¿Qué creen? No soy chismoso pero…. Mexican gossip: Affiliation or self-interest?

Abstract

Whilst being taken more seriously, especially in anthropological and sociological studies, gossip is still often regarded trivial and of little academic research interest. Given that it is unstoppable, persistent and often enjoyable (Epstein, 2011), gossip has been examined in terms of function (e.g. talk about intimate matters to express shared values) and as a form of communication *for example, to express resistance (Goodman & Ben-Ze’ev, 1994). In this chapter, I examine the importance of gossip in the Mexican context.

In Mexico, gossip has been examined in terms of function e.g. (Hagene, 2010), situation (Vázquez Garcia y Chávez Arellano, 2008) and resistance (Vázquez García 2007). I, however, study gossip from sociological-anthropological, social psychological and individual perspectives and evaluate how it is used to achieve affiliation and autonomy.