Using data from the 1979 Chicano Survey, this study analyzes the determinants of status attainment among the U.S. population of Mexican descent. The process of status attainment is essentially the same for Chicano men and women, although women experience a net handicap for current occupation attainment. Close ethnic attachment, measured by language and association, does not lower socioeconomic attainment; in fact, Spanish competency has a positive effect upon the status of first job. The importance of a structural understanding of ethnicity, rather than a cultural interpretation, is stressed for future research on Chicano stratification.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AcunaR.1972Occupied America: The Chicano's Struggle Toward Liberation.San Francisco: Canfield Press.
2.
AlmaguerT.1974“Historical Notes on Chicano Oppression: The Dialectics of Racial and Class Domination in North America”, Aztlán, 5:27–56.
3.
AlvarezR.1973“The Psycho-Historical and Socioeconomic Development of the Chicano Community in the United States”, Social Quarterly, 53:920–42.
4.
AngelR. and TiendaM.1982“Determinants of Household Structure: Cultural Patterns or Economic Need?”American Journal of Sociology.
5.
ArceC.1980“The ISR Chicago Survey: Status and Plans”. Unpublished manuscript. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, Institute for Social Research.
6.
BlauP. and DuncanO.1967The American Occupational Structure.New York: John Wiley and Sons.
7.
BogardusE.S.1928–1929 “Second Generation Mexicans”, Sociology and Social Research, 13:276–83.
8.
BowmanC.1981“Between Two Cultures: Toward an Understanding of the Cultural Production of Chicanos”. Unpublished M.A. thesis. Madison: University of Wisconsin.
9.
BrawnerM.1973“Migration and Education Achievement of Mexican Americans”, Social Science Quarterly, 53:727–37.
10.
BridgesW.P.1980“Industry Marginality and Female Employment: A New Appraisal”, American Sociological Review, 45:58–75.
11.
BroomL. and ShevkyE.1952“Mexicans in the United States: A Problem of Social Differentiation”, Sociology and Social Research, 36:150–58.
12.
BurmaJ.H.1954Spanish Speaking Croups in the United States.Durham, N.C.: Seeman Printery, Inc.
13.
ChiswickB.1980“An Analysis of the Economic Progress and Impact of Immigrants”. Final Report to the U.S. Department of Labor. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Labor.
14.
ChiswickB.1977“An Analysis of Earnings Among Mexican Origin Men”, Proceedings of the American Statistical Association, Business and Statistics Section. Washington, D.C.: American Statistical Association.
15.
DuncanO.1961“A Socioeconomic Index for All Occupations”. Pp. 109–38. in Occupations and Social Status. Edited by ReissA.Jr., New York: Free Press.
16.
DuncanO., FeathermanD. and DuncanB.1972Socioeconomic Background and Achievement.New York: Seminar Press.
17.
FarleyR.1977“Trends in Racial Inequalities: Have the Gains of the 1960's Disappeared in the 1970's?”American Sociological Review, 42:189–208.
18.
FeathermanD. and HauserB.1978Opportunity and Change.New York: Academic Press.
19.
FeathermanD. and HauserB.1976a “Changes in the Socioeconomic Stratification of the Races, 1962–1973”, American Journal of Sociology, 82:621–51.
20.
FeathermanD. and HauserB.1976b “Sexual Inequalities and Socioeconomic Achievement in the U.S., 1962–1973”, American Review, 41:562–83.
21.
FligsteinN. and WolfW.1978“Sex Similarities in Occupational Status Attainment: Are the Results Due to the Restriction of the Sample to Employed Women?”Social Science Research, 7:197–212.
22.
GarciaP.1978“Specifications for and an Analysis of Chicano Mobility”. Unpublished manuscript. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan.
23.
GarciaS.1979“Language Usage and the Status Attainment of Chicano Males”. Unpublished M.A. thesis. Madison: University of Wisconsin.
24.
GordonM.1964Assimilation in American Life: The Role of Race, Religion and National Origins.New York: Oxford University Press.
25.
GrenierG.1981“An Analysis of the Effect of Language Characteristics on the Wages of Hispanic-American Males”. Paper presented at the meetings of the Societe Canadienne de Science Economique, Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada. May 13–14.
26.
GuhlemanP. and TiendaM.1981“A Socioeconomic Profile of Hispanic-American Female Workers: Perspectives on Labor Force Participation and Earnings”. University of Wisconsin-Madison: Center for Demography and Ecology, Working Paper 81–7.
27.
HellerC., ed. 1969“Class as an Explanation of Ethnic Differences in Upward Mobility—The Case of Mexican Americans”. in Structured Social Inequality.New York: Macmillan.
28.
HirschmanC.1980“Theories and Models of Ethnic Inequality”. in Research in Race and Ethnic Relations: A Research Annual, Vol. 2. Edited by MarrettC.B. and LeggonC.Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.
29.
KuvleskyW.P. and PatellaV.M.1971“Aspirations for Upward Social Mobility among Mexican American Youth”, Journal of Vocational Behavior, 1:231–44.
30.
LoebC.1980“La Chicana: A Bibliographic Survey”, Frontiers, 5:59–74.
31.
