficult of mastery. The paintings or codices which depict the
gods present a riot of symbolic intricacy sufficient in itself to damp
enthusiasm. Many years must be spent in the study of a system of
symbolic painting, to which a specially qualified section of the
Mexican priesthood dedicated itself in the full knowledge of a
mythological scheme at the nature of which we can but guess. It is,
above all, necessary to become thoroughly conversant with an
overwhelming body of Spanish Colonial literature, which must be
handled with the greatest discretion, owing to its vague,
contradictory, and essentially untrustworthy character. Lastly, an
acquaintance with manuscript sources, obscure and difficult of
access, is quite as indispensable, and these, indeed, are among the
most valuable of the adjuncts to a knowledge of Mexican belief.

By far the most eminent and successful among modern writers on

Mexican mythology and ritual is Professor Eduard Seler, of Berlin,
who, owing to the generosity of the Duc de Loubat, has been
enabled to publish monographs upon the principal Mexican
hieroglyphical paintings or codices. In these he has done much for
the elucidation of the involved symbolism in which the native MSS.
abound, and has greatly added to our knowledge of the divine forms
represented in their grotesque pages. Elaborate photogravure
reproductions [ix]of these, the papyri of Mexico, have also been
published, superseding the older and less accurate copies in the
great collection of Lord Kingsborough. In his Gesammelte
Abhandlungen, 1 too, a work quite encyclopædic as regards its scope
and aim, Professor Seler has approached almost every problem
presented by Mexican archæology. But his work might have been of
greater value had he been mindful of the difficulties which the subject
presents to the non-specialist reader. Indeed, the technicality and
aridity of his general method often render his output comprehensible
to few but the “senior wranglers” of the study.

American students of ancient Mexico and Central America have

almost entirely confined themselves to the examination of sites and
monuments. In France, M. Beuchat has provided students with an
admirable handbook in his Archéologie Américaine, which, if too
general in its purport and marred by a lack of linguistic knowledge, is
still valuable as an elementary manual to American antiquity. The
essays of Lehmann, De Jonghe, and Preuss have provided the
student with translations of manuscript material hitherto closed to
him, or have smoothed his way to a clearer comprehension of the
difficulties connected with the Mexican calendar. The best modern
English handbook on Mexican archæology is that by Mr. T. Athol
Joyce, of the British Museum, but its lack of references is a serious
drawback and the material it contains suffers from compression.

The method of my investigation of the divine forms of Mexico is set

forth in the introductory paragraph immediately preceding that part of
the book which deals with the gods more especially. Regarding the
tonalamatl and the Calendar, I have thought it best to relegate this
difficult and obscure subject to an appendix, in order that it should
not interfere with the main current of proof. In dealing with the
Codices throughout I have employed the pagination of Seler rather
than that of Kingsborough, as referring to the more modern and
greatly preferable editions of the Duc de Loubat, except [x]in cases
where a manuscript is to be found in Kingsborough’s work alone. It is
my sincere hope that the bibliography at the end of the book as well
as that to be found at the conclusion of the appendix on the
tonalamatl will lighten the labour of students of Mexican religion,
whose co-operation in the discovery of errors I most cordially invite.

The illustrations in this book are, for the most part, taken from the
native Mexican codices or paintings, and from representations of the
gods in stone or pottery. It has, of course, been impossible to furnish
every picture or representation alluded to in the text, but these, in
their entirety, will be found in the excellent coloured reproductions in
collotype published by the Duc de Loubat, full particulars of which are
given in the bibliography of the codices on pages 378–381. These
reproductions can be consulted in many of the greater libraries,
especially in those connected with the Universities. I have preferred,
in many cases, to furnish the student with those representations of
the gods which he would have found it more or less difficult to
procure. The numbers of the pages or sheets attached to the
illustrations refer to the places where the respective figures can be
found in the reproductions of the Duc de Loubat.

