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Hacienda and market in eighteenth-century Mexico. The rural economy of the Guadalajara region, 1675–1820
220
REVIEWS
more than adequate and the bibliography is excellent. The end notes amount to one page of notes for every three pages of text! University of Ottawa
CORNELIUSJ.
JAENEN
ERIC VAN YOUNG, Hacienda and Market in Eighteenth-Century Mexico. The Rural Economy of the Guadalajara Region, 1675-1820 (Berkeley and London: University of California Press, 1981. Pp. xvi+388. $3040) In recent years hacienda studies have broadened as well as deepened our understanding of this major component of a complex colonial economy. The author in his turn has added impressively to our knowledge of the rural economy of the Guadalajara region. His book has four distinct parts. In the initial section Van Young sketches the physical and human environment of the region, followed by an analysis of market demand. Chapter headings in part one are the essence of clarity, if not elegance: for example ‘Meat’, ‘Wheat’, and ‘Maize’. The core of the book is found in parts 3 and 4 that deal with the development of haciendas and conflicts over land. A particularly good section examines the difficulties of retaining control over family property even through entail. Mayorazgos proved unable to contend with complex socioeconomic forces. The concept that ties the four parts together is the relationship between land use and market. Perhaps the author should have cast his work in a broader context: his reluctance to surrender any detail makes conceptual coherence difficult to find. A ruthless editor might have trimmed at least 150 pages and thus transform the work into a good book. The transformation of a dissertation is never easy and involves the painful abandoning of research material. Here the reader has to plough through a mass of detail which is interesting but out of context. The author leads him into a veritable maze where the ultimate destination almost sinks out of sight. He also assaults him with social-science jargon : the insights of the social sciences should not be wrapped in a specialized language, but must be widely available, A theoretical approach requires more than a mere sprinkling of cliches or the substitution of stultifing psuedo-scientific phrases for plain English. Merely declaring that one is employing theory is no substitute for its actual use. With all the fervour of a recent convert, Van Young announces his allegiance to theory while providing an essentially descriptive study. Scattered throughout the work are references to fair treatment of Indian land claims by judicial authorities, usually accompanied by an expression of surprise, such as “the striking thing”. Specialists will find this a frustrating, yet useful work. While recognition of the link between consumption and production is hardly novel, and indeed has become politically fashionable, Van Young has provided a view of the process in an eighteenth-century colonial context. The impact of market forces on the nature of the labour market, crops, land concentration, and property transfer indicate the fully capitalistic nature of agriculture, even within a secondary region of the greater Viceroyalty of New Spain. Newcomb College, Tulane University
COLIN M. MACLACHLAN
REVIEWS
more than adequate and the bibliography is excellent. The end notes amount to one page of notes for every three pages of text! University of Ottawa
CORNELIUSJ.
JAENEN
ERIC VAN YOUNG, Hacienda and Market in Eighteenth-Century Mexico. The Rural Economy of the Guadalajara Region, 1675-1820 (Berkeley and London: University of California Press, 1981. Pp. xvi+388. $3040) In recent years hacienda studies have broadened as well as deepened our understanding of this major component of a complex colonial economy. The author in his turn has added impressively to our knowledge of the rural economy of the Guadalajara region. His book has four distinct parts. In the initial section Van Young sketches the physical and human environment of the region, followed by an analysis of market demand. Chapter headings in part one are the essence of clarity, if not elegance: for example ‘Meat’, ‘Wheat’, and ‘Maize’. The core of the book is found in parts 3 and 4 that deal with the development of haciendas and conflicts over land. A particularly good section examines the difficulties of retaining control over family property even through entail. Mayorazgos proved unable to contend with complex socioeconomic forces. The concept that ties the four parts together is the relationship between land use and market. Perhaps the author should have cast his work in a broader context: his reluctance to surrender any detail makes conceptual coherence difficult to find. A ruthless editor might have trimmed at least 150 pages and thus transform the work into a good book. The transformation of a dissertation is never easy and involves the painful abandoning of research material. Here the reader has to plough through a mass of detail which is interesting but out of context. The author leads him into a veritable maze where the ultimate destination almost sinks out of sight. He also assaults him with social-science jargon : the insights of the social sciences should not be wrapped in a specialized language, but must be widely available, A theoretical approach requires more than a mere sprinkling of cliches or the substitution of stultifing psuedo-scientific phrases for plain English. Merely declaring that one is employing theory is no substitute for its actual use. With all the fervour of a recent convert, Van Young announces his allegiance to theory while providing an essentially descriptive study. Scattered throughout the work are references to fair treatment of Indian land claims by judicial authorities, usually accompanied by an expression of surprise, such as “the striking thing”. Specialists will find this a frustrating, yet useful work. While recognition of the link between consumption and production is hardly novel, and indeed has become politically fashionable, Van Young has provided a view of the process in an eighteenth-century colonial context. The impact of market forces on the nature of the labour market, crops, land concentration, and property transfer indicate the fully capitalistic nature of agriculture, even within a secondary region of the greater Viceroyalty of New Spain. Newcomb College, Tulane University
COLIN M. MACLACHLAN