Anglo- and Mexican American Attitudes toward Selena’s Memorialization

Abstract

Using a critical theory framework, the present study examines the ethnic/racial differences in the controversy about Selena’s memorialization. An analysis of a telephone survey of 393 members of the deceased entertainer’s community revealed that overall, Mexican Americans were significantly more likely to support the proposals to memorialize Selena than were Anglo-Americans. The Mexican Americans who supported those proposals were, however, disproportionately less educated, mostly Spanish speaking, and Catholic. Also, Anglo-Americans did support some of the proposals, albeit to a lesser degree than did Mexican Americans. These findings suggest that ethnicity/race remains a major basis of conflict, even over cultural symbols; but, the assumptions of intraethnic homogeneity and interethnic polarity in the United States may have been overstated.

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