The Conquest of the Public Sector in New Spain. The Cadiz Merchant Tomás Ruiz de Apodaca and his Friends, 18th Century

This text analyzes the patriarchal network of Tomás Ruiz de Apodaca, a merchant from Cadiz, in order to examine strategies of upward mobility, political influence and bureaucratic intervention in the Spanish colonies. Access to employment, an old subject for institutional historiography, is enriched...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor: Hausberger, Bernd
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2007
País:México
Institución:EL COLEGIO DE MÉXICO
Repositorio:Historia Mexicana
Idioma:español
OAI Identifier:oai:oai.historiamexicana.colmex.mx:article/1593
Acceso en línea:https://historiamexicana.colmex.mx/index.php/RHM/article/view/1593
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Cádiz
New Spain
Ruiz de Apodaca
merchants
patriarchal networks
18th Century
Nueva España
comerciantes
redes patrialcales
siglo XVIII
Descripción
Sumario:This text analyzes the patriarchal network of Tomás Ruiz de Apodaca, a merchant from Cadiz, in order to examine strategies of upward mobility, political influence and bureaucratic intervention in the Spanish colonies. Access to employment, an old subject for institutional historiography, is enriched with an analysis of the complex ties of reciprocity, loyalty and protection offered by Ruiz de Apodaca in order to weave the network of relationships needed to allow him to operate over a wide geographic area and at a variety of levels of power and bureaucratic decision-making. By examining ethnic background, kinship (both consanguineous and by affinity), the coordinated actions of professional intermediaries and corruption, we can see how the networks and bureaucratic institutions of the old regime were articulated through informal decision-making mechanisms based around information, favors and trust.