Evelyn Cokkinos

HIS 127
The Limitations of Racial Domination - Plebeian Society in Colonial Mexico City
1660-1720

R. Douglas Cope
The novel, The Limits of Racial Domination in Plebeian Society in Colonial
Mexico City, 1660 -1720, by R. Douglas Cope, describes the caste system of colonial
Mexico city in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. The sistema de castas was what the social class structure was referred to as, with the Spaniards on the top of the caste, the
Natives and Africans at the bottom, and everyone else in between. The novel dealt with issues such as race and class, economic status, and the riot of 1692 are all discussed.
Cope had stated that race was not the major cause of division between the classes, as there were other reasons for the separation of classes. He set out to study the lives of the “urban poor”, their values and daily actions, how race affected their lives, and how they differed from the privileged members of society. Mexico city, like any other city, had its wealthy areas and its poor areas. In the city you could see the Spanish influence that had taken precedence over that of the Aztec culture.
The separation between the Spanish conquistadores and the Native people, referred to in the novel as “Indians”, was obvious. When the Spaniards took over they were careful not to give the indigenous people much power in fear that they would revolt and take back the land. For the most part the Spanish settlers gave themselves the better paying jobs so that they could afford the better houses and nicer lifestyles, while the

native people lived in shacks referred to as cauchas. There were encomenderos, people put in place to gave Spanish colonists the right to demand work of select groups of indigenous people. This policy was put in place until friars conducting inquisitions saw it as blasphemous. When Antonio de Mendoza was put into power, the encomenderos were stopped and new policies were set.
As the problem the encomenderos placed seemed to fade new problems arose.
People still sought out cheap labor. The population of native people began to diminish because of intercultural marriages, illness, and so on. They thought they could solve the problem of labor by bringing over African slaves. This however did not solve the problem. The African slaves joined the lower rankings of the sistema de castas. Another group that would join these rankings were the children of mixed Spanish and Native descent. Some children who were recognized by their parents as being legitimate were brought into their fathers’ social class, but others who did not belong to either class were put in the low rankings of the caste.
In the cities, people had to deal with garbage scattered around, sewage problems, bad odors, polluted water, and risk of flooding. The poor, or “plebeians” of Mexico City were the ones who had to deal with these problems. Unlike the rich, they had trouble finding safe housing. You were considered privileged if you owned a private home. There were problems of robberies and such, but for the most part the plebeians handled their problems amongst themselves, only going to officials when there were problems between them and higher classes. They did hold respect for high-ranking officials in the society, especially religious officials.

Unlike the elite class, race did not seem to play as big of a role with the common people. One possible reason for this was that they did not distinguish between the races.
The parentage of people was not really looked into, and there weren’t really set criteria of race. In the lower classes of the sistema de castas, things like last names were not as important. Religious rules were also not as important to these lower classes. This is not to say that they did not take part in the religious acts of baptism and marriage, just that they were not as strict with the rules. The records the kept by the churches give us great insight to the backgrounds of the people. Cope had provided charts of marriages and deaths that showed the percentages of identification of the people. While the records give us some insights as to the racial backgrounds of the people, there are still many things we do not know.
Cope goes on to explain the role of labor between the social classes. There is not as much data on the labor of that time; one pattern we can see is that racial groups tended to stick to certain professions. This provides us with some inclinations as to the relationship between employers and their employees. Unfair pay and slavery were issues faced during this time. Like in other cultures people were reliant on a patron-client system for a functioning economic system. This however created an unfair advantage for business owners because they were the ones really gaining from the relationship.
Finally, Cope referenced the riot of 1692. The people of Mexico City rioted against the Spanish rule overall. The riot began because of a maize shortage caused by flooding and bad weather from the winter before. The common people who could not afford the high taxes on the maize were left without corn and grain. As the riot carried on,

officials tried to appease the people with maize but the people were no longer rioting against just that. The higher classes did not know the cause of such rioting, while the lower classes viewed it as being liberating. In the end however, the riot did not solve all of the plebeians’ problems.
In closing, this novel showed that while the elite class of Mexico City did differentiate between races, the lower classes did not. They were all in the same situation so things like race were not of much concern to them. Those above them treated them unfairly in the sistema de castas. Ironically, this was the thing that unified the people.

Reference:
Cope, R. (1994). The limits of racial domination plebeian society in colonial Mexico City,
1660-1720. Madison, Wis.: University of Wisconsin Press.