A Social History of colonial Latin America should endeavor to trace the patterns of behavior of the various social groups within the society. Group behavior can be viewed from a number of different perspectives. Among the more important variables are political behavior, economic behavior, social behavior and religious behavior. Religious participation and involvement is one of the more interesting of these variables, especially in Latin America, where the Catholic Church has traditionally been a social institution powerfully affecting all others. The Church and the upper social groups have often functioned in a symbiotic relationship one to another, with the Church providing a measure of social prestige and temporal power in exchange for economic and/or political support. This essay, based on a study of 178 wholesale merchants, seeks to interpret the relationships established between the Church and the economically and socially powerful merchant group in late eighteenth century Buenos Aires. At the same time, the essay attempts to illustrate that in studying the religious participation of a specific social group, the role of religion as an indicator of social prestige and power becomes dramatically apparent.
ORDEN INTERNO Y POLÍTICA EXTERIOR ARGENTINA: LA CUESTIÓN DE LOS BIOCOMBUSTIBLES