A Mexican elite family, 1820-1980 : kinship, class, and culture / Larissa Adler Lomnitz and Marisol Perez-Lizaur ; translated by Cinna Lomnitz.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Lomnitz, Larissa Adler de, author.

Perez Lizaur, Marisol, author.

Contributor:

Lomnitz, Cinna, translator.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Family corporations--Mexico.

Family corporations.

Kinship--Mexico.

Kinship.

Families--Mexico.

Families.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (314 pages) : illustrations

Place of Publication:

Princeton, New Jersey : Princeton University Press, [1988]

Summary:

This book presents the history of the Gomez, an elite family of Mexico that today includes several hundred individuals, plus their spouses and the families of their spouses, all living in Mexico City. Tracing the family from its origins in mid-nineteenth-century Mexico through its rise under the Porfirio Diaz regime and focusing especially on the last three generations, the work shows how the Gomez have evolved a distinctive subculture and an ability to advance their economic interests under changing political and economic conditions. One of the authors' major findings is the importance of the kinship system, particularly the three-generation "grandfamily" as a basic unit binding together people of different generations and different classes. The authors show that the top entrepreneurs in the family, the direct descendants of its founder, remain the acknowledged leaders of the kin, each one ruling his business as a patron-owner through a network of clienty2Drelatives. Other family members, though belonging to the middle class, identify ideologically with the family leadership and the bourgeoisie, and family values tend to overrule considerations of strictly business interest even among entrepreneurs.

Contents:

Frontmatter

CONTENTS

FIGURES AND TABLES

PREFACE

CHRONOLOGY

ABBREVIATIONS

INTRODUCTION

1 The Gomez and the Social Formation of Mexico

2 The Gomez in Contemporary Mexico

3 Family and Enterprise

4 Kinship

5 Rituals as a Way of Life

6 Ideology

7 Conclusions

APPENDIX Five Generations of the Gomez Family

REFERENCE LIST

INDEX

Notes:

Incluye índice.

"Translated by Cinna Lomnitz"--Portada.

Description based on print version record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780691077376

0691077371

9780691226934

0691226938

OCLC:

1273306599