Racial and Ethnic Groups: Hispanics Living in the United States
To suggest that Hispanics comprise a single ethnic group is to ignore the tremendous diversity among the different Hispanic ethnic subgroups. Depending on the heritage country, these different Hispanic groups may have very different cultures. Examining the linguistic, political, social, economic, religious, and familial conventions of these different ethnic subgroups helps highlight their similarities and differences. This paper will examine those features in four Hispanic groups: Mexican-Americans, Puerto Ricans, Cuban Americans, and Central South Americans.
Mexican-Americans are Americans of Mexican descent. Mexican-Americans are primarily Spanish speakers, though the language spoken in the home may not be Spanish. Spanish is the official language of Mexico, but it is important to realize that "the indigenous people of this nation - almost five centuries after The Conquest - still speak approximately 288 Amerindian languages" (Schmal, 2004). Catholicism is the dominant religion among Mexican-Americans, though there are substantial subgroups of Mexican-Americans that practice every major world religion. In fact, there is a thriving Jewish Mexican-American population. Likewise, Mexican-Americans are an economically diverse group. Many Mexican-Americans are in the United States illegally and are stuck in the underground economy and consigned to a very low economic status. However, there are also tremendously wealthy Mexican-Americans, who are very upwardly mobile. Socially, Mexican-Americans can vary as well. Like many immigrant groups, more recent immigrants are more likely to place emphasis on their Mexican-American status, while second and third generation Mexican-Americans are more likely to have assimilated into generic American society. All of this diversity makes it very difficult to try to explain the family conventions of Mexican-Americans, however, traditional Mexican-American families tend to have a patriarchal male figure, emphasize the importance of the male, define a family as a married heterosexual, nuclear family unit, and encourage care of elder family members. When one looks at how diverse Mexican-Americans are, it should come as no surprise that they are a politically diverse group as well. Mexican-Americans have recently been associated with the Democrats, though the Republican Party attracts Mexican-Americans because...
according to the results, "in the early history of the exchange, Jewish and German applicants were significantly more likely to be rejected, while Irish applicants were slightly favored. The advent of the WWI in 1914 raised the probability that applicants with German names would be rejected by 10%." At the beginning, the German ethnicity was kept away from labor market discrimination thanks to their significant skills. However, the political and
Hispanics Living in Alabama The United States has a large number of minority groups and the largest among them are the Hispanic population. According to the latest census, the Hispanic population in Alabama now number 75,830. The census authorities in U.S. had coined the term 'Hispanic' to denote specifically the people from 22 countries in Latin America, and living in the United States. The growth of population in this community has
Racial and Ethnic Groups What would you consider the three most important achievements in civil rights for African-Americans since 1900? What roles did White and Blacks play in making the events happen? Probably the three most important achievements in Civil Rights for African-Americans since 1900 include the formation of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 1909. This is important because it showed that African-Americans were willing to
The novel opens seven years after Gabo's mother, Ximena, was murdered by coyotes -- or paid traffickers -- during an attempt to cross the border. Her mutilated body was found, her organs gone -- sold most likely. Because of the fear surrounding this border town and the lure of the other side, all of the characters become consumed with finding Rafa. These people are neglected and abused. Like other fiction
Introduction Assimilation recounts the social, political, and cultural integration of the minority into a substantial, dominant society and culture. Assimilation is used in most cases to refer to the ethnic groups and immigrants coming to settle in new territories. These immigrants often acquire new attitudes and traditions through communication and contact with their host society. Either way, they also introduce some of their cultural practices to their host society(Penninx, 2005). The
As with other Hispanic groups, there may be a greater reluctance to seek professional help in dealing with psychological issues because of a belief that the church, rather than Western psychological medicine, should address such problems. The greater economic security of middle-class Cuban immigrants and their children thus has not meant an entirely uncomplicated relationship with the new American homeland. Puerto Rican-Americans Although it is a small island, the history of Puerto
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