Race, Gender and Puerto-Rican Migrants’ Socioeconomic Prestige in New and Emerging Destinations

• In Event: 4346 - Producing Race: The Everyday Makings of Racial Distinctions and Inequality

Abstract

Using nationally representative data and the case of Puerto Rican migrants residing in established and emerging metropolitan destinations in the United States, we examine how interactions between race, gender and type of destination shape migrants’ socioeconomic prestige. Building on the immigrant new destinations literature, we focus on Puerto Rican migrants in the US Mainland in order to explore how intra-group racial and gender variation affect socioeconomic prestige across three destination types (established, emerging, and other). Data come from 5-year pooled cross-sections of the American Community Survey. Using multinomial logistic and OLS regression models we find that race and gender are strongly associated with Puerto Rican migrants’ overall socioeconomic prestige, with White Hispanic men enjoying relatively greater prestige than women, as well as Black and Other Race men and women. We find that although emerging destinations may increase socioeconomic prestige beyond established destinations, the racial and gender hierarchies embedded in traditional destinations appear to be reproduced in new destinations—albeit with less rigidity and a greater degree of fluidity. Our study highlights how intra-group racial and gender differences within Latino/a communities are critical for understanding their overall socioeconomic incorporation into American society.

Authors

• Ali Chaudhary, Rutgers University

• Mario Mercado-Diaz, Rutgers University