Chicano Community Research Articles

Chicano youth gangs and crime: the creation of a moral panic

The relationship between Chicano gangs, crime, the police, and the Chicano community is complex. Neither the ‘problem’ of youth gangs nor the specialized police units created to cope with this problem arises in a social vacuum. Rather, both emerge from a particular historical structuring of social, economic, and political relations. This paper investigates how and why a ‘moral panic’ arose concerning Chicano youth gangs in Phoenix in the late 1970s and early 1980s. A variety of qualitative and quantitative data from media reports, interviews, and juvenile court records are used to assess whether it was the actual behavior of Chicano youths or the social imagery surrounding them that formed the basis for the ‘gang problem’ in Phoenix. I suggest that the image of gangs, and especially of Chicano gangs, as violent converged with that of Mexicans and Chicanos as ‘different’ to create the threat of disorder. In addition, it was in the interests of the police department to discover the ‘gang problem’ and build an even greater sense of threat so as to acquire federal funding of a specialized unit.

Honor and the American Dream: Culture and Identity in a Chicano Community.

Thirty-second Street in Chicago. A Chicano community, peaceful on a warm summer night, residents socializing, children playing--and gang warfare ready to explode at any time. Ruth Horowitz takes us to the heart of this world, one characterized by opposing sets of values. On the one hand, residents believe in hard work, education, family ties, and the American dream of success. On the other hand, gang members are preoccupied with fighting to maintain their personal and family honor. Horowitz gives us an inside look at this world, showing us how the juxtaposition of two worlds--the streets and the social ladder--and two cultures, Mexican and American, constantly challenges the residents of the community. Ruth Horowitz is an associate professor of sociology at the University of Delaware.

Status of the Historiography of Chicano Education: A Preliminary Analysis

In the last two decades the field of social history, including the study of ethnic minorities and education, has undergone a renaissance. Historical studies, for example, have expanded traditional notions of the concept to include all institutions that educate, have provided critical interpretations of the public school's evolution and function in an advanced capitalist society, and have shed new light on continuing issues in American education.' Historical studies on ethnic minority groups, and especially Chicanos, have also been done, many of them by minority group members themselves. These new published works have increased our understanding of the process of immigration, illuminated the nature of conflict-racial, cultural, social, economic-in the Chicano community, and provided data on the origins and development of Chicano barrios throughout the Southwest.2 Despite the renaissance in the historical studies of both minorities and public education in the United States, little has been written on the educational past of Chicanos. As

Honor and the American Dream: Culture and Identity in a Chicano Community.Ruth Horowitz

Previous articleNext article No AccessBook ReviewsHonor and the American Dream: Culture and Identity in a Chicano Community. Ruth Horowitz Albert K. CohenAlbert K. Cohen Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by American Journal of Sociology Volume 90, Number 5Mar., 1985 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/228204 Views: 15Total views on this site Copyright 1985 The University of ChicagoPDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

Seminar on the Situation of the Black, Chicano, Cuban, Native American, Puerto Rican, Caribbean and Asian Communities in the United States

Seminar on the Situation of the Black, Chicano, Cuban, Native American, Puerto Rican, Caribbean and Asian Communities in the United States

Review: The Chicago Area Project Revisited, by Steven Schlossman and Michael Sedlak and Honor and the American Dream: Culture and Identity in a Chicano Community, by Ruth Horowitz

Book Review| October 01 1984 Review The Chicago Area Project RevisitedSteven SchlossmanMichael SedlakHonor and the American Dream: Culture and Identity in a Chicano CommunityRuth Horowitz Eric C. Schneider Eric C. Schneider Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar The Public Historian (1984) 6 (4): 140–141. https://doi.org/10.2307/3377404 Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Cite Icon Cite Search Site Citation Eric C. Schneider; Review. The Public Historian 1 October 1984; 6 (4): 140–141. doi: https://doi.org/10.2307/3377404 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search nav search search input Search input auto suggest search filter All ContentThe Public Historian Search This content is only available via PDF. Copyright 1984 The Regents of the University of California Article PDF first page preview Close Modal You do not currently have access to this content.

