Beyond Individual Literacy: The Role of Shared Literacy For Innovation in Guatemala

Abstract

Literacy has long been considered an important prerequisite to the improvement of living conditions in the developing world. It has generally been proposed that a literate individual is more likely to accept and adopt new modes of behavior (such as agricultural and nutritional practices) designed to improve his quality of life. Consistent empirical evidence of the proposed relationship, however, is lacking. Several authors have suggested that this lack of consistency may be due to the fact that literacy has traditionally been considered and measured as an individual phenomenon when it may in fact be a shared skill. The current article attempts to address this issue by exploring the relationship between the presence of literacy skills within Guatemalan peasant farm families and the tendency for the head of household to adopt recommended agricultural practices. Findings indicate that the effect of literacy on the adoption of modem practices is both an individual and a family phenomenon. A farmer's propensit...