Class and Ethnicity in Mexico: Somatic and Racial Considerations

Based on research conducted during the past twenty years on superordinate stratification in Mexico City and class system of several cities, this article has three goals. First, it establishes the historical origin of ethnic categories that began strictly as racial categories in the sixteenth century. Second, it describes the main ethnic sectors of contemporary Mexican society, their class composition, and the principles of social mobility. Third, it analyzes interclass and interethnic relations and the cultural and racial perceptions they engender. The generalization of (1) apply to the entire country, whereas those of (2) and (3) characterize central Mexico (from Oaxaca to Jalisco and from coast to coast)