Mexican Americans

• Date: 01 March 1981
• Author: Joan W. Moore,Harry P. Pachon
• Published date: 01 March 1981
• DOI: 10.1177/000271628145400110
• Subject Matter: Articles

111

Mexican

Americans

By

HARRY

P.

PACHON

AND

JOAN

W.

MOORE

Harry

P.

Pachon,

Ph.D.,

is

administrative

assistant

to

Congressman

Edward

R.

Roybal,

chairman

of

the

Congressional

Hispanic

Caucus.

He

is

the

editor

of

the

National

Association

of

Latino

Elected

and

Appointed

Officials’

(NALEO)

Washington

Report.

He

has

been

a

National

Edowment

for

the

Humanities

Post-

doctoral

Research

Fellow

and

his

principal

teaching

positions

have

been

at

Michigan

State

University

and

Loyola

University

in

Los

Angeles.

Joan

W.

Moore,

Ph.D.,

is

a

professor

of

sociology

at

the

University

of Wisconsin,

Milwaukee.

She

is

an

author

of

The

Mexican

American

People

and

Mexican

Americans.

Her

work

Homeboys:

Gangs,

Drugs

and

Prisons

in

the

Barrios

of

Los

Angeles

won

the

American

Sociological

Association

Spivak

Award

in

1979.

Her

research

is

conducted

in

conjunction

with

the

Chicano

Pinto

Research

Project,

a

community-based

research

group

in

eastern

Los

Angeles.

ABSTRACT:

Mexican

Americans’

rapid

growth

and

com-

plexity

compel

awareness

of

this

huge

and

often

overlooked

minority.

Mexican

Americans

defy

Census

classification

and

color

differentiation,

departing

sharply

from

the

character-

istics

of

either

European

immigrants

or

black

Americans.

Such

factors

as

settlement

patterns,

sharp

discrimination

and

segregation,

a

historical

lack

of

political

opportunities,

and

depressed

economic

circumstances

have

made

Mexican

Americans

one

of

the

most

distinctive

groups

in

America

today.

Demographically,

Mexican

Americans

are

highly

ur-

banized,

young,

disproportionately

blue

collar,

and

poor.

Occupational

gains

are

sluggish,

with

great

sensitivity

to

changing

economic

conditions.

Occupational

mobility

is

so

slow

that

it

offers

convincing

evidence

of

a

"dual

labor

market,"

trapping

succeeding

generations

of

Mexican

Ameri-

cans.

High

immigration,

poor

education-particularly

in

Texas—language

barriers,

and

divisive

issues

of bilingualism

and

biculturalism

guarantee

that

many

Mexican

Americans

will

continue

to

experience

poverty

in

the

future.

A

hopeful

sign

for

the

future

is

the

high

level

of

political

activity,

both

real

and

potential,

now

present

in

this

community.