The school closure issue and the Chicano community: A follow-up study of theAngeles case

The present study is a follow-up study of theAngeles school closure case in which three predominantly Chicano elementary schools in Santa Barbara, California were closed due to declining enrollment in the District. Nearly 600 Chicano children were dispersed to five predominantly Anglo schools. The plaintiffs were a group of Chicano parents and their children, claiming the exclusive burden of the closures was placed on minorities. The present study is an attempt to investigate several adverse effects hypotheses predicted at the trial by the author who testified as an expert witness. Specifically, four major hypotheses were investigated that dealt with psychological maladjustment, academic decline, parental involvement decline, and adverse community impact. The subjects of the study were 50 respondent Mexican American mothers, randomly chosen from the closed schools' population. The respondents were primarily Spanish-speaking and of very low socioeconomic status. Based on the results of a comprehensive home interview, it was concluded that there is convincing evidence that the closures have indeed created a significant burden on a large majority of the children and their families. The long term implications of the closures are complex, but there is a strong possibility that the adverse impact of the closures will increase the already high probability of school problems and failure for the affected children as they progress through the educational system.

Community as Protagonist in John Nichols' "The Milagro Beanfield War"

That John Nichols' major concerns as a novelist are overwhelmingly social is obvious to any reader; he even tells us, in the Author's Note prefixed to Nirvana Blues, that his editor has angrily denounced me as a 'Stalinoid' (ii). His political and social beliefs as manifested in the novels will be embraced or rejected by his readers depending on their own political and social beliefs. more interesting issue is how his primarily social intent affects the novels as novels. In Milagro Beanfield War, the best, I think, of the three novels in his New Mexico Trilogy, Nichols draws upon possibilities inherent in the genre to write a social novel different from most other socially oriented American novels. central conflict in this novel is between two cultures, two ways of life, two views of reality: the Anglo and the Chicano.1 Rather than focus on a single protagonist, a hero, he develops a collective central figure: the real protagonist of Milagro Beanfield War is the Chicano community of the town of Milagro. In creating this protagonist, Nichols not only examines particular social changes but also offers, implicitly, a theory about the nature and processes of such social change. opening epigraph of Milagro What's that little half-pint son of a bitch want to cause so much trouble engages immediately an important issue that Nichols needs to deal with in such an unusual novel: how do we account for and reconcile individually motivated actions on the one hand and collective movements on the other. As we ask what motivates Joe Mondragon to illegally irrigate his dead father's abandoned beanfield, we are also led to another, larger question: what enables the impoverished, weak, unorganized Chicano community of Milagro to confront and temporarily defeat the rich, powerful, organized Anglo establishment. In answering these two questions, we must examine the relationship between individual and social group as it is established in the novel; in that relationship we find both Nichols' theory of social change and his artistic achievement. Early reviews of Milagro praised it for its entertainment value, but only one, by Frederick Busch, took it seriously as a novel. In his review, Busch makes several astute observations, but because of the ways in which he applies these observations to the novel, he condemns it for what seem to me wrong reasons. First, he observes that The novel is not Joe's story, or that of anyone else (53). He is right, of

The Chicano Community and the Redistricting of the Los Angeles City Council, 1971-1973

The Chicano Community and the Redistricting of the Los Angeles City Council, 1971-1973

Adult Delinquent Gangs in a Chicano Community

Most studies of youthful delinquent or fighting gangs have regarded them as relatively fragile groups that terminate with adult status, adult community members' pressure, or increasing socioeconomic benefits. In this follow-up participant-observation study of an inner-city Chicano community, it was found that previously observed gangs survived as their members matured into their twenties and fulfilled their adult roles and responsibilities This phenomenon is explained in terms of the continued marginal economic position of these young men, their continuing commitment to an honor-based subculture in which dependence and lack of domination is experienced as dishonor, the growing friendship and dependency of gang members, and the necessity of masking that dependency by remaining a gang to maintain the respect of others It is argued that the gang provides a culturally safe way for such intimate relations to exist while the members can publicly maintain their identity as independent men of honor

Chicano Community Organizations and the Idea of Ethnic Coalitions: a Case Study

Chicano Community Organizations and the Idea of Ethnic Coalitions: a Case Study

The Puerto Rican patient: some historical, cultural and psychological aspects.

