Full Citation
Title: Racial Identity and Racial Treatment of Mexican Americans
Citation Type: Journal Article
Publication Year: 2012
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Abstract: How racial barriers play in the experiences of Mexican Americans has been hotly debated. Some consider Mexican Americans similar to European Americans of a century ago that arrived in the United States with modest backgrounds but were eventually able to participate fully in society. In contrast, others argue that Mexican Americans have been racialized throughout U.S. history, and this limits their participation in society. The evidence of persistenteducational disadvantages across generations and frequent reports of discrimination and stereotyping supportsthe racialization argument. In this paper, we explorethe ways in which race plays a role in the lives of MexicanAmericans by examining how education, racial characteristics, social interactions, relate to racial outcomes. We use the Mexican American Study Project, a unique data set based on a 1965 survey of Mexican Americans in Los Angeles and San Antonio combined with surveys of thesame respondents and their adult children in 2000, therebycreating a longitudinal and intergenerational data set. First, we found that darker Mexican Americans, thereforeappearing more stereotypically Mexican, report moreexperiences of discrimination. Second, darker men reportmuch more discrimination than lighter men and thanwomen overall. Third, more educated Mexican Americansexperience more stereotyping and discrimination than theirless educated counterparts, which is partly due to theirgreater contact with whites. Lastly, having greater contactwith whites leads to experiencing more stereotyping anddiscrimination. Our results are indicative of the ways inwhich Mexican Americans are racialized in the United States.
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Authors: Ortiz, Vilma; Telles, Edward
Periodical (Full): Race and Social Problems
Issue: 1
Volume: 4
Pages: 41-56
Data Collections: IPUMS USA
Topics: Race and Ethnicity
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