Latino Urban Ethnography and the Work of Elena Padilla

Preface

Preface This study is about comparative acculturation and assimilation. It is an attempt to depict in general terms processes by means of which ethnic1 groups become integrated into the social and cultural life of the larger communities where they settle, with particular reference to what has happened to some of the ethnics in American industrial communities. The basic problems of this study are, however, limited to the analyses of the main observable similarities and differences found between immigrants and ethnics who settle in “colonies,” in comparison to those who settle scattered along the larger American communities. The two-fold factors of “size of the ethnic group” and “ecological distribution” are analyzed as basic axes influencing, modifying , and, to a large extent, shaping the acculturation and assimilation of ethnics in American society. The Puerto Rican immigrants in the city of Chicago, who compose a relatively small number of individuals, were selected as type-immigrants for the analysis of that aspect of the problem dealing with immigrants living in relative isolation from each other.The Puerto Ricans in New York City, who compose comparatively a much larger population than the Puerto Ricans in Chicago, and who are ecologically distributed in the city of New York in “colonies”or districts of major concentration of Puerto Ricans, were selected for comparative purposes. Differentials between Puerto Rican immigrants in both Chicago and New York to Puerto Ricans in the homeland are identified and analyzed with reference to a discussion on the backgrounds of the Puerto Rican immigrants. Summaries of data on the Mexican immigrants in South Chicago and the Italian immigrants in New York City are presented to provide further comparisons on ethnic acculturation and assimilation in urban America. Note 1. “Ethnic”is a classificatory term applied to members of a cultural or racial group within a larger society. In this thesis the term “ethnic” is used with special reference to the cultural and racial groups deviant from the dominant American society. 32 elena padilla ...