A Comparison of Black and Hispanic Poverty in Large Cities of the Southwest

Abstract

This article documents recent substantial increases in poverty and female household headship among all major U.S. Hispanic groups. To provide a basis for understanding these trends, the article assesses the applicability to Hispanics of the most influential models of poverty, family structure and the emergence of an underclass that have been developed based primarily on black experience. Causal factors in these models emphasize the decline of blue collar sectors of urban economies as well as increasing socioeconomic segregation of blacks as primary factors contributing to growing poverty and the black underclass. On the basis of a review of the literature, the study argues that these factors are less significant for Hispanics-especially Chicanos-than for blacks. An examination of Census data for 26 large southwestern cities demonstrates that correlates and patterns of poverty are different in significant respects for blacks and Hispanics. The article concludes that national social and antipoverty policies needed to stem growing Hispanic poverty may differ from those appropriate for blacks.