Police state or good governance and mechanisms for social control in the province of sonsonate (1785- 1819)

Abstract

During the late colonial period, in the province of Sonsonate, like the rest of the territories under the control of the Spanish monarchy, there were a great deal of multiracial exchanges, not only between the Spanish and Indigenous groups, but also, these groups with people of African-descent. As a result, expressions of diversity in society were not only linked to tone of skin, but to culture as well.
Beyond the controlled society the Spanish crown tried to institute through a significant number of laws, the population’s daily coexistence demonstrated dynamics that were less given to being controlled.
The attempt at instituting a police state or good governance implied collaboration between officials and neighbors in order to maintain order in all aspects of life. Nevertheless, given that the colonial society, still entrenched in the Old Regime, was a society of inequality, the corporations that comprised the mechanisms of surveillance and control were at odds with each other in trying to obtain the greatest number of privileges, and therefore the right to enjoy exceptions to the law.
The common people, who were outside corporate dynamics, had their own mechanisms of surveillance. The most important of these has come to be called “neighborhood sanction,” which implied permanent watchfulness over the neighbor’s conduct, at risk of being reported to the authorities if this conduct involved an offense or crime.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5377/rpsp.v1i1.1394