Week 7: CheckPoint - Hispanic Group Characteristics Determining Quality of Life

    In regards to Blauner's Hypothesis Hispanics have a number of advantages within the United States.  The primary advantage is that Hispanics have chosen to immigrate to the United States and thus do not fall within the category of a colonized group.  Furthermore, with the majority living within the Southwest United States it keeps them within convenient proximity to their native country.  This allows them to move back and forth as situations, and opportunity, dictate.  Furthermore, Hispanics tend to take low wage manual labor jobs within the United States.  This frequently means that there are typically jobs available that the large portion of Americans do not want to do.  This is a further advantage in that they would be viewed as less of an immigration threat on taking away American's jobs.
    The Hispanics are not truly a full immigrant minority group based on Blauner's categories.  In the minimum they were partially a colonized minority group within the Southwest.  This serves to have them to be more actively discriminated against then if they were strictly a immigrant minority group.  This is further exacerbated by Hispanics being easily identified as being of non-European decent.  A key characteristic that is unfair for immigrant Hispanics is their need to take low paying, manual labor jobs.  In one sense there is a language and education barrier for better jobs.  Some of these jobs are seasonal and result in the individual, or family, returning back to Mexico in the off season.  There are certainly many better manual labor jobs that they could do that would carry superior benefits and pay.  This is probably in part due to Americans not wanting to share their jobs, and job security, with immigrants.

© Erik Smith 2005
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