The Puerto Rican Patient: Some Historical, Cultural and Psychological AspectsVictor J. Teichner, James J. Cadden and Gail W. BerryVictor J. Teichner∗ Send communications to Victor J. Teichner, M. D., 145 East 84th Street, New York, New York 10028.Search for more papers by this author, James J. CaddenSearch for more papers by this author and Gail W. Berry1 Metropolitan Hospital Center, New York, New York and New York Medical College, New York, New York.2 Beth Israel Medical Center, New York, New York and Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, New York.Search for more papers by this authorPublished Online::July 2017https://doi.org/10.1521/jaap.1.1981.9.2.277PDFPDF PLUS ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack Citations AboutReferencesAbad V. and Boyce E. (1979), Issues in psychiatric evaluations of Puerto Ricans: A socio-cultural perspective, J. Operational Psychiatry, 10, 28–39. Google ScholarBarron E. and Richardson J. A. (1978), Counseling women for tubal sterilization, Health Social Work, 3. Google ScholarEncyclopedia Britannica (1974), 15th Ed. Google ScholarFernandez-Marina R. (1961), The Puerto Rican syndrome: Its dynamics and cultural determinants, Psychiatry, 24, 79–82. Google ScholarFernandez-Marina R., Maldonado-Sierra E. D., and Trent R. D. (1958), Three basic themes in Mexican and Puerto Rican family values, J. Soc. Psychol., 48, 167–181. Google ScholarFitzpatrick J. P. and Gould R. E. (1968), Mental illness among Puerto Ricans in New York: Cultural conditions or intercultural misunderstandings?, Task Force paper prepared for the Joint Commission on Mental Health for Children, Chevy Chase, Md. Google ScholarGeismar L. L. and Gerhart U. C. (1968), Social class, ethnicity, and family functioning: Exploring some issues raised by the Moynihan Report, J. Marriage Family, 20, 480–487. Google ScholarLauria A. (1964), Respeto, relajo and interpersonal relations in Puerto Rico, Anthropol. Q., 37, 53–67. Google ScholarLewis O. (1965), La Vida, Random House, New York. Google ScholarMaldonado-Sierra E. D., Trent R. D., and Fernandez-Marina R. F. (1960), Neurosis and traditional family beliefs in Puerto Rico, Int. J. Social Psychiatry, 6, 237–246. Google ScholarMeyer G. G. (1977), The professional in the Chicano community, Psychiat. Ann., 7, VI. Google ScholarMinuchin S., Montalvo B., Gerney B. G., Rosman B. L., and Sheimer F. (1967), Families of the Slums, Basic Books, New York p. 238. Google ScholarPadilla A. M. and Ruiz R. A. (1973), Latino Mental Health, National Institute of Mental Health, Rockville, Md. Google ScholarRendon M. (1974), Transcultural aspects of Puerto Rican mental illness in New York, Int. J. Soc. Psychiatry, 20, 19. Google ScholarRodriguez C. (1974), Puerto Ricans: Between black and while, N. Y. Affairs, 1, 94. Google ScholarRothenberg A. (1964), Puerto Rico and aggression, Am. J. Psychiatry, 120, 962–970. Google ScholarU. S. Commission on Civil Rights (1976), Puerto Ricans in the Continental United States: An Uncertain Future, Washington D. C. Google ScholarU. S. Department of Commerce, Population Division, Bureau of The Census (1977), Persons of Spanish Origin in the United States, Washington, D. C., No. 310, p. 20. Google Scholar Previous article Next article FiguresReferencesRelatedDetails Cited byCited by1. Systems Theory: The Case of EsperanzaOnline publication date: 30 November 2020. Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar2. Uncommon Strategies for a Common Problem: Addressing Racism in Family TherapyOnline publication date: Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar3. Institutional racism: An analysis of the mental health system.Online publication date: 1 January 1993. Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar4. Clinical Diagnosis among Diverse Populations: A Multicultural PerspectiveOnline publication date: 31 July 2018. Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar5. The Effect of Race on Puerto Rican WagesOnline publication date: Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar6. Ataques de nervios in the Puerto Rican diagnostic interview schedule: The impact of cultural categories on psychiatric epidemiologyOnline publication date: Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar7. The multiple meanings of ataques de nervios in the Latino communityOnline publication date: Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar Volume 9Issue 2Apr 1981 Information© 1981 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.PDF download

Passion, Submission and Motherhood: The Negotiation of Identity by Unmarried Innercity Chicanas

