According to Beezley's Judas at the Jockey Club, how did progress and modernity change the Mexican culture during the 1800s? Please describe the...

In the
late 1800s, the United States and Britain (as well as some other European countries) had
achieved levels of progress and modernity that the Mexican elite wanted to emulate. This was
difficult because traditional Mexican society was more rural and at odds with modernization.
William Beezley addresses progress mostly in the area of sports. I'll give you some
examples.

In 1869, bicycling experienced a sharp spike in popularity among
upper-class Mexicans. Americans actually had bicycling clubs at this point, and Mexicans
followed suit. Briefly, an ordinance was filed that banned certain types of bikes, but it was
repealed after one of the clubs created a petition and took it to the president.

Bicycling had many benefits: It served as an opportunity to bring people together from
Mexico, America, England, France, and many other countriesthey joined clubs and competed with
each other. Bicycles taught riders the skills necessary for maintaining and repairing their
bikes, and they provided a source of exercise as well as entertainment.

The
government had to adapt to the prevalence of bikes in society by creating laws to protect them
from theft and to change traffic laws so that riders would be kept safe from injury. In terms of
who advocated thisreally, it was the Mexican public. They enjoyed the freedom that bike riding
gave them, and they took action with their petition to make sure it continued to be
possible.

Other sports were popular in the late-1800s as well. It's important
to note that Porfirio Diaz was president during this time, and one of his goals was to improve
Mexico's reputation among other countries. One of the ways he did this was to regulate and cut
down on bullfightingalthough it was a popular sport, it was viewed negatively by other
countries.

However, most citizens were eager to adopt foreign sports such as
baseball (which was popular in America) or cricket (which was popular in Britain). Boxing and
hiking were also favored, and the Jockey Clubbased around racehorses and placing betswas created
in the late 1800s as well.

Although the president did advocate this, the
public was eager to adopt these different sports on their own. Having such a wide variety of
sports allowed for more interaction with foreigners in much the same way that bicycles did, and
it opened the door for further progress in other areas.