Larissa Adler Lomnitz – författare

The concept of political culture is young—born from the need to explain the dramatic sociological and political changes that occurred in Europe both during and after the Second World War. The practice of examining the culture of political parties in depth through an ethnographic field study of a country's social structure is, so far, a neglected one.Larissa Adler Lomnitz and Ana Melnick rectify the lack of attention to this area with respect to Chile in Chile's Political Culture and Parties: An Anthropological Explanation. This volume examines Chile's political culture by considering its origin and the persistence of its "grammar," which the authors define as the ability of each member of society to function within social categories and rules. This "grammar," they believe, is what gives character to national culture.Lomnitz and Melnick argue that political parties in Chile are a conglomeration of horizontal networks of friends. Class is perfectly established within Chile's social tissue and is defined by a mixture of variables, including an individual's position in the economy, social network, religious beliefs, and life-style choices. The existence of social class creates subcultural layers in society, and these subcultures create a horizontally organized, class-structured, hierarchical society.In a political system such as this, characterized by its ability to contain strong political subcultures, it is crucial to guarantee the coexistence of these subcultures through the acceptance of a common legal framework or constitution. Respect for this constitution legitimizes the system and, therefore, legitimizes presidential authority. This constitutional respect is especially present in Chilean culture and is perhaps one of Chile's best-known political characteristics.From the tradition of the fronda aristocratica that determined the Chilean president, to the current coexistence of the Radical and Christian Democrat parties in Chile, this thoughtful synthesis of the elements that determine Chile's political culture is a valuable tool for all students of history, political science, and Latin America.

The concept of political culture is young—born from the need to explain the dramatic sociological and political changes that occurred in Europe both during and after the Second World War. The practice of examining the culture of political parties in depth through an ethnographic field study of a country's social structure is, so far, a neglected one.Larissa Adler Lomnitz and Ana Melnick rectify the lack of attention to this area with respect to Chile in Chile's Political Culture and Parties: An Anthropological Explanation. This volume examines Chile's political culture by considering its origin and the persistence of its "grammar," which the authors define as the ability of each member of society to function within social categories and rules. This "grammar," they believe, is what gives character to national culture.Lomnitz and Melnick argue that political parties in Chile are a conglomeration of horizontal networks of friends. Class is perfectly established within Chile's social tissue and is defined by a mixture of variables, including an individual's position in the economy, social network, religious beliefs, and life-style choices. The existence of social class creates subcultural layers in society, and these subcultures create a horizontally organized, class-structured, hierarchical society.In a political system such as this, characterized by its ability to contain strong political subcultures, it is crucial to guarantee the coexistence of these subcultures through the acceptance of a common legal framework or constitution. Respect for this constitution legitimizes the system and, therefore, legitimizes presidential authority. This constitutional respect is especially present in Chilean culture and is perhaps one of Chile's best-known political characteristics.From the tradition of the fronda aristocratica that determined the Chilean president, to the current coexistence of the Radical and Christian Democrat parties in Chile, this thoughtful synthesis of the elements that determine Chile's political culture is a valuable tool for all students of history, political science, and Latin America.

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.

Networks and Marginality: Life in a Mexican Shantytown describes the life and survival of economically marginal or poor people in Cerrada del Cóndor, a shantytown of about 200 houses in the southern part of Mexico City. The field work is carried out between 1969 and 1971 using combined anthropological and quantitative methods. This book is composed of 10 chapters and begins with an overview of the theoretical concepts essential for an adequate comprehension of the later chapters, followed by a summary of the development and evolution of Mexico City as they relate to Cerrada del Cóndor. Considerable chapters examine the migration process, the economy, the family and kinship patterns, and the reciprocity networks and associated mechanisms of survival value in the shantytown. The remaining chapters discuss some of the relevant theoretical points raised by the findings, including the reciprocity, the confianza concept, and the importance of informal economic exchange in complex urban societies. This book will prove useful to economists, anthropologists, social scientists, and researchers.