This paper examines the negotiation of young unmarried women's sexual identities in the cultural context of an innercity Chicano community. Previous work often views the unmarried mother status as unproblematic, that is, as deviant or as equal to a married mother. Values are assumed to determine directly the evaluation of the status of unwed mother, and motherhood is viewed as an instrumental action. This analysis of premarital sex and motherhood suggests that motherhood plays an expressive role and that the evaluation of a young woman's sexual identity is not directly determined by her becoming premaritally pregnant and an unwed mother, but her identity is negotiated. In this negotiation process traditional values are blurred and changed. Here nonuse of birth control cannot be explained by lack of information or irrationality but must be understood as part of the process of developing a sexual identity within a particular cultural context. The relationship between behavior and identity is viewed as problematic and the construction and symbolization of this relationship in a public dialogue is the concern of this analysis.

The school closure issue and the Chicano community

The school closure issue and the Chicano community

Chicano Community Control, Political Cynicism and the Validity of Political Trust Measures

Chicano Community Control, Political Cynicism and the Validity of Political Trust Measures

Chicano Community Control, Political Cynicism and the Validity of Political Trust Measures

T HE NOTION of political cynicism has held a special fascination for political scientists and political sociologists. Conceptual ties to longstanding philosophical preoccupations with legitimacy, stability, and social change endow the study of political mistrust with an almost archetypal quality. As a result, the literature in this field is quite extensive and is characterized by lively controversies concerning the utility of the concept as a measurement of popular discontent.1 Given its compelling conceptual centrality, the study of political cynicism quickly attained great significance within the relatively new field of Chicano politics. Early studies tended to corroborate the hypothesis that Chicanos display higher levels of political mistrust than Anglos but lower levels than blacks.2 Subsequent studies have dealt with the process of attitude acquisition. Here, preliminary findings indicate that high political cynicism is not transmitted within the Chicano family: very young Chicanos tend to be most trusting, but acquire a cynical posture (presumably through unpleasant experiences in an Anglo world) during adolescence.3 The current study represents an attempt to build upon these earlier findings by investigating varying levels of political cynicism within the diverse Chicano population. Specifically, this effort entails an examination of differences in affective and behavioral political orientations displayed by Chicano high school students, young adults on the brink of full civic participation, living in communities possessing clearly divergent patterns of Chicano political influence. Other observers of Chicano politics have already commented on the great regional diversity Chicanos display across the United States.4 Chicanos are

Intelligence Testing and Chicanos: A Quality of Life Issue

Chicanos, like other nonwhite minorities in the United States, find themselves at a heavy political, economic and educational disadvantage, and are one of the major target populations in America's attempt to provide equal educational opportunity. As a major instrument employed by educational institutions in the allocation of educational opportunity, the social activity of intelligence testing becomes an important concern for the Chicano community. That Chicanos have been limited in their educational opportunities and in the enjoyment of the benefits of American society is evident in their underrepresentation in occupations and professions requiring extended education. Our purpose will not be to present intelligence testing as a causal agent in the development of the Chicanos' educational situation, but rather, as part of an educational ideology that attempts to legitimate the Chicanos' educational inequalities as a result of the group's inability to function competently within the American institutional structure.

JOINT FACULTY APPOINTMENTS: AN ADMINISTRATIVE DILEMMA IN CHICANO STUDIES

A comprehensive proposal for an academic program in Chicano Studies for the University of California, Santa Barbara, was submitted to the Executive Committee of the College of Letters and Science on April A, 1969. The program evolved from an extensive investigation of the assessed needs of the local Chicano community, the role of the University toward that community, and the general responsibility of the University to the student community with respect to educational and research endeavors related to the Chicano.

EDUCATIONAL REFORM IN LOS ANGELES AND ITS EFFECT UPON THE MEXICAN COMMUNITY, 1900-1930

The theme of equal educational opportunity was a major concern of the urban Chicano Movement in the late sixties. Chicanos accused the entire school system of racism and insensitivity towards the Chicano community. Schools, declared the activists, used institutionalized techniques such as intelligence tests and a tracking system to insure that disproportional numbers of Chicano children would be placed in vocational education courses or in classes for the mentally retarded.

Learning to be Militant: Ethnic Identity and the Development of Political Militance in a Chicano Community.

Learning to be Militant: Ethnic Identity and the Development of Political Militance in a Chicano Community.