A pdf is available by request to jmheyman@utep.edu . A key concept of standards of decency (within standards of living) that are historically formed. Examines U.S.-Mexico border region social and economic history, including important consumer goods (and more widely, the purchase of goods with money) to understand how standards of decency are accreted over time. Imported consumer goods from the United States into Mexico, many of them second-hand, thus become part of an internal political debate and struggle within Mexico, and are not generally treated as symbols of the United States in an overt way. Contains very detailed ethnographic documentation on material culture, standards of living, and paths of acquisition.