In conclusion, I have to thank my daughter, who took infinite pains in

transcribing from books and treatises difficult of access, in the British
Museum and the Advocates’ Library, Edinburgh, and who sacrificed
much of that time which young people usually devote to amusement
in order that she might help me in a difficult task.
 L. S. [xi]

1 See Bibliography for description of this and all other works alluded to throughout
the work. ↑

[Contents]
 CONTENTS

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTORY

The type and evolution of Mexican religion—The antiquity of

Mexican religion—The literature of Mexican religion: I, The native
codices; II, The native writings; III, Native art-forms; IV, Writings of
the Spanish conquerors of Mexico—The origins of Mexican
religion—Evidence of early religion in Mexico—Deification of the
elements of growth—Evidences of primitive influences—Fetishtic
origin of gods—Animal gods—Growth of the rain-cult—The
necessity for human sacrifice—The later elements of Mexican
religion—Cultural elements of Mexican religion—The Quetzalcoatl
cult—The cult of obsidian—Unity of religious conception
throughout Mexico pp. 1–35

CHAPTER II

COSMOGONY

The “ages” of Mexican cosmogony—The making of the earth—

The peopling of the earth—Creation of the sun and moon—The
Historia de los Mexicanos—Deluge myths—The “Coxcox” fallacy
—The fall of the gods—Mexican conceptions of the universe—The
five regions of the world: The Tree of the East; the Tree of the
North; the Tree of the West; the Tree of the South; Tlaxicco;
Tlapcopa; Uitznauac or Uitzlampa; Ciuatlampa; Mictlampa—The
supporters of the heavens—The Aztec heavens: Tlalocan;
Homeyoca—Mictlampa as Hades pp. 36–64

CHAPTER III
THE GREAT GODS

Method of treatment—Uitzilopochtli—Tezcatlipocâ—Quetzalcoatl
pp. 65–145

CHAPTER IV

THE CREATIVE DEITIES

Tonacatecutli—Tonacaciuatl pp. 146–152 [xii]

CHAPTER V

DEITIES OF THE EARTH AND GROWTH PROPER

Introductory—Tlazolteotl—Chicomecoatl—Cinteotl—Ciuacoatl—
Coatlicue—Xochiquetzal—Macuilxochitl or Xochipilli—Xipe—
Xilonen—Itzpapalotl—Zapotlantenan—Ilamatecutli pp. 153–
233

CHAPTER VI

THE GODS OF RAIN AND MOISTURE

Introductory—Tlaloc—Chalchihuitlicue—Uixtociuatl—Atlaua—
Napatecutli—Matlalcuêyê—Opochtli pp. 234–267

CHAPTER VII

THE FIRE-GODS

Xiuhtecutli—Chantico—Quaxolotl pp. 268–284

CHAPTER VIII

THE OCTLI OR PULQUE (DRINK) GODS

General—Tezcatzoncatl—Tepoxtecatl—Patecatl—Mayauel—
Totoltecatl—Macuiltochtli—Totochtin—Tomiauhtecutli pp.
285–299

CHAPTER IX

STELLAR AND PLANETARY DEITIES

Tonatiuh the Sun-God (Piltzintecutli)—Metztli or Tecciztecatl the

Moon-God—Mixcoatl, Iztac Mixcoatl or Camaxtli—
Tlauizcalpantecutli—Coyolxauhqui—The Tzitzimimê pp. 300–
326

CHAPTER X

GODS OF DEATH, EARTH, AND THE UNDERWORLD

Mictlantecutli—Mictecaciuatl—Tepeyollotl pp. 327–335

CHAPTER XI

VARIANTS OF THE GREAT GODS

Itztli—Itztlacoliuhqui—Paynal—Yacatecutli pp. 336–343 [xiii]

CHAPTER XII

MINOR DEITIES
 Xolotl—Ixtlilton—Omacatl—The Ciuateteô or Ciuapipiltin pp.
344–358

APPENDIX

THE TONALAMATL AND THE SOLAR CALENDAR

Day-signs—Model tonalamatl—The day-gods—Gods of the

“weeks”—Lords of the night—Lords of the day-hours—Tonalamatl
festivals—Recapitulation—The calendar round—The nemontemi
—The Venus period—Short bibliography of works relating to the
tonalamatl pp. 359–371

A CRITICAL BIBLIOGRAPHY OF MEXICAN RELIGION pp.