LopezD.1978“Chicano Language Loyalty in an Urban Setting”, Sociology and Social Research, 62:267–78.
32.
LopezD.1976“The Social Consequences of Chicano Home/School Bilingualism”. Social Problems, 24:234–46.
33.
MarcumJ.P. and TiendaM.1978“Intergenerational Occupational Mobility among Mexican Americans: A Canonical Correlation Analysis”, Sociological Quarterly, 19:439–49.
34.
McClendonM.1976“The Occupational Status Attainment Processes of Males and Females”, American Sociological Review, 41:52–64.
35.
MontielM.1970“The Social Science Myth of the Mexican American Family”, El Grito, 3:56–63.
36.
MurguiaE.1975Assimilation, Colonialism and the Mexican American People.Austin: The University of Texas, Center for Mexican American Studies.
37.
ParcelT.1979“Regional Labor Markets and Earnings”, American Sociological Review, 44:262–79.
38.
PenalosaF.1969“Education and Income Discrepancies between Second and Later Generation Mexican-Americans in the Southwest”, Social Science Review, 53:448–53.
39.
PortesA. and BachR.1980“Immigrant Earnings: Cuban and Mexican Immigrants in the United States”, International Migration Review, 14:315–41.
40.
PowersM.G. and HolmbergJ.J.1978“Occupational Status Scores: Changes Introduced by the Inclusion of Women”, Demography, 15:183–204.
41.
ReimersC.1980“Sources of the Wage Gap between Hispanic and Other White Americans”. Princeton University: Industrial Relations Working Paper No,. 139.
42.
SewellW.H., HauserR.M. and WolfW.C.1980“Sex, Schooling and Occupational Status”, American Sociological Review, 86:551–583.
43.
ShannonL.1976“Measuring Changes in Occupation and Income: Some Problems with a Cohort of Mexican-Americans, Negroes and Anglos”, Pacific Sociological Review, 19:3–20.
44.
SkrabanekR.L.1970“Language Maintenance among Mexican-Americans”, International Journal of Comparative Sociology, 11:272–282.
45.
SmithJ.P., ed. 1980Female Labor Supply: Theory and Estimation.Princeton: Princeton University Press.
46.
SnippM. and TiendaM.1982“New Perspectives on Chicano Intergenerational Occupational Mobility”, Social Science Journal.
47.
StaplesR. and MirandeA.1980“Racial and Cultural Variations among American Families”, Journal of Marriage and the Family, 42:887–903.
48.
StevensG. and FeathermanD.L.1979“A Revised Socioeconomic Index of Occupational Status”. University of Wisconsin-Madison: Center for Demography and Ecology, Working Paper 79–48.
49.
SuterL.1972“Socioeconomic Achievement among Persons of Spanish Ancestry”. Unpublished paper, U.S. Bureau of the Census.
50.
TeskeR. and NelsonB.1974“Acculturation and Assimilation: A Clarification”, American Ethnologist, 1:351–68.
51.
TiendaM.1981a “The Mexican-American Population”. in Nonmetropolitan American in Transition. Edited by HawleyA. and MazieS.M.Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press.
52.
TiendaM.1981b “A Socioeconomic Profile of Hispanic American Male Workers: Perspectives on Labor Utilization and Earnings”. In Proceedings of the National Symposium on Hispanics and CETA, 1980. San Antonio: The Human Resources Management and Development Program, College of Business, UTSA
53.
TiendaM.1980“Familism and Structural Assimilation of Mexican Immigrants in the United States”, International Migration Review, 14:383–408.
54.
TiendaM. and NeidertL.J.1981“Language, Education and the Socioeconomic Achievement of Hispanic Origin Men”. in Hispanic Origin Workers in the U.S. Labor Market. Edited by TiendaM. Final Report to the U.S. Department of Labor.
55.
TiendaM. and NeidertL.J.1980“Segmented Markets and Earnings Inequalities of Native and Immigrant Hispanics”. in Proceedings of the American Statistical Association, Social Statistics Section, Washington, D.C.: American Statistical Association.
56.
TreimanD.J. and TerrellK.1975“Sex and the Process of Status Attainment: A Comparison of Working Men and Women”, American Socioliogical Review, 40:174–200.
57.
U.S. Commission on Civil Rights1972“The Excluded Student: Educational Practices Affecting Mexican-Americans in the Southwest”. Educational Series Study Report III. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office.
58.
U.S. Commission on Civil Rights1972“Ethnic Isolation of Mexican-Americans in the Public Schools of the Southwest”. Educational Series Study Report I. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office.
59.
WilsonK. and PortesA.1980“Immigrant Enclaves: An Analysis of the Labor Market Experiences of Cubans in Miami”, Amerian Journal of Sociology, 86:295–319.
60.
WolfW. and FligsteinN.1979“Sexual Stratification: Differences in Power in the Work Setting”, Social forces, 58:94–107.
61.
WolfW. and RosenfeldR.1978“Sex Structure of Occupations and Job Mobility”, Social Forces, 56:823–44.
62.
YanceyW., EricksonE. and JulianR.1976“Emergent Ethnicity: A Review and Reformulation”, American Sociological Review, 41:391–403.
