The act to read is as old as the act to write. Reading and writing are both instruments created by men 5000 years ago to preserve all the knowledge and ex-perience previously acquired and subsequently, to be able to transmit and communi-cate them to the future generations; all this, within the context of the diverse socie-ties in which reading and writing were organized to overcome the multiple dangers they were exposed to. Though the history of reading goes back various hundreds of centuries ago, the in-terest to study this phenomenon from different perspectives, specifically the ones re-lated to its practice, appropriation, modalities, socialization, benefits, places where is carried out, representations etc., initiates at the beginning of the 20th century. This was due to the rise of the sociology of the reading, branch that studies reading and its repercussions for the social tissue. This article presents the genesis and the development of the studies, representations and social practices of reading. It shows the main investigations carried out on the matter in Mexico, as well as the framework and theoretical and methodological ap-proaches employed for its executions.