Propriety and permissiveness in Bourbon Mexico /

First published in Spanish in 1987, this work examines changing customs in late colonial Mexico City to determine whether an alleged "decline of propriety" actually occurred. The author focuses on public entertainments, notably bullfights, the theater, street diversions, and public consumption of alcohol. He emphasizes that royal efforts to modernize New Spain simultaneously maintained strict legal divisions between racial groups. Thus the Crown curbed bullfights while promoting modern "enlightened" theater regulated and censored by the state. It protected and encouraged some street entertainments, for example, paseos, by the elite but cracked down on commoners' drinking establishments and thus promoted compulsive rather than social drinking. The Crown reformed three important annual religious festivities by excluding participation by the capital's large marginal population. In conclusion, the author analyzes participation in the game of pelota to emphasize how Bourbon policies fostered efficient social segregation. Changing royal policies, he argues, reflected an elitist and "enlightened" perspective that considered traditional lower-class behavior a "decline of propriety." This fascinating examination of social customs belongs in every college and university library. Upper-division undergraduates and above. M. A. Burkholder; University of Missouri--St. Louis