Racialized Logics of Social Mobility and the Limits of Cultural Adaptations for Latinos

• In Event: 41061 - Section on Latina/o Sociology Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 3: Latinx Migration, Labor, and Social Mobility

Abstract

Families, as foundational social institutions, play a pivotal role in socializing children and steering them toward adulthood by transmitting cultural norms, values, and resources across generations. In the United States, however, families are not neutral entities; they are racialized institutions shaped by the pervasive inequalities embedded in broader societal structures (Baca Zinn & Wells, 2023). For Latino families, this racialization manifests in unique ways, as their socialization practices and intergenerational resource transfers reflect both the constraints of systemic racism and adaptive strategies to navigate these barriers. Drawing on life-history interviews with 65 Latino young adults, this paper examines how racial stratification informs familial socialization and cultivates racialized logics of mobility—cultural scripts that guide Latino youth through schooling, work, relationships, and family formation – and inform their understanding of the relationship between education, social mobility, and family. I argue that these logics, forged in response to limited social mobility, represent a form of racialized cultural assets that enable Latinos to contest, yet ultimately remain constricted, by the racial hierarchies of American society. Racialized logics of mobility collide with institutionalized racism that operate beyond familial control. Schools and labor markets—purportedly neutral institutions—function as racialized gatekeepers, limiting mobility even for youths who diligently follow familial scripts. This tension exposes the paradox of racialized cultural assets: they equip Latino youths to navigate marginalization but cannot overcome the structures that necessitate such cultural adaptations.

Author

• Jose Jesus Gutierrez, University of California-Irvine