Urban and rural family in New Spain 18th century

Abstract

Given the differences between rural and urban life in the viceroyalty of New Spain, was family an active agent in the changes of modernity? In what terrains do we appreciate it? The problem lies in identifying the avenues of change. My starting point is the recognition of a stratified system in crisis, whose natural process of debilitation was interrupted by laws that had the purpose of reinforcing it. As is often the case in history, several forces concurred and contributed to policies and good intentions having results that nobody had wished for, or even imagined. I have sought to define the actors who, in different environments, faced the dilemma of choosing between the values of the past, or the promises of well-being of an uncertain future. The documentary sources have shown how the legislations and their infringement traced the routes of the conflict. Finally, the changes began to be felt precisely in cities, and in aspects that had not been considered: far from strengthening ancient differences, a new society was formed in which wealth and profession mattered more than the origin of the ancestors. The effects of the reforms began to be felt in the cities, in aspects that had not been considered. Far from strengthening ancient differences, a new society was formed in which wealth and profession mattered more than the origin of the ancestors.