ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with the social character of the Mexican peasant. It analyzes the interrelations and interactions between his emotional attitudes rooted in his character and the socioeconomic conditions under which he lives. The chapter discusses the basic concepts in investigations: the concept of the "peasant" and of peasant character; the dynamic concept of character and of social character, and the problem of methodology in the study of the social character. The significance of the dynamic concept of character becomes even clearer when looked upon from a sociobiological rather than from Freud's mechanistic-physiological standpoint. The concept of the social character is based on the premise that not only is the energy of the individual structured in terms of Freud's dynamic character concept, but that there is a character structure common to most members of groups or classes within a given society. The chapter also provides an outline of this book.
