**3.3. The detachment of the "ethnicity" variable from the historical and social context**

A second argument in sociobiological studies to be challenged is that the "European ancestry" variable appears detached from its historical and social context; as a consequence, statistical relationships formulated with it do not contribute to consider the true problem posed by the fact that a white minority, those with a European ancestry, in some Latin-American countries, show better cognitive abilities and significantly higher income rates than the rest.

If we want to comprehend the relationships between these variables, it is necessary to resort to history to understand what this relationship truly means and contemplate the changes introduced by the democratization in the composition of power in democratic Latin-American societies and which have resulted insufficient to put an end to social inequalities. This is not the place to explain in detail what the links with European ancestors mean sociologically, because this would require a broad and deep reflection, but the situation with the minority of "European ancestors" can at least be mentioned and referred to what is truly significant in current sociological studies: its status in the composition of power.

In Latin America, the European arrival at the beginning of the sixteenth century occurred through a cruel war of conquest. The Spaniards destroyed the old indigenous world and imposed a regime of domination, in which they occupied the positions of civil, ecclesiastical, and military power. The indigenous people were not only plundered but were also subjected and enslaved. After 300 years, the Latin-American criollos started to drive the Spaniards out through the independence war, but this didn't mean a profound change in the conditions of the poor peasants and indigenous people. Independence made way for the development of the middle class and brought a certain improvement in the situation of the mestizos. In Mexico, it wasn't until after the 1910 Revolution that the old rural regime, based on the concentration of land in large private states, disappeared to finally make way in the 1917 Constitution for some of the demands of peasants and workers.

Despite industrial progress, the expansion of the middle class, the considerable increase in miscegenation, and even the democratic advances in Latin-American countries, regional elites have maintained certain ethnic purity since colonial times. However, traits such as skin color and race purity are unimportant in sociological analysis; what truly matters is the permanence of the same elite at the top of the composition of power and the mechanisms that have kept them in power.

The statistical analysis of European ancestry in a network of variables is irrelevant considering the dramatic fact that, despite the arrival of democracy, those who have European ancestry continue to hold privileged positions in the composition of power, and indigenous people (10% of the Mexican population) keep occupying the population segments in extreme poverty.

In this sense, whether in the race or genes, what is to emerge from them is already contained in them. In this reasoning, what truly determines cognitive abilities, the learning develop-

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**Author details**

Laura Ibarra García

**References**

University of Guadalajara, Mexico

Address all correspondence to: 95nubi@megared.net.mx

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