Minority Families in the United States A Multicultural Perspective

by Taylor, Ronald L.

• ISBN13: 9780130165589
• ISBN10: 0130165581
• Edition: 3rd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-12-17
• Publisher: Pearson

Summary

Written by scholars who share an identity with the minority families they write about, this collection of essays offers a detailed description and analysis of the historical and contemporary forces that have shaped the structure and the role of social class and gender dynamics of the four dominant minority groups--African-American, Hispanic, Asian, and Native American--and their sub-populations in the United States. The four dominant minority groups--African American, Hispanic, Asian, and Native American--and their sub-populations in the United States are focused on. The multiracial/multicultural diversity of family patterns and dynamics are considered. The similarities and differences between groups as well as the considerable diversity (in values, beliefs, and cultural practices) the groups represent are emphasized. Well-balanced treatment of the role of social class and gender as they bear on the behavior and attitudes of family members of minority groups is provided.

Author Biography

Ronald L. Taylor is Professor of Sociology and Vice Provost for Multicultural Affairs at the University of Connecticut, Storrs. He is coauthor and editor (with Doris Y. Wilkinson) of The Black Male in America: Perspectives on His Status in Contemporary Society (1977) and African American Youth: Their Social and Economic Status in the United States (1995). He has published widely on African American families, youth, and gender.

Table of Contents

Contributors	ix
Preface	xi
Minority Families in America: An Introduction	1	(16)
Ronald L. Taylor
Minority Families and the ``New Darwinism''	3	(3)
Minority Families and the Structure of Inequality	6	(3)
Minority Families and the Theory of Intrinsic Difference	9	(2)
Organization and Focus	11	(6)
PART I AFRICAN AMERICAN FAMILIES IN THE UNITED STATES	17	(60)
Black American Families	19	(29)
Ronald L. Taylor
Black Family Life in Historical Perspective	22	(2)
Contemporary Black Family Patterns	24	(1)
Selected Patterns and Trends	25	(8)
Living Arrangements of Children and Youth	33	(2)
Family Structure and Family Dynamics	35	(3)
Black Families and Social Change	38	(10)
West Indian Families in the United States	48	(14)
Robert E. Millette
Introduction	48	(1)
Data Collected	48	(1)
West Indian Migration	49	(1)
Household and Family	50	(1)
Social Arrangements	51	(1)
Sexual Exclusivity	52	(1)
The Impact of Migration	53	(1)
The Maintainers	54	(2)
The Social Isolates	56	(1)
The Strivers	57	(1)
Conclusion	58	(4)
Headquarters and Subsidiaries: Haitian Immigrant Family Households In New York City	62	(15)
Michel S. Laguerre
Phases of Haitian Mass Immigration into the United States	63	(2)
The Sending Family Household as a Headquarters-Firm	65	(2)
The Immigrant Family Household as a Subsidiary Firm	67	(2)
The Model	69	(5)
Conclusion	74	(3)
PART II HISPANIC AMERICAN FAMILIES IN THE UNITED STATES	77	(54)
Tradition and Transition in Mexican-Origin Families	79	(22)
Maxine Baca Zinn
Angela Y. H. Pok
Mexican Family History in the Southwest	81	(5)
Old and New Perspectives	86	(1)
Global Reorganization and Family Upheavals	87	(4)
Selected Patterns and Trends	91	(2)
Family Structure and Family Dynamics	93	(3)
What We Learn from Mexican-Origin Families	96	(5)
The Puerto Rican Family	101	(13)
Hector Carrasquillo
The Traditional Puerto Rican Family	102	(3)
The Contemporary Puerto Rican Family in the United States	105	(6)
Conclusion	111	(3)
Cuban American Families	114	(17)
Lisandro Perez
The Cuban Family in the Early Communities	114	(2)
The Cuban Revolution of 1959 and Cuban Migration to the United States	116	(2)
Characteristics of Cubans and Cuban Families in the United States	118	(4)
The Family and the Cuban Success Story	122	(3)
Marital Instability	125	(1)
Acculturation, the New Generation, and Social Change	126	(1)
Conclusion	127	(4)
PART III ASIAN AMERICAN FAMILIES IN THE UNITED STATES	131	(94)
Chinese American Families	134	(30)
Evelyn Nakano Glenn
Stacey G. H. Yap
Historical Background	136	(15)
Contemporary Trends	151	(7)
Conclusions: Revisioning the Chinese American Family	158	(6)
Japanese American Families	164	(17)
Dana Y. Takagi
Cultural versus Critical Perspectives on Japanese American Families	165	(3)
Historical Development of the Japanese American Family	168	(6)
Contemporary Japanese American Families	174	(3)
Conclusions	177	(4)
Vietnamese American Families	181	(12)
Nazli Kibria
The Vietnamese Exodus	181	(2)
Demographic Trends	183	(2)
Households and Extended Family	185	(2)
Family Roles and Authority	187	(3)
Conclusions	190	(3)
Korean American Families	193	(19)
Pyong Gap Min
Immigration and Settlement	194	(3)
Family Characteristics	197	(4)
Marital Relations	201	(2)
Child Socialization and Generational Conflicts	203	(2)
Generational Differences in the Family Systems	205	(3)
Conclusion	208	(4)
Rules, Role, and Realities: Indo-American Families in the United States	212	(13)
Bandana Purkayastha
Rules and Realities: Who Are in a Family?	213	(2)
Family Dynamics	215	(1)
Ideal Versus Real Families	216	(1)
Parental Roles	217	(2)
Roles and Realities Between Generations	219	(1)
Conclusion	220	(5)
PART IV NATIVE AMERICAN FAMILIES IN THE UNITED STATES	225	(25)
American Indian Families	227	(23)
Michael Yellowbird
C. Matthew Snipp
The Demography of American Indian Families	227	(3)
Family Structure and Economic Well-Being	230	(5)
Marriage with Non-Indians	235	(3)
Studies of American Indian Families	238	(2)
Role, Status, and Authority in the Family	240	(6)
Conclusion	246	(4)
PART V MINORITY FAMILIES AND SOCIAL CHANGE	250	(51)
Minority Families and Social Change	252	(49)
Ronald L. Taylor
Minority Families: Change and Adaptation	255	(1)
African Americans and the Diversification of Family Life	256	(7)
Hispanic Minority Families: Structure and Process	263	(10)
Asian American Families: Patterns and Variations	273	(10)
Native American Families: Patterns of Adaptation and Change	283	(7)
Concluding Remarks	290	(11)
Index	301

