Hispanic Americans
Name
Institution
Hispanic Americans
Introduction
Hispanic Americans originated from six different nations. The Central American people are comprised of the indigenous, European, mestizo and Afro-Caribbean populations. The socioeconomic practices of Central Americans resemble that of Mexicans unlike in other groups of Latino. Other Latinos are characterised by decreased levels of education, low income and they occupy unskilled job positions, but there exist recognisable and distinctive factors among the diverse groups of Central American (Marger, 2009). For example, the income of Nicaraguans and levels of learning are high since they work in administration and professional jobs compared to Guatemalans, Salvadorans and Hondurans.
Hispanic American demographics
Hispanic Americans are comprised of the few fast-growing ethnic people. Latinos recorded a tremendous increase in population between 1990 and the year 2000. The population growth during this period was 58 percent, which was four times greater than the growth rate of the total population of the United States (Nickles, 2001). Consequently, there was a heavy rate of immigration as compared to birth rates. Although Hispanics are regarded as the youngest population, their growth supersedes the rarely increasing population of the United States.
Socioeconomic status
Comparing the other dimensions of the society, Hispanic Americans are known for occupying the intermediate job positions just below the Euro-Arnericans. However, Hispanics are far much above the African Americans with reference to their economic success.
Latinos and political power
Latino political strength in the U.S is in its infant stages due to the fact that Latinos are concentrated regionally and their political benefits have been limited to state and local levels (Marger, 2009). Nevertheless, Hispanics have not mobilized up effectively compared to African Americans who have been climbing the political ladder in recent years. However, Hispanic Americans serve as representatives of growing strong political force and this is evident with regard to Cuban Americans and Mexican Americans cases. For instance, Mexican Americans are geographically the most scattered and the largest group. They constitute the most significant political forces among the Hispanic Americans compared to related groups.
Latinos in the corporate world
Just like in the case of African Americans, the duty of Hispanics in leadership in the economy of America has been limited. Only few Hispanics get their way out to leading positions and therefore they are underrepresented in the executive positions. However, research indicates that there has been a rising number of Hispanics who are moving via the corporate pipeline and some have tasted the pinnacle of the corporate power. Additionally, there has been a boom in the number of firms which are owned by Hispanic and this has brought about economic developmenent despite the fact these enterprises are generally operated on family foundations for they are small (Nickles, 2001).
Prejudice and discrimination
Latinos enjoy the status of minority and this has subjected them to discrimination and dogged prejudice which has been targeting the African Americans (Marger, 2009). This creates the need to attend their paradoxical position since they are below the expected threshold of the public consciousness.
Discriminatory actions
Considering the patterns and characteristics of discrimination, this group has no sense of heritage in the legal structure and these actions have been extralegal in the society. Furthermore, irrespective of the fact that discrimination of Latinos is widespread it has not reached the intransigent degrees that most African Americans have been experiencing.
Assimilation
The assimilation patterns of Hispanics have not been similar among the existing subpopulations and therefore, researchers have reported an increase in the degree of cultural and structural assimilation (Marger, 2009). Specifically, Hispanic Americans have wide rate of assimilation and this has been extending from the Hispanos who live in the New Mexico to the main group and finally to Puerto Ricans whose structural assimilation is low.
Conclusion
Despite being the limited group in all aspects of life, Hispanics have been integrating changes which have diversified their way of life in such a way that they will never be the same again.
References
Marger, M. (2009). American and Global Perspectives. In Race And Ethnic Relations
(Eighth Edition Ed).
Nickles, G. (2001). The Hispanics. New York: Crabtree.
