His work concerns itself with the ontology of the Mexican nation. He sees the "pelado", the "urban bum" of the 1920s and 1930s, as "the most elemental and clearly defined expression of national character". The machismo of the pelado, he argues, is the result of an inferiority complex (based on Alfred Adler's concept) and, since the pelado represents the entire country, the "character study" is extended to all of Mexico, and was one of the first post-Revolutionary attempts to define and assess the national character.