372–381

GLOSSARY pp. 382–383

INDEX pp. 384–388 [xiv]

[Contents]
 ILLUSTRATIONS

Nephrite Figure of a Death-god Frontispiece

FACING PAGES
Colossal Statue of Coatlicue 14, 15
Statue of Coatlicue 16, 17
The Great Calendar Stone of Mexico 38
Symbols of the “Suns” in Mexican
Cosmogony 40, 41
The Trees of the World-quarters 58, 59
The Tree of the Middle-quarter 60
Uitzilopochtli 66
Coyolxauhqui 67
The Red and Black Tezcatlipocâs 92
Tezcatlipocâ in Various Forms 93, 98
Altar of Skulls to Tezcatlipocâ 99
Quetzalcoatl and Tlauizcalpantecutli 118
Quetzalcoatl and the Death-god 119
Forms of Quetzalcoatl 120, 121
Tonacatecutli-Tonacaciuatl 121
Forms of Tlazolteotl 156, 157
Forms of Chicomecoatl 170
Cinteotl 171
Ciuacoatl 180
Forms of Ciuacoatl 181
Xochiquetzal and her Symbols 188
Forms of Xochiquetzal 189, 190
Stone Figures of Macuilxochitl 196, 197
Forms of Macuilxochitl 198
Forms of Xochipilli 199
Pottery Figure of Xochipilli [xv] 200
Forms of Xochipilli 201
Forms of Xipe 204
Stone Image of Xipe 205
Forms of Xipe 208
Itzpapalotl 222
Itzpapalotl (Stone of Aristides Martel) 223
Xilonen and Zapotlantenan 223
Forms of Tlaloc 236, 237, 240
Chalchihuitlicue 258
Chalchihuitlicue and Tlauizcalpantecutli 259
Chalchihuitlicue and Uixtociuatl 260
Forms of the Tlaloquê 261
Xiuhtecutli and Tlauizcalpantecutli 268, 269, 272
Xiuhtecutli and Chantico 276
Ixcoçanhqui and Chantico 277
Tepoxtecatl 292
Patecatl, with Octli Emblems 293
The Octli-gods 298, 299
Totoltecatl 299
Forms of Tonatiuh 300
Mexican Idea of Sacrifice to the Sun-god 301
Planetary Deities 304
Forms of Mixcoatl 310, 311
Forms of Tlauizcalpantecutli 320
Tlauizcalpantecutli and Victim 321
Forms of the Underworld Deities 328
Statue of an Octli-god 329
Variants of the Great Gods 336
Xolotl and Tlaloc 344
 Minor Deities 345
The Lords of the Night-hours 364

[xvi]

[Contents]
 NOTE ON THE PRONUNCIATION OF MEXICAN

The pronunciation of Mexican names presents at first some little

difficulty. The letter X is invariably pronounced as sh, so that Mixcoatl
and Mexitli are, viva voce, Mishcoatly and Meshitlee, the final tl being
pronounced as tl followed by a short y, although the natives in many
parts of the country articulate it with a definite clicking sound,
unapproachable by a European. The names of the more important
gods are pronounced as follows:

Uitzilopochtli = Wit-zil-o-potchtly
Tezcatlipocâ = Tez-catly-pocā
Quetzalcoatl = Quetzal-co-at-ly
Xipe = Shee-pay
Chalchihuitlicue = Chal-chĕĕ-wĕĕt-lēē-kway.

