Some genetic studies have claimed that mestizos make up over 93% of Mexico's present-day population, but this is disputed, with many Mexicans, including those of mixed ancestry, identifying more with static racial labels such as "white" or "indigenous" rather than mestizo, and a large number simply identifying as "Mexican," rejecting racialized labels.

[3][4][5][6][7][8][9] The meaning of the word mestizo has changed with time; it was originally used in the colonial era to refer to individuals who had one Spanish and one Amerindian parent.

Although the caste system and racial classification were officially abandoned when Mexico became independent, the label mestizo was still used in academic circles to refer to people of mixed race.

[7] Since the term has a number of socio-cultural, economic, racial and genetic meanings, estimates of the Mexican mestizo population vary widely.

[10] Some modern academics have challenged the mestizo concept on the grounds that census data indicates that marriages between people of different races were rare;[11] arguing that the ideology has incentivized racism rather than ending it, denying Mexico's distinct ethnic groups and cultures.

[13] An extensive caste system assigned a name to each possible racial combination; unlike later definitions of mestizo, in these records it referred only to people with half-Spanish and half-indigenous ancestry.

The system is present in New Spain's first national census (in 1793), in which castizo, pardo, mulatto and zambo are also collectively listed as "castes".

Pilar Gonzalbo, in her study "The Trap of the Caste", discards the idea of a caste-based society in New Spain understood as a "social organization based on the race and supported by coercive power".

[This quote needs a citation] Recent scholarship questions the existence of a caste system and reviewing the use of terms in colonial sources.

According to a journal article, "In the twentieth century, the prestige of authors such as Angel Rosenblat and Gonzalo Aguirre Beltrán, who unreservedly admitted the concept of society of caste, has determined the perpetuation of a myth of social stratification based on race".

[12] Other critics say that the ideology could not homogenize Mexico's races because it sought to "whiten" indigenous peoples rather than "Indianize" whites[19] and accidentally erased minority ethnic groups (such as Afro-Mexicans) from history.

[24] The mestizo ideology, which has blurred racial lines at the institutional level, has significantly influenced Mexican genetic studies.

Typically, older studies have pointed towards a heavier European admixture while more recent ones commonly show a dominant Native American component.

[38] INMEGEN research has found that Mexico's mestizo population is not uniform in its genetic composition, with significant regional variation.

"[40] According to a nationwide autosomal DNA study from 2008, by the University of Brasília (UnB), Mexican genetic admixture is 60.1% Native American, 29.8% European, and 10.1% African.

[41] In 2014, researchers Francisco Salzano and Mónica Sans looked through approximately twenty previous studies done on the admixture of Mexicans.

[42] A University College London study which included Mexico, Brazil, Chile and Colombia, conducted with each country's anthropology and genetics institutes, reported that the genetic ancestry of Mexican mestizos was 60 percent Native American, 36 percent European and 4% African, making Mexico (after Peru and Bolivia) the country with the highest Amerindian ancestry of the five sample populations however this mostly used individuals from the southern part of Mexico with little representation of the north, which comprises a significant portion of the population.

The reason for the discrepancy between phenotypical traits and genetic ancestry may lie in the low African contribution in the Mexican population compared with that of Brazil and Colombia.

European admixture was found to be about 70 percent on average for mestizos in one report in which they're suggested to be at a higher socioeconomic level, however, this data was published in 1978, which could make the findings outdated.

[32] A 2011 autosomal DNA study conducted in Mexico City with 1,310 samples indicated that the average proportion of Native American, European, and African ancestry for the population was 64, 32 and four percent, respectively.

[34] States participating in the study where Aguascalientes, Chiapas, Chihuahua, Durango, Guerrero, Jalisco, Oaxaca, Sinaloa, Veracruz and Yucatán.

The history of Mexican mestizo music dates back to the mid-nineteenth century arrival of piston brass instruments, when communities tried to imitate military bands.

Europe introduced other meats (such as pork, goat, and sheep), dairy products (especially cheese and milk), and rice into Mexican cuisine.