Brown picket fences

Abstract

In 2000, Latinos superseded blacks as the largest racial/ethnic minority group in the US, comprising nearly 13 percent of the US population, and by 2050, demographers estimate that their population will have reached 25 percent. Given the size and growth of the Latino population, an important sociological concern is the extent to which the adult children of Latino immigrants incorporate into the US social structure. Focusing on the largest ethnic Latino group, Mexicans (and specifically, the Mexican middle class), this article studies one aspect of the incorporation process — the extent to which they `give back' to co-ethnics. Based on 40 face-to-face, in-depth interviews with 1.5- and second-generation middle-class Mexicans, the study finds that those who grew up poor and achieved middle-class status within one generation exhibit a collectivist orientation, and `give back' to poorer kin, co-ethnics and the larger ethnic community. By contrast, those who grew up in middle-class households adopt an individualistic orientation, and display patterns of giving back that closely resemble those of white, middle-class nuclear families.