Excerpts

American families encompass a diversity of family forms and patterns, reflecting in some measure the varied and diverse cultural histories of the nation''s ethnic and racial composition, and the influence of structured social inequalities on family resources and processes. This book focuses on minority families in the United States, that is, those families that have historically experienced social, economic, and political subordination vis-a-vis other families, as a consequence of their race, ancestry, or other assumed inferior traits or characteristics. The dominant minority groups in the. United States are African Americans, Hispanics, and Asian Americans. Each of these major groups is further characterized by a number of subgroups, cultures, and nationalities that contribute to even greater diversity in family patterns. Some writers prefer the term "ethnic" or "ethnic families of color" to "minority" as the identifying term for these groups and their families. However, since the term "minority" connotes the subordination of groups and their unequal access to sources of economic and political power in society, the term seems appropriate in view of the historical experiences and devalued status of African Americans, Latinos, and Asian Americans in the stratified hierarchy of American society. This volume brings together analyses of minority families organized around a common set of issues and themes, including historical influences on the nature of family organization among these groups, contemporary trends in family structure and living arrangements, and the influence of socioeconomic factors on family organization and processes, which enable the reader to appreciate significant similarities and differences between groups, as well as the considerable diversity within each of these broad categories, which is frequently ignored or glossed over in much of the family literature. For example, there are important differences in family processes and organization between African Americans and blacks of West Indian origin that are typically minimized or obscured in more global treatments of African American families. Much the same can be said regarding the treatment of Asian American and Latino families in the literature. The minority populations included in this volume were selected to represent the diversity of minority families, from those whose histories predate that of many of the European ethnic groups, to those of more recent origin, and to highlight the impact of historical and contemporary processes on the development of distinctive family lifestyles among these diverse groups. ABOUT THE SECOND EDITION To better reflect the growing diversity of minority families in the United States, new chapters on West Indian, Korean, and Asian Indian families have been added to the second edition of this volume. These groups, together with African American, Mexican American or Chicano, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, and American Indian populations included in this edition, represent more than 90 percent of the racial ethnic minority population in the United States and account for two-thirds of the 28 million people added to the United States population between 1980 and 1992. Beyond updating several chapters for which recent data were available and the addition of new chapters, the structure and the organization of the volume remain unchanged. The exception is the chapter on "Minority Families and Social Change" (Chapter 13), which has been expanded to include discussion of several emerging issues that are likely to contribute to even greater heterogeneity among and between minority families in the United States in the decades to come. One of the major frustrations experienced in revising the first edition was the unavailability of certain data on Asian Indian and American Indian populations from the 1990 census. Although the 1990 census provides a wealth of new data on these populations as a whole, it offers far less detailed information on the various subgroups within these larger populations that would permit useful comparisons over time on certain important characteristics than does the 1980 census. In the absence of such data, some of the finer distinctions between and among groups presented in the first edition were not possible in this edition. Despite this limitation, students and instructors should find this edition more informative with the addition of new chapters and the inclusion of more recent material on minority families in the United States. PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION As the third edition of this text goes to press, results from the 2000 census are being released, which highlight the dramatic rise in the number of immigrants entering the United States during the past decade--at its highest point since 1900--creating a more racially and ethnically diverse society than ever before and more variation in the structure and form of family life. This new edition continues to reflect the diversity of family life in the United States among the so-called minority families, which include African American, Haitian, Mexican American (or Chicano), Puerto Rican, Cuban, Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, American Indian, West Indian, Korean, and Asian Indian or Indo-American families, and account for nearly a third of the U.S. population. Although the structure and organization of the volume remain unchanged from previous editions, we have sought to update various chapters where recent data were available. Despite a wealth of demographic data from the 2000 census, there is again a paucity of detailed information on the various subgroups within the larger minority populations that permits useful comparisons over time on certain familial characteristics than was the case when the first edition of this volume was published. This is especially the case with respect to detailed and current information on American Indian and Asian Indian or Indo-American populations. The unavailability of this information has prevented us from making some of the finer distinctions between and among groups that were possible in the first edition. Nonetheless, students and instructors will find the new edition no less informative and current than were the previous editions. In preparing this edition of the text, I was ably assisted by Danielle Currier, doctoral student in sociology at Connecticut, whose thoroughness greatly enhanced the quality of this edition. I acknowledge her help with gratitude. Ronald L. Taylor University of Connecticut