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Abstract Mexico’s 2008 energy reform established that Petróleos Mexicanos and its subsidiary entities could contract with individuals or corporate entities for labor and the provision of required services to improve the implementation of its activities. The reform has allowed private companies to become more involved in the process of oil extraction and to implement Integrated Petroleum Exploitation Contracts. This participation of the private sector has brought with it the need to evaluate its activities’ social and environmental impact on the territory. One of these evaluations’ main objectives is to project Corporate Social Responsibility schemes. We can see from experience that it is possible for private oil companies’ participation in CSR schemes to contribute to local development, but the application of CSR actions does not in itself imply an impact on local development. This article aims to show the case of a pioneering experience in Mexico concerning the link between academics and the segment of oil companies that try to assess their activities’ social impact and implement Corporate Social Responsibility schemes under federal regulations. In order to achieve it, a work team belonging to Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana has developed a methodology that uses quantitative and qualitative data. The main results of this case study show us that it is necessary to develop appropriate approximation and assessment methodologies for implementing Corporate Social Responsibility actions in each territory in order to stimulate local development. Moreover, there are two essential conditions for actually achieving results for local development by investing in communities within the context of CSR actions in oil-production regions. The first of these conditions is a ‘territorialization’ of the proposals, and the second is the creation of different types of CSR actions. These last two conclusions are also challenges that Mexico’s fledgling private oil sector will have to solve in the very near future with the objective of improving its relations within the social and environmental context where it carries out its activities.

Producto de diferentes iniciativas de comercio alternativo, el comercio justo puede ser definido como un tipo de asociación que busca un desarrollo durable para los productores excluidos o con grandes desventajas, objetivo que pretende alcanzar a través de proponer mejores condiciones comerciales a los productores y de otorgar orientación a los consumidores. En las dos últimas décadas, este tipo de comercio ha tenido un crecimiento constante en los países industrializados. Esto ha evidenciado diferentes concepciones y estrategias para su avance y despertado interrogantes sobre el impacto de sus prácticas y su capacidad para representar una alternativa real de desarrollo local sustentable y equitativo. Este artículo hace una breve revisión de la historia del comercio justo, introduce una discusión sobre su relación con el desarrollo local y la economía social, y presenta ejemplos concretos de esta alternativa comercial tanto del lado de los productores como del de los consumidores.Resulting from different alternative trade initiatives, "fair trade" may be defined as a type of partnership that seeks sustainable development for excluded producers or with major disadvantages. It seeks to achieve such objective by proposing better commercial conditions to farmers and educating consumers. This type of trade, has known, in the past two decades, a steady growth in the industrialized countries. It has evinced different conceptions and strategies to progress, raising questions about the impact of its practices and its ability as a real alternative of sustainable and equitable local development. This article carries out a brief review of the history of fair trade, introduces a discussion on its relationship with the local development and social economy, and presents concrete examples of this commercial alternative both sides the producers and the consumers.

El presente texto muestra los antecedentes y el desarrollo de los estudios que analizan los fenómenos religiosos en México. Con el fin de presentar una visión general del desarrollo de este tipo de trabajos, este papel está dividido en tres secciones. En la primera de ellas se hace una presentación de las disciplinas que abordan el estudio religioso. La segunda presenta una cronología de su desarrollo hasta finales de la década de los setenta del siglo pasado. Finalmente, la tercera sección se ocupa de los trabajos que sobre lo religioso se han publicado en México a partir de la década de los ochenta.