Constructing Identities in Mexican-American Political Organizations: Choosing Issues, Taking Sides

2. Constructing Identities in Mexican-American Social Movement Organizations

2. Constructing Identities in Mexican-American Social Movement Organizations Social identity is an understanding of ourselves and of who other people are, and, reciprocally, other people’s understanding of themselves and others (Jenkins : ). Political identity is also a process by which individuals and groups are distinguished in their social relations with other individuals and groups. It is the systematic establishment and signification of relationships of similarity and difference. Identities do not cause behavior, but they influence action by helping define social situations and the quality of the actors with whom the individual comes into contact. Identities provide frames of reference through which political actors can initiate, maintain, and structure relationships with other groups and individuals (Cronin ).Through the construction of racial identities, activists situate themselves in support of, or opposition to, Anglodominated society by critiquing and/or endorsing existing social structures. Often minority political identities are portrayed in essentialist terms when characterized as radical working-class opposition to the dominant economic structures of society (Epstein ; Adam ). Such generalizations have intuitive appeal. Ethnic and racial minorities are largely poor, working-class people, and it is reasonable to claim that their interests lie in gaining a larger share of society’s resources. Furthermore, redistributing resources on a large scale would require systemic changes in class and racial patterns of interaction. Viewed from this perspective, demands for newly paved roads in the barrio, school financing reform, or the clean-up of a toxic waste site may constitute a radical challenge to the Anglo-dominated political economy (Hunter ). Mario Garcia () assumed this posture when he criticized MexicanAmerican political activists of the mid-twentieth century for pursuing failed strategies. He faulted middle-class politicians for possessing a ‘‘false consciousness,’’ radical leaders for placing too much Mexican-American Social Movement Organizations 9 value on a Popular Front strategy, and working-class activists for demanding no more than bread and butter reforms (–). The organizations Garcia describes did not achieve equal citizenship rights or upward mobility for Mexican Americans, but it does not follow that their consciousness was somehow false. Given the United States’ history of discrimination and use of Mexicans as cheap labor, it would be surprising if radical working-class identities did not emerge. However, what may seem to be a wrongheaded course of action to an outside observer could be a carefully considered long-term strategy guided by an informed analysis of U.S. race relations. Some Mexican-American activists hoped to restructure U.S. society, while others proposed a more limited set of demands and understood that an objection to one aspect of American life did not necessarily constitute an opposition to others. Political actors can set unrealistic goals or commit tactical errors, but identities are analytical tools and corrective principles that drive their actions in the first place. I propose that Mexican-American organizations can engage in three general forms of identity building:1 Integration identity: created by activists who want to end racial domination but accept social and economic assimilation into the existing structures of society. A hallmark of this approach is civil rights advocacy, which claims the rights of citizenship but endorses existing institutional arrangements or economic hierarchies. Demands for equality are often confrontational, but the focus on absorption legitimizes other sources of domination. Racial identity: created by activists who want to end racial domination but value and work to maintain distinct racial and cultural boundaries. This identity emerges when activists possess a strong sense that racial subordination constitutes the most powerful and enduring sources of social and economic injustice. They strive for equal and reciprocal power relations, a state of affairs which can only be achieved through independently controlled cultural institutions , political associations, and racially based ownership of key economic institutions. Revolutionary identity: created by activists who have concluded that reform of existing social relations is impossible or that all avenues of peaceful change are closed. An alienation from society is based on the perceived need to build new patterns of social interaction by rearranging social relations, communities, and/or markets . Revolutionary identities can come in the form of separatism advocated by cultural nationalists, radical unionism by workers, or radical challenges to patriarchy by women. The actual content of any interpretive system will vary, but 10 Mexican-American Political Organizations thinking of identities in terms of their posture toward society at large allows for a more precise understanding of an organization’s approach...