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Original article: Segregación por apellidos en Santiago: Estudio revela cómo la élite se agrupa entre sí y concentra riqueza, territorio y poder político

Surname Segregation Is Inherited: Research Unveils How Family Origins, Wealth, and Power Continue to Divide Santiago

A comprehensive scientific study analyzing over four million residents of Santiago has concluded that the Chilean capital maintains a profound structure of social and territorial segregation, where surnames continue to serve as indicators of origin, socioeconomic status, and even access to power. The research, conducted by Naim Bro and Marcelo Mendoza, was published in the scientific journal PLoS ONE under the title “Surname Affinity in Santiago, Chile: A Network-Based Approach Revealing Urban Segregation”.

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The researchers constructed two networks using the paternal and maternal surnames of 4,652,933 individuals from the Chilean electoral roll, correlating them with territorial and income information. After geocoding over 3.7 million records, they found that Santiago’s population structure not only reflects ethnic differences but also exhibits a marked socioeconomic stratification. The study argues that «surnames of high socioeconomic status tend to cluster, be more diverse, and occupy a well-defined quadrant of the city,» concluding that the findings «suggest a high degree of urban segregation in Santiago.»

Among the most significant findings, the research identified nine major surname communities. Two of these primarily correspond to Mapuche families, which notably exhibit the lowest average socioeconomic levels. Conversely, clusters associated with traditional Chilean aristocratic surnames, alongside Palestinian and Jewish communities, report the highest average incomes and a strong concentration in the northeastern sector of Santiago.

The study also revealed that this inequality transcends the economic realm and extends into political representation. By analyzing the historical composition of the Chilean Congress since 1830, the authors concluded that groups linked to aristocratic surnames, as well as higher-income communities, have been overrepresented in Parliament, while groups associated with lower incomes show considerably less political presence. According to the researchers, this indicates that political representatives «are not randomly chosen from the population» but disproportionately belong to wealthier communities.

Additionally, the research uncovered that neighborhoods with higher incomes present a much more diverse composition of surnames compared to the rest of the city. In fact, the authors established a positive correlation between surname diversity and socioeconomic level, determining that higher income correlates with greater diversity in surname composition. This phenomenon becomes particularly pronounced in the highest income segment, where the disparity with other areas of Santiago increases sharply.

In their conclusions, Bro and Mendoza state that the spatial configuration of Santiago simultaneously reflects ethnic, economic, and social differences. Mapuche, Palestinian, Jewish, Korean, and Romani groups exhibit their own distinct clustering patterns, while the so-called traditional upper class behaves «like an ethnic minority in terms of their interaction patterns,» a observation that—warn the authors—raises new questions about social mobility and the persistence of elites in Chile.

Published in 2021 by PLoS ONE, the research suggests that understanding the relationship between surnames, territory, and income is crucial for future studies on urban stratification. For its authors, the detected association between ancestry, surname composition, and socioeconomic position constitutes strong evidence that inequalities in Santiago are not only expressed in urban space but also remain deeply intertwined with the social history and power structures of the Chilean capital.

Access the full study:

“Surname Affinity in Santiago, Chile: A Network-Based Approach Revealing Urban Segregation“.

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