The Identity Paradox: Latino Language, Politics and Selective Dissociation

Abstract

Sociolinguists and social identity theorists have found that negative perceptions of groups and/or their language are the key to the understanding, expression and maintenance of their ethnic identities. This study attempts to connect these analyses to politics by using 100 in-depth interviews of Latinos to look at the way Latinos' relationship to Spanish language affects their ethnic identity and political cohesion. It finds that Spanish is an important part of Latino identity, but Latinos' relationship to the language is paradoxical—Spanish language skills are both a source of ethnic solidarity and of social stigma. As a result, native-born Latinos often try to dissociate themselves from the immigrant sectors of the community. This selective dissociation has an important negative effect on community cohesion, and could help explain Latino support for anti-immigrant policy proposals.