Abstract 

　　This article, from a deductive perspective, assumes the need to analyze and understand the most outstanding debates about the nature and functioning of State (currents closely linked to the Marxist sociology of State) and its links with certain economic and political guidelines, which, to a great extent, define the public policies that are legislated and executed in the national territory. In this sense, this research addresses the contributions of the following approaches: the structuralist current, the derivation current, the regulation current, and the Marxist dependency current. The conclusions presented at the end of this article are synthesized in understanding State as a social relationship of domination; understand the links and connections between social classes, their factions and State; and to observe how in all the selected approaches an attempt to interpret the functions of State in general and public policies is manifested in an ostensible way. 

　　Keywords: States; public policies; social classes; Marxist sociology; Latin America 

　　From: Critique 2023 51 (2-3) 

　　Editor: Wang Yi