Who Are Latino Americans?
• Latino Americans are people living in the United
States who trace their ancestry to Latin America.
• Latino is more accurate than Hispanic.
• Latino Americans have no connection with Spain.
• A majority of these people prefer the name Latino to
Hispanic.
• Latino Americans are a highly diverse population.
Size of the Latino American Population
• Latino Americans are now the largest race-
ethnic minority in the United States.
• The Latino American population is estimated to
be 38 million in 2004.
– They are over 13% of the United States population.
• In 2050 it is estimated that the Latino American
population will be over 98 million.
– They will constitute over 24% of the United States
population.
Percentage of Race-Ethnic Groups in the United
States Population [actual and projected]
120
100
80 Native American
Asian
60 Latino
Black
40 White
20
0
1980 2000 2025 2050
Projected Percentage of Latinos in
State Populations in 2020
New Mexico 55.4%
Texas 40.3%
California 36.5%
Arizona 31.7%
Forida 21.5%
Colorado 20.0%
Growth of the Latino American Population
• Most of the recent growth in the Latino
American population is due to immigration.
– The main reason for immigration from Latin
America has always been the demand for
inexpensive manual labor in the United States.
– Political processes have also been important.
• High fertility rates of Latino American
women is also a factor.
– Cuban American women are an exception.
Composition of Latino American Population
• The Latino American population consists of three
main parts
• Mexican Americans
• This is the largest part.
• 65% of total Hispanic population.
• Puerto Ricans
• This is the second largest part.
• 11% of total Hispanic population.
• Puerto Ricans have been American citizens since 1917.
• Cuban Americans
• This group tends to be different from other Latino Americans.
• The great majority are refugees from the Cuban Revolution.
• 4% of total Hispanic population.
Size of Latino American Groups [in thousands]
25,000
20,000
15,000
10,000
5,000
0
1980 1990 2000
Mexican Americans Puerto Ricans Cuban Americans Other Latinos
Wars that Influenced the Latino American
Population
• Mexican War: 1846-48
– United States increased its territory by about one-
third.
– A large number of Mexicans became American
citizens.
• Spanish American War: 1898
– United States acquired Puerto Rico and a
dominant position in Cuba.
– United States also acquired the Philippines.
• This involved a brutal guerrilla war with Philippine
nationalists.
Territorial Growth from the Mexican War 1846-48
Carribean Region
Revolutions that Influenced the Latino
American Population
• Mexican Revolution: 1910 onwards
– Violence and instability in Mexico caused
immigration into the United States.
• Cuban Revolution: 1959 onwards
– Castro and his followers were hostile to
capitalism and to American imperialism.
• United States was hostile to the Cuban Revolution.
– Cuban capitalist class and much of the middle
class became refugees from the revolution.
• The great majority of Cuban refugees settled in Florida.
Refugees from Mexico Crossing the Rio
Grande during the Mexican Revolution
Legal Immigration From Mexico: 1900-2000
[in ten thousands]
300
250
Average
200 Number of
Legal
150 Immigrants
from Mexico
100 per Year
50
0
19 0
19 20
19 9
19 40
19 0
19 60
19 0
19 0
91 90
0
-1
-3
-5
-7
-8
00
-
-
-
-
01
11
21
31
41
51
61
71
81
-2
19
19
Cuban Anti-Imperialist Poster
Refugees from Cuba in 1980
Total Immigration From Central America, South America, and
the Caribean: 1941-2000 [in ten thousands]
250
200
Average
Number of
150 Total
Immigrants
100 per Year
50
0
1941-50 1951-60 1961-70 1971-80 1981-90 1991-
2000
Contributions of Latino Americans
• Latino Americans have made powerful
contributions to the United States in
many fields:
– Music
– Food
– Science
– Literature
– Sports
– Politics
– Cinema
Luis Alvarez
(1911-1988)
Nobel Prize in
Physics 1968
Cesar Chavez (1927-1933)
Leader of the Farm Workers
Joan Baez
(1941- )
Singer and Human
Rights Activist
Isabel
Allende
(1942- ):
Novelist
Roberto
Clemente
(1934 – 1972)
Baseball Player
and Humanitarian
Henry Cisneros
(1947- ):
Political Leader and Human
Rights Advocate
Secretary of Housing and
Urban Development under
Bill Clinton
Affluence and Cheap Labor
• Basic features of American class structure.
– Huge economic gap between capitalists and
workers.
– Large middle class with high consumption level.
– This class structure relies upon cheap labor.
• Widespread affluence requires cheap labor.
– Without cheap labor food, housing, clothing,
cars, and numerous other things would be far
more expensive.
• The price of many commodities might rise by a factor
of five or even more.
Cheap Labor and Middle Class Life Style
• Without cheap labor, the American middle class
life style would be impossible.
• Universal affluence is theoretically feasible.
– It would require higher productivity and greater
equality than currently exists in the United States.
• People who have other opportunities usually
refuse to do tedious, difficult, possibly dangerous
manual labor.
– Example: How much would college students have to
be paid to make a career of back breaking mining or
agricultural labor?
