Historical Sociology
Here you may download the articles associated with the four strands of historical sociology: social criticism, pattern identification, scope extension, and process analysis.
Social Criticism
Social criticism seeks to reconstruct the past to inform present-day decision-making. This branch of historical sociology is the one most closely aligned with the Comtean ideal, and its antecedents can be traced back to the nineteenth century, with seminal works by Karl Marx and Max Weber. Methodologically, social criticism draws upon the work of historians as well as thinkers who have undertaken historical reinterpretations in order to develop their own, as in the case of Jürgen Habermas. My own work in social criticism is grounded in the thought of Hannah Arendt.
Erik Damián Reyes Morales, "Capitalism and development. A reading through Hannah Arendt's thought", 2023.
Abstract: This paper analyzes the relationship between capitalism and development based on Hannah Arendt thought. To this end, the three major events that, according to this author, led to the transition from the Middle Ages to the Modern Age and their links with the emergence of the capitalist economy as an economic manifestation of modernity are described. The work is divided into four sections. The first three highlight the main consequences that, in terms of the alienation of the world, brought about the discovery of America, the Protestant Reformation and the invention of the telescope. Finally, the last section of the work highlights the contradictions between the capitalist economy and development, as defined by Dr. Edmundo Hernández-Vela Salgado.
Pattern Identification
Pattern identification seeks to recognize social processes with the purpose of guiding present action. It differs from social critique in terms of its scope and methodology, as in this case, the study of processes is conducted at the national or regional level, and comparative analysis across different case studies is employed in order to verify the existence of a given pattern.
Erik Damián Reyes Morales and Edmundo Hernández-Vela, "Palace Diplomacy and Propaganda. A Comparison between Constantinople and Mexico-Tenochtitlan". 2026.
Abstract: This work compares the use of palace diplomacy and propaganda by the rulers of Constantinople and Mexico-Tenochtitlan. It builds on studies of the cultural exchange between the Roman and Sasanian empires from the third to sixth centuries A.D., which led to a diplomatic protocol shared by these two realms. This protocol and Liudprand of Cremona’s account of diplomatic receptions are the basis for comparative analysis. Drawing on Hernando Alvarado Tezozómoc’s Crónica Mexicana and other sixteenth-century sources, this study identifies key characteristics of diplomacy in Mesoamerica. It explores how Mexico-Tenochtitlan employed palace diplomacy and propaganda from the reign of Motecuhzoma Ilhuicamina to Motecuhzoma Xocoyotzin. Through this analysis, we find that the diplomatic and propaganda objectives of Constantinople and Mexico-Tenochtitlan had distinct focuses. The Byzantine rulers aimed to maintain their existing empire, while the Tenochca rulers sought not only to preserve but also to expand their domain. As a result, Constantinople’s strategy emphasized palace diplomacy, whereas Mexico-Tenochtitlan’s focused more on propaganda. Despite these differences, both approaches share several similarities. Both began with invitations, and their protocols included the same components: visual (architecture, wealth, and terror), ceremonial (including aural, olfactory, gustatory, ludic, haptic, somatic, and terror elements), and diplomatic (interviews and gift exchanges)
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Scope Extension
Scope extension consists of applying the analytical tools developed in sociology for the study of contemporary social life to historical contexts. Methodologically, sociologists who analyze the past employ the tools of historians in order to distinguish the socio-spatial contexts of the period under examination.
Erik Damián Reyes Morales, "The Great Flood of the Eleventh Century and the Migration of the Aztec-Mexica and the Anahuac Peoples", 2023.
Abstract: This work relies on the proposal that Aztlan was on the same islets of Texcoco Lake where Mexica founded Mexico-Tenochtitlan, that Teocolhuacan was where Iztapalapa town is today and that the Aztec-Mexica migration happened in the context of the great flood of the eleventh century. Based on human geography, this article aims to take a step forward and test this proposal by developing the migration routes that the Aztec-Mexica and the eight peoples that walked with them, according to the Tira de la peregrinación, might have followed. From the analysis carried out, this essay proposes that these peoples walked south and split themselves in the valleys of Cuauhtla or Cuernavaca. From there, this work suggests migration routes for these eight peoples and argues that most of them came back to the Anahuac Valley because of the high political value of this territory. Finally, this article locates the migrations of the Toltec, Colhua, Chichimeca, Acolhua, and Otomi in the context of the flood and provides a general panorama of the migratory process that this natural catastrophe could have caused. This examination reinforces the claim that the Aztec-Mexica were in the Anahuac Valley in Toltec times.
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Process Analysis
Process analysis is the branch of historical sociology that most closely resembles history proper, as it examines human action in space and time. Methodologically, process analysts employ the tools of historians.
Erik Damián Reyes Morales, "Colhuas and Mexicas. Two Histories of the Same Past". 2024.
Abstract: This paper analyzes the two existing versions in the sources on the period that extends from the Mexica defeat and the expulsion from Chapultepec, to the arrival of Acamapichtli in Mexico- Tenochtitlan. The first of them, and best known, is the one that emerges from Chronicle X, while the second has its backbone in the sources linked to the Codex Colhuacan and the Mexica annals, but it also appears in a significant group of documents, both manuscripts and pictographs, related to the historiographic traditions of different peoples of the Anahuac valley. From this analysis it is possible to conclude that the version that emerges from Chronicle X could have been the reformed history in the times of Itzcoatl and that, contrary to what is commonly accepted, in Mexico-Tenochtitlan two well-differentiated groups lived together, the Colhua nobility and the Mexica people.
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