Alfredo Mirandé

Hombres Y Machos : Masculinity And Latino Culture

* Introduction * Latino Men and Masculinity: An Overview * Genesis of Mexican Masculinity * Macho: Contemporary Conceptions * Masculinity: Traditional and Emergent Views * Masculinity and Fatherhood * And Arnt I a Man?: Toward a Chicano/Latino Mens Studies * Epilogue

Racial and Cultural Variations among American Families: A Decennial Review of the Literature on Minority Families.

This article is a review and assessment of the past decades literature on AsianAmerican, black, Chicano, and Native American families. The authors report that, prior to 1970, minority families were subject to negative stereotypes which were not empirically supported. In the case of blacks and Chicanos, the family literature of the 1970s represented an improvement because it depicted the positive aspects of their family life. Theory and research on Asian and Native American families remained too limited to make any generalizations about their family lifestyles. The insider-outsider perspective continued to be a source of controversy in the study of minority families.

The Chicano Family: A Reanalysis of Conflicting Views.

Two conflicting views of the Mexican-American (Chicano) family are examined. The traditional social science view depicts a rigid, male-dominated, authoritarian structure that breeds passivity and dependence. A more sympathetic perspective views the family as warm, nurturing, and supportive, giving the individual a strong sense of security. Although the second view dispels many erroneous negative stereotypes about the family, it generates a positive set of stereotypes. After reevaluating these earlier perspectives, a new, more objective and viable view of the family is offered. This view will hopefully transcend stultifying and stereotypical characterizations and enhance our understanding of the Chicano family.

The Chicano and the Law An Analysis of Community-Police Conflict in an Urban Barrio

A case study of a Southern California barrio with a history of police conflict is used to test several hypotheses concerning fear of crime and of the police in relation to support for increasing or curtailing police power and protecting civil liberties. There was considerable diversity of attitudes toward the police, crime, and civil liberties. The hypothesis that fear of crime leads to increased support for police power was strongly supported by these Chicano respondents. A second hypothesis—that Chicanos who fear the police most are likely to favor the protection of civil liberties—received only limited support in our survey. Finally, there appeared to be strong support for the hypothesis that fear of the police among barrio residents is associated with desire to curtial police power. These findings suggest that even among a group of people such as Chicanos, who have been subjected to systematic police abuse and harassment, increases in the crime rate generally lead to greater support for increasing police power and limiting civil liberties, while fear of the police reduces support for police power and increases support for civil guarantees.

A Reinterpretation of Male Dominance in the Chicano Family

Male dominance in the Chicano family is re-examined and a new conceptualization of the male role is suggested. The traditional view of the Chicano family as patriarchal and authoritarian is erroneous and based on unsupported myths and stereotypes held by both social scientists and the public at large. A review of recent research studies suggests that the dominant pattern of decision-making and actiontaking in the Chicano family is not male-dominated and authoritarian but egalitarian. Husband and wife share not only in decision making but in the performance of household tasks and child care; sharp sex role segregation appears to be the exception rather than the rule among Chicano couples.

Labels, researcher perspective, and contextual validation: A commentary

Abstract This essay focuses on issues of the meaning of ethnic labels and the importance of researcher perspective in studies of ethnic cultures. These issues are raised in the context of a critique of a study on interethnic communication whose methodology and conclusions prompted an argument for an emergent view of intercultural communication that includes contextual validation as a necessary component of the research process.

Understanding interethnic communication and research: “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet”

Abstract Hecht, Sedano, and Ribeau (1993) raise some interesting and important issues in their response to our critique (Mirande and Tanno, 1993) of their article, “A Mexican American Perspective on Interethnic Communication,” which appeared in this journal in 1990. We welcome this opportunity not only to comment on their response to our critique, but also to continue this important dialogue.

Quien Es El Mas Macho?: A Comparison of Day Laborers and Chicano Men

This study examined whether the ideology of machismo is essentially a class-based structural phenomenon found primarily among poor and uneducated, working-class immigrant Latino men or an endemic cultural trait and value. We compared the responses on the Mirandé Sex Role Inventory (MSRI), a measure of traditional gender roles, of a sample of Day Laborer (DLG), immigrant men (N = 37) who work in the secondary labor market in menial, low-wage jobs with those of more educated, largely nonimmigrant, men (N = 105)1 who are part of the primary labor market group (PLG) and have higher-wage stable jobs. DLG consistently scored higher on the Traditionalism items on the MSRI than the PLG sample and endorsed traditional beliefs that restrict women’s behavior and/or activities and reinforce the double sexual standard but results of separate factor analyses conducted with two or three components revealed considerable overlap and consistency in the two samples on the various components of the MSRI, particularly the Traditionalism Factor. The diversity of responses between the two samples suggests that there is not one but a wide range and variety of Latino masculinities.

I never had a mentor: Reflections of a chicano sociologist

By tracing the career path of a senior Chicano sociologist, this article attempts to gain insights into the problems and dilemmas faced by minority scholars in earlier stages of their careers. Tensions between the demands of a professional identity as a sociologist, on the one hand, and a personal identity as a Chicano, on the other, are isolated and discussed. It is suggested that this dynamic tension between professional and personal demands, coupled with expanding career opportunities and the emergence of Chicano Studies as an academic discipline, gave impetus to the development of an indigenous Chicano sociology that challenged traditional sociological paradigms and was grounded in Chicano culture and world view.

Hombres Mujeres An Indigenous Third Gender

This article interrogates West and Zimmerman’s Doing Gender paradigm by examining the Muxes of Juchitán, a little known third gender in El Istmo de Tehuantepec, Oaxaca México. After presenting preliminary findings based on personal interviews with forty-two muxes and forty-eight community members, distinguishing between muxes and gays and describing the wide variation in the muxe lifestyle, the essay concludes that muxes are a third sex/gender category that is actively redoing the prevailing Western gender binary as well as traditional Mexican conceptions of gender and sexuality. They are an indigenous third sex/gender category, which is less about Western conceptions of sexuality, sexual identity, or doing transgender and more about retaining the language, cultural categories, practices, and worldviews of indigenous communities.