--- In ranchos@yahoogroups.com, Alicia Carrillo <alliecar@p...> wrote:
>
> Victor,
>    
>   I have taken these quotes from pages xxvii. 
>    
>   En los ultimos años del siglo muchos de los hijos y nietos de
conquistadores estaban reducidos a la miseria. Formaban o pretendian
formar una especie de aristocracia que desdeñaba todo comercio,
granjeria o trabajo honesto y faltandoles ya las encomiendas, se
alampaban a los empleos con tal furia que no dejaban respirar a los
virreyes y aun sofocaban a la corte con diluvio de memoriales y
relaciones de meritos.
>    

Alicia,

I have read the same type of thing/behavior in books in English,
specifically in "Miners and Merchants in Bourbon Mexico, 1763-1810" by
D.A. Brading (Cambridge University Press). The gachupines would be
willing to work but their offspring would consider themselves
self-styled nobility. This must have gone on for centuries as
successive waves of Spanish immigrants came to Mexico; authors have
argued that it is one of the reasons why there was no economic
stability in Mexico for much time; obviously there were many other
factors. e.g. poor land, no infrastructure (rivers, etc) for transport
to markets.

The quote that I have mentioned before summarizes what you have said:
"Father a merchant, son a gentleman, grandson a beggar."

Ed