Intimacy in Mexican Society over the XX Century

Intimacy is a relatively recent theme in international literature. It is also a difficult area of sociological research since it relates to affection, emotions, feelings and subjective interactions, all of which are difficult to grasp. This paper aims to analyse intimacy in Mexican society throughout the 20th century, specifically in family settings. My aim is to explore two aspects of the ideas developed by Giddens and Jamieson regarding the Western debate: on the one hand, to identify the features of 20th century Mexican society that point towards different types of intimacy, taking as a criterion for classification the balance between the bonds of family obligation and freedom of choice when making those bonds, and on the other hand, to consider whether over the course of the century there was a trend towards increasing disclosure and democratization when building intimacy; in other words, what kinds of intimate citizenships – to use Plummer's term – developed during that century. I accept as a starting point the argument of Jamieson that all societies develop some sort of intimacy grounded on close association and privileged knowledge. Mexican society and family life can be therefore analysed from this perspective. This will be done mainly by reviewing the socio-cultural narratives and norms that moulded or influenced social life and behaviour.The discussion is organised as follows: I first develop some of the theoretical assumptions which guide the study of intimacy nowadays and how it can be applied to a Latin American society, and in Mexico in particular. Secondly, I trace some of the characteristics intimacy has assumed in three periods: from 1900 to 1950, from 1950 to 1970, and from 1970 to 2000.