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The Racialization of Mexicansin the United States

Douglas S. Massey

Office of Population ResearchPrinceton University

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Categorical Mechanisms of

Stratification

Stratifying Mechanisms:1. Exploitation

2. Opportunity Hoardinga.k.a. Exclusion

Extension Mechanisms:

1. Emulation

2. Adaptation

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Stratification in Society

1. Allocate People to Social Categories

-Socially define Ingroups & Outgroups

2. Institutionalize Processes of Exploitation

and Exclusion-to exploit outgroup

-and to exclude outgroup

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Allocation of People to Categories

Psychologically & Socially

Psychological: Framing Grouping people into mental categories

Situating categories in a perceptual spacedefined by intersection of two fundamentaldimensions of social cognition:

Warmth Competence

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Warmth

Competence

Esteemed

Ingroup

Despised

OutgroupEnvied

Outgroup

Pitied

Outgroup

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One Brain Region is Central to

Social Cognition Medial Prefrontal Cortex

Prefrontal Cortex is the anterior part of thefrontal lobes of the brain

divided into lateral, orbitofrontal & medialprefrontal areas

Whenever an Object is Perceived as a

Social Actor it Lights Up under fMRI

Zone 2 in Following Slide

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Experiment by Harris and Fiske (2006)

Psychological Science17(10):847-53. Pre-tested photographic images of social

actors

Established quadrant into which they fell

Showed images to experimental subjects under

fMRI Each person total of 80 images

20 ingroup members

20 envied outgroups 20 pitied outgroups

20 despised outgroups

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Three of Four Sets of Images

Activated Prefrontal Cortex Triggered Clear Reactions in Medial Prefrontal

Cortex Ingroups

Envied Outgroups

Pitied Outgroups

Despised Outgroups Triggered No Reaction Median Prefrontal Cortex Did Not Light Up

Members of Despised Outgroups Not Seen in SocialTerms at All

At Fundamental Neural Level Not Perceived asHuman

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Allocation of People to Categories

Psychologically & Socially

Social: Boundary Work Action Undertaken to Strengthen and

Reinforce Categorical Boundaries between

People Labeling

Comparison

Competition Conditioning

Conflict

F i d B d W k

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Framing and Boundary WorkFacilitated by Attributional BiasesBuilt

into Human Cognition

Fundamental Attribution Error tendency to over-emphasize dispositional, or

personality-based, explanations for behaviorobserved in others while under-emphasizing

situational explanations

Actor-Observer Bias

tendency to over-emphasize situationalexplanations for ones own behavior whileunder-emphasizing dispositional explanations

O S i l C i A C d

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dispositionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Situational_attribution&action=edithttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dispositionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Situational_attribution&action=edithttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Situational_attribution&action=edithttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dispositionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Situational_attribution&action=edithttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disposition

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Once Social Categories Are CreatedThrough Psychological Framing and

Social Boundary Work, Stratification IsEasily Achieved

Create Social Institutions to: Exploit Outgroup Members

Make them work to produce Resources WhileRemunerating them for Less than the Full Valueof the Resources they Produce

Hoard Opportunities for Ingroup Member Exclude Outgroup Members from Access to

Resources Controlled by Ingroup Members

Reserve Access to Ingroup Members

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The Growing Exclusion of

Mexicans Restrictive Border Policies in the Context of

Ongoing North American Integration Successive Restrictions Aimed at Mexicans

1965 Immigration and Nationality Act

1976 Amendments

1980 Amendments

1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act

1990 Amendments

1994 Operation Gatekeeper

1996 Immigration Reform Law

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Growth of the undocumented Mexican population of the United States

1965-2005 (Sources: Woodro-Lafield 1998; Hoeffer, Rytina, and

Campbell 2006).

0

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

6000

7000

1965 1968 1971 1974 1977 1980 1983 1986 1989 1992 1995 1998 2001 2004

Year

NumberinThousands

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Exploitable Mexicans

At Least Six Million Without Documents One Half of All Mexican Immigrants

One Fifth of All Mexican Americans

No Social or Labor Rights in US

Indeed No Legal Rights Whatsoever

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Demonization of Mexicans

Has a Long History in the United States

U.S. Senate Dillingham Commission Reportof 1911

Mexicans are notoriously indolent and

unprogressive in all matters of education and culturedoing dirty jobs fit only for the lowest grade ofnonassimilable native-born races though their

usefulness is, however, much impaired by [their] lackof ambition and [their] proneness to the constant useof intoxicating liquor

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Dillingham Commission Views on

Mexican Labor the Mexican immigration may increase for

some time as this race offers a source oflabor to substitute for the Asiatics in themost undesirable seasonal occupations.

In two southern California districts wherethe force of field workers is predominantlyMexican, the Mexican is preferred to theJapanese. He is alleged to be moretractable and to be a better workman .

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Racialization of Mexicans in the

1930s In 1930 the U.S. Census Bureau, for the

first and only time, enumerated Mexicansas a separate race, alongside blacks

Wave of Mexican Lynchings in Texas Mass Arrest and Summary Deportation

458,000 Mexicans Deported 1929-1937

739,000 Mexican Born in 1930

377,000 Mexican Born in 1940

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Zoot Suit Riots of 1943

On June 3, 1943 servicemen on leave in LA complained that theyhad been assaulted by a gang of pachucos wearing zoot suits

Angry mob of white soldiers and civilians headed into the Mexicanbarrio of East Los Angeles where they attacked all males wearingzoot suits

Beat them severely, ripped off the offensive garments, and burned

them on the spot

Rather than protecting Mexicans, LA police swept into the barrio andarrested hundreds of beat-up pachucos for disturbing the peace

Many later died in jail for want of medical treatment

Although nine white sailors were arrested, eight were releasedwithout charge and one was let go after paying a small fine

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Unspoken Message of Zoot Suit

Riots Even in progressive California, people of

Mexican origin were not going to beaccepted as equals

no matter where they were born

how much they earned

or how stylishly they dressed

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Anti-Immigrant Hysteria in 1950s:

Operation Wetback 1953-1954 INS militarized the Mexico-U.S. border in

cooperation with state and local authorities Organized mass arrest of Mexicans

Or more accurately, Mexican looking people Number of Mexicans apprehended

reached one million for the first time inU.S. history

I d d W k D i h

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Indentured Workers During the

Bracero Era Key Difference from 1930s Deportations

While Congress Enacted Operation Wetback toDeport Mexican workers

It Quietly Authorized an Expansion of the BraceroProgram

roughly doubled annual number of temporary work visas

400,000-450,000 braceros imported each year during thelatter half of the 1950s

Obvious Unstated Message:

US accepts Mexicans as workers but not as people

C t D i ti f

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Contemporary Demonization of

Mexicans Rise of undocumented migration after 1965 was

accompanied by new demonizaