Movilidad y cambio social en la Región de Murcia durante la transición a la contemporaneidad, (~1750~1900)

Abstract

The family, as the epicenter of the social structure of Spanish Modernity, was the means by which privilege, status, power and heritage were transmitted throughout the generations. For this reason, the different strategies carried out by the noble sectors were aimed at guaranteeing the continuity of the House, trying to increase its power, for which collective interests were superimposed on individual ones. The success or not of these strategies would allow them access to areas such as municipal, ecclesiastical, and even the Court and high administration, with the consequent expansion of family and clientele relationships. This present research has sought to address the analysis of the different strategies and instruments used at the end of the Modern Age and the beginning of the contemporary period by several families of the Murcian nobility, who sought consolidation and social advancement. These were: the Roca de Togores and Carrasco, the Buendía Fontes and the Molina Saurín. Likewise, certain solidarity mechanisms used between relatives were analyzed in order to know and reflect on the existence or not of points of cohesion within the family structure itself. A final point to cover was to determine what were the models of social reproduction of the nobility, whose strategies, especially family ones, allowed them to remain at the top of society. Although until not long ago the social history of these families did not go beyond studying them from a genealogical perspective – knowing who they were, their titles, what positions they held, etc. –, we had to wait until the eighties of the last century for them to begin to generate interest from the field of the new history of the family, trying to know the way of living and relating to each other and with other members of society. In this way, the first part of this research was intended to present the historiographical framework of the present research, to contextualize, in the second part, the geographical-temporal space and present the protagonists and their marital and reproduction strategies. social. Finally, the fourth and final part of this Thesis was intended to highlight the role of women within the family environment. Thus, this Doctoral Thesis is integrated into the lines of research on the history of the family, whose historiographic trend has a long tradition within the study of the social, whose current development, like other historical disciplines, is due to advances achieved over the years.