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The concept of structural differentiation, defined as the capacity of a social system to process a diversity of information types, is explored by means of 13 measures in a sample of rural Mexican families. The measures, ranging from conventional level-of-living indices to scales of food consumption and participation in fiestas, are shown to be interpretable in terms of differentiation. A principal-components analysis demonstrates the presence of one main factor, although one other, called farm continuity, also appears. The differentiation concept is contrasted to cognate terms and a reinterpretation of the classical industrialization-conjugal family association is offered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on literature related to the United States-Mexican border region. The United States-Mexicans border is a point where two diverse cultures meet and intermingle. Historians, public servants, legislators and others who are intimately concerned with the situation have long recognized the region as a somewhat unique area; the concept of uniqueness has been expressed in various ways, depending upon the orientation of the individual concerned. The author of the article informs that the purpose of the guide is to aid researchers dealing with contemporary situations. Within this concept one might legitimately include all historical works dealing with the area, since history is a continuum and conditions of the sixteenth century have had their influence on the institutions of today. But it would be manifestly impossible to include all historical writing on the area, and as a consequence an arbitrary line of distinction has been set; with few exceptions, and then only if the work is particularly applicable, the guide includes material dealing only with the period after Mexican independence.