Most of the others are comparatively simple of pronunciation. The ch

sound is pronounced as in Spanish, i.e. hard, as in “thatch.” [1]
[Contents]
THE GODS OF MEXICO
CHAPTER I
 INTRODUCTORY

[Contents]

THE TYPE AND EVOLUTION OF MEXICAN RELIGION

If, like the necromancers of old, we possessed the power to summon the shades of
the dead before us, and employed this dread authority to recall from the place of
shadows the spirit of a member of the priesthood of ancient Mexico, in order that
we might obtain from him an account of the faith which he had professed while in
the body, it is improbable that we would derive much information regarding the
precise significance of the cult of which he was formerly an adherent without
tedious and skilful questioning. He would certainly be able to enlighten us readily
enough on matters of ritual and mythology, calendric science and the like; but if we
were to press him for information regarding the motives underlying the outer
manifestations of his belief, he would almost certainly disappoint us, unless our
questionary was framed in the most careful manner. In all likelihood he would be
unable to comprehend the term “religion,” of which we should necessarily have to
make use, and which it would seem so natural for us to employ; and he would
scarcely be capable of dissociating the circumstances of his faith from those of
Mexican life in general, especially as regards its political, military, agricultural, and
artistic connections.

Nor would he regard magic or primitive science as in any way alien to the activities
of his office. But if we became more importunate, and begged him to make some
definite statement regarding the true meaning and import of his [2]religion ere he
returned to his place, he might, perhaps, reply: “If we had not worshipped the gods
and sacrificed to them, nourished them with blood and pleasured them with gifts,
they would have ceased to watch over our welfare, and would have withheld the
maize and water which kept us in life. The rain would not have fallen and the crops
would not have come to fruition.” 1 If he employed some such terms as these, our
phantom would outline the whole purport of the system which we call Mexican
religion, the rude platform on which was raised the towering superstructure of rite
and ceremony, morality and tradition, a part of which we are about to examine.

The writer who undertakes the description of any of the great faiths of the world
usually presupposes in his readers a certain acquaintance with the history and
conditions of the people of whose religion he treats. But the obscurity which
surrounded all questions relating to Mexican antiquity until the beginning of this
century formerly made it essential that any view of its religious phase should be
prefaced by an account of the peoples who professed it, their racial affinities, and
the country they occupied. This necessity no longer exists. The ground has been
traversed so often of late, and I have covered it so frequently in previous works, 2
that I feel only a brief account of these conditions is necessary here, such, in a
word, as will enable the reader to realize circumstances of race, locality, and
period.

The people whose religious ideas this book attempts to describe were the Nahua
of pre-Colombian Mexico, a race by no means extinct, despite the oft-repeated
assertions of popular novelists, and which is now usually classed as a branch of
the great Uto-Aztecan family of the North American Indian stock. They spoke, and
their descendants still speak, a language known as the Nahuatl, or Nahuatlatolli
(“speech of those who live by rule” or “by ritual observance”). At the era of the
Spanish invasion of their country in 1519 [3]they had succeeded in overrunning and
reducing to their dominion practically all that part of modern Mexico which lies
between the Tropic of Cancer and the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. They were, in all
probability, immigrants from the north, and their art-forms, no less than their
physique and beliefs, have led certain writers to form the opinion that they came
originally from the neighbourhood of British Columbia, or that they had a common
origin with the Indian tribes which inhabit that region at the present time.

However this may be, the first Nahua immigrants would appear to have entered
the Valley of Mexico at some time during the eighth century of our era. But the
Aztecâ, part of a later swarm of Nahua, do not seem to have descended upon it
until the middle of the thirteenth century, or to have founded the settlement of
Mexico-Tenochtitlan until about the year 1376. At the period of their arrival in the
valley they were a barbarous tribe of nomadic hunters, wandering from place to
place in search of fresh hunting-grounds, precisely as did many North American
Indian tribes before reservations were provided for them. Gradually, by virtue of
their superior prowess in war, they achieved the hegemony of the Plateau of
Anahuac, which boasted a tradition and civilization at least five hundred years old.
These they proceeded to assimilate with marvellous rapidity, as is not infrequently
the case when a race of hunters mingles with a settled agricultural population.
Indeed, in the course of the century and a quarter which intervened between the
founding of Mexico and the period of the Spanish Conquest, they had arrived at
such a standard of civilization as surprised their Castilian conquerors. When the
Aztecâ, abandoning their wandering life, finally settled in the Valley of Anahuac,