Three Discursive Mechanisms: Racial and Ethnic Socialization in Middle-Class Latina/o Families

• In Event: 1571 - Contemporary Latina/o Racialization

Abstract

Previous research on familial childrearing and socialization mainly focuses on unidirectional approaches where both parents provide the same messages about race and culture to children. Using 27 semi-structured interviews with middle-class, Latina/o young adults, parents, and siblings, I develop a conceptual framework called a multiple messages approach to study family childrearing and socialization. I argue that racial and ethnic socialization should be analyzed as a process that relies on multiple messages about race and ethnicity that vary in content (preparation for bias/racial literacy, promotion of mistrust, mainstream socialization, and ethnic socialization), in the direction and source of the messages (parent to child, extended family members to child, and child to parents and extended family members) and in the intention of messages (implicit and explicit). I find that Latina/os engage in a multiple message approach through three mechanisms that have been understudied in the familial childrearing and socialization literature: 1) feedback loop of messages and practices, 2) parental disagreement in messages and practices, and 3) parent-extended family disagreement in messages and practices. This research highlights the heterogeneity of socialization mechanisms among Latina/os of the same social class.

Author

• Maria D. Duenas, University of California-Merced