Cheap Labor and Immigration
• Basic structural conditions
– United States economy requires massive amounts of
cheap labor.
– Huge unemployment exists in many Latin American
countries.
• Main cause of unemployment is conversion from small farming to
export agriculture.
• This generates migration to cities.
• The demand for and the supply of cheap labor are
the basic causes of immigration from Latin
America to the United States.
– As long as these structural conditions continue,
immigration from Latin America will continue.
– Coercive methods will not prevent immigration.
• Especially immigration from Mexico and Puerto Rico.
Immigration from Mexico and Puerto Rico
• Mexican immigrants to the USA came largely from an
impoverished rural population in Mexico.
– For many decades these immigrants worked mainly as agricultural
laborers in the USA.
– They settled mainly in the southwest region of the United States.
• Particularly California and Texas
– A significant share of immigration from Mexico was not legal.
• Puerto Rican immigrants to the USA came from a poor
urban population.
– They concentrated in low wage urban jobs: janitors, garment
workers, sanitation workers, etc.
– Puerto Ricans concentrated in northeastern cities, especially New
York.
– Because Puerto Ricans are American citizens (since 1917) there are
no legal barriers to immigration.
Immigration from Cuba
• Cuban immigration to the United States was very
low until the Cuban Revolution of 1959.
• Immigration occurred in a series of waves
depending largely on the exit policies of the Cuban
government.
– United States government treats Cuban immigrants as
political refugees.
• Cuban immigrants came from the better educated
and higher status sectors of Cuban society.
– Some had economic resources in the United States.
– Earlier waves tended to be more affluent.
Location and Politics of Cuban
Immigrants
• Cuban immigrants settled largely in southern
Florida.
– They established a Cuban ethnic enclave there.
• Many Cuban immigrants hoped to overthrow
the Castro government and return to Cuba.
– Thus they were more politically active and
politically conservative than other Latino American
groups.
– Cubans were a significant factor in tipping Florida
(and hence the entire 2000 Presidential election) to
George W. Bush.
Ethnic Enclaves and Ghettos
• An ethnic enclave differs from a ghetto because it is
economically self contained.
• Property and businesses within a ghetto are often
owned by people of a different race-ethnic group.
– Thus considerable rent and profit flow outside the ghetto.
• Within an ethnic enclave property and businesses are
owned almost exclusively by members of the ethnic
group.
– Thus important economic flows remain within the ethnic
enclave.
• An ethnic enclave can help to launch a race-ethnic
group within the larger society.
– Ethnic enclaves did this for some Asian Americans.
– Cuban Americans are sociologically similar to higher status
Asian Americans.
Language, Race, and the Acculturation of Latino
Americans
• Latino Americans retain their native language
longer than European immigrant groups.
– This is probably the result of continuing immigration.
• Nevertheless acculturation of Latino immigrants
develops with length of residence in the USA.
– Mexican Americans who are citizens of the USA are almost
exactly the same as other citizens in patriotism and
support for economic individualism.
• Many Latino Americans are dark skinned and are
considered black in the United States.
– Such black Latino Americans often emphasize their ethnic
identity to avoid being considered African American.
Latino Acculturation (1999):
“What language do you usually speak at home?”
Only or
More
English
Spanish and Third Generation
English Second Generation
Equally First Generation
Only or
More
Spanish
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Latino Acculturation (1999):
“Is it better for children to live in their parents home until
they get married?”
90%
80%
70%
60%
First Generation
50% Second Generation
40% Third Generation
30% Non-Latinos
20%
10%
0%
Yes
Residential Patterns of Latino Americans
• Cuban Americans are heavily urbanized.
– They live outside of impoverished central city regions and often
in middle class suburbs.
• Puerto Ricans are also heavily urbanized.
– They tend to be concentrated in central city regions.
– Puerto Ricans are less likely to live in small cities or middle
class suburbs.
• Until recently Mexican Americans were much less
urbanized than other Latino American groups.
– In recent decades the urbanization of Mexican Americans has
increased greatly.
– Urbanized Mexican Americans are almost equally divided
between central city and outlying areas.
Residential Patterns of Latino Americans 2000
[percent distribution]
80.00%
70.00%
60.00%
50.00% Inside Central City
40.00%
Outside Central City
30.00%
20.00% Non-Metropolitan
Area
10.00%
0.00%
Mexican Puerto Cuban
Americans Ricans Americans
Segregation of Latino Americans
• Latino Americans are far more segregated than
European ethnic groups (e.g. Germans, Irish, Italians,
Poles).
– They are less segregated than African Americans.
– Currently white people express little objection to living in
neighborhoods with Latino Americans.
• Many recent immigrants and poor Latino Americans live
in urban barrios.
• Puerto Ricans are more segregated than other Latino
American groups.
• Segregation is higher in the largest metropolitan
areas like New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles.
– This may be why Puerto Ricans experience more segregation.
Chicano Protest Movement
• During the 1960s and 1970s an important
political protest movement developed among
Mexican Americans.
– Demanded social justice and equal rights.
– Criticized unjust land seizures.
– Emphasized group pride.
– Questioned the value of assimilation.
