Abstract

PIO MARTINEZ, Juan. The Science of Nutrition and Social Control in Mexico in the First Half of the 20th Century. Relac. Estud. hist. soc. [online]. 2013, vol.34, n.133, pp.225-255. ISSN 2448-7554.

This article begins by elucidating how the science of nutrition became an ideolgy employed as an instrument of social control in Europe. In this context, it takes up the Mexican case to analyze the link that emerged between physicians and the State for the purpose of transforming the alimentation of the population. The objective is to demonstrate the persistence of an alimentary ideology introduced into Mexico during the Conquest and the resulting paradox for a science of nutrition that found itself subordinated to the cultural hegemony of the western metropolises.

Keywords : nutrition; ideology; hegemony; social control; popular alimentation.