Horizontal and Vertical Relations and the Social Structure of Urban Mexico

Abstract

There are two principal approaches to understanding social structure. One approach, exemplified by social class analysis, consists of postulating an ideal model of class positions and then mapping social reality onto this model. The result is a set of structural relationships that explain, or seem to explain, the positions taken by various social groups at different times. This approach is therefore also an interpretation of politics, in the sense that actions and positions are judged relevant or irrelevant to the extent that they match or fail to match the expected behavior of social classes according to the ideal model.