ABSTRACT
The main aim of this chapter is to describe the methodology used in two independently run studies of the social agents involved in land and property development in Mexico.1 Unlike those who pursue neoclassical studies, we are interested in historical processes and trends (see Fitzwilliam 1991 for a discussion of the relative merits of neoclassical and Marxist approaches). The proposal here is that the study of land and property markets is too broad a topic to consider in isolation from other factors and without proper account being taken of the urban process as a whole. Furthermore, the contention developed in this chapter is that the form this process takes is determined by many political, economic and ideological factors that change in the course of time. In our approach, an important rôle has been given to the social relations (such as negotiations and struggles) between different groups (Ball et al. 1985) and to the search for profit in different “circuits of capital accumulation” (Harvey 1985, Ward 1989b). It needs to be stressed, however, that the findings presented are insights rather than incontrovertible conclusions. Only those findings necessary to illustrate the methodology are presented here, along with a self-assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of our work directed specifically at the methodology used.