• Called itself the Chicano movement.
– “Chicano” had been a derogatory name for Mexican
Americans.
– Allied with the black power and red power movements.
• Chicano movement helped increase the social
status of all Latino Americans.
– It also strengthened the American labor movement.
Dolores
Huerta
Labor and Civil
Rights Leader
Close associate of
Caesar Chavez
Militant Chicano Leader Reies Tijerina
Jose Angel
Gutierrez
Chicano Political
Organizer and
Intellectual
Cofounder of La
Raza Unida Party
Latino Americans in Government
• Latino Americans continue to be
underrepresented in government.
• Although Latino Americans are 13% of the
United States population, they have less
than 4% of the seats in Congress.
– Currently there is no Latino senator.
• Latinos have done better in local
government.
– The number of Latino local public officials
increased by 70% between 1985 and 1994.
Voting Patterns Among Latino
Americans
• Voter turnout among registered Latino Americans tends
to be low.
• In Presidential elections between 1980 and 2000 turnout
of registered Latino Americans was usually below 30%.
– Turnout of white registered voters is around 60%
• Low turnout may result from the relative youthfulness of
the Latino American population.
– May also result from the lower socioeconomic status of many
Latino Americans.
• Mexican Americans and Puerto Ricans tend to vote
Democratic.
– They are not as strongly Democratic as African Americans.
• Cuban Americans tend to vote Republican.
Education of Latino Americans (1)
• Immigrants have lower education than
native born Latinos
– This is true for every national group.
– Difference is particularly great among
Mexican Americans.
• Mexican Americans are the least
educated Latino American group.
– Currently their education levels are among
the lowest of any race ethnic group.
– These low education levels are largely due to
continued immigration.
Education of Latino Americans (2)
• Puerto Rican educational levels resemble those
of African Americans.
• Cuban Americans have distinctly higher
educational levels than other Latino American
groups.
– Their rates of college graduation are still somewhat
lower than those among whites or Asian
Americans.
• Educational patterns among male and female
Latino Americans are not very different.
Educational Attainment of Male Latino
Americans 25 years and older in 2000
Bachelor's
Degree or
more
Mexican American
High
Puerto Rican
School
Graduate Cuban
White
Less than
9th grade
0% 10% 20% 30% 40%
Educational Attainment of Female Latino
Americans 25 years and older in 2000
Bachelor's
Degree or
more
Mexican American
High
Puerto Rican
School
Graduate Cuban
White
Less than
9th grade
0% 10% 20% 30% 40%
Education and Immigration (1996)
Percent with high school education or more.
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30% U.S. Born
20% Foreign Born
10%
0%
Mexican Cuban Other
Hispanic
Occupations of Latino Americans (1)
• Cuban Americans, relative to other Latino Americas,
are concentrated in higher status occupations.
– Their occupational status distribution, remains lower than
that of whites.
• Mexican Americans are over-represented in
manual labor and farming occupations.
– They are severely under-represented in managerial and
professional occupations.
– Male Mexican Americans are also severely under-
represented in technical, sales, and administrative
occupations.
• This may reflect language problems and lack of formal education
Occupations of Latino Americans (2)
• Puerto Rican occupational distribution
tends to fall between that of Cuban
Americans and Mexican Americans.
• Relative to white women, Latino
American women are concentrated in
service and unskilled jobs.
– Latino women are underrepresented in
managerial and professional occupations
(relative to white women)
Occupations of Male Latino Americans in 2000
35%
30%
25% White
20%
15% Cuban
10% Puerto Rican
5%
0% Mexican
American
Service
Unskilled
Managerial and
Professional
Labor
Occupations of Female Latino Americans in 2000
50%
45%
40%
35% White
30%
25% Cuban
20%
15%
10% Puerto Rican
5%
0% Mexican
American
Service
Unskilled
Managerial and
Professional
Labor
Income and Poverty among Latino Americans
• Income levels follow the same basic hierarchy as
education and occupation.
– White (highest), Cuban, Puerto Rican, Mexican
(lowest).
• Income differentiation is steeper among males
than among males.
– All women (regardless of race) have lower income (on
the average) than male counterparts.
• Poverty rates are the reverse income levels.
– Poverty in female headed households is especially high
Households Below the Poverty Line 1999
50%
45%
40% White
35%
30% Cuban
25% Puerto Rican
20%
Mexican
15%
American
10%
5%
0%
All Families Female-headed
Households
Income of Male Latino Americans in 1999
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Less than $10,000 $10,000 - $25,000 $25,000 - $50,000 $50,00 and more
White Cuban Puerto Rican Mexican American
Income of Female Latino Americans in 1999
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Less than $10,000 $10,000 - $25,000 $25,000 - $50,000 $50,00 and more
White Cuban Puerto Rican Mexican American
Wealth Among Latino Americans
• Wealth differences between whites and Latino
Americans are far greater than income
differences.
– Wealth represents long term accumulation.
• The net worth of Latino Americans is only one-
tenth that of whites (on the average)
• Even among groups in the highest 20% of
income, the wealth of white Americans is two to
three times higher than the wealth of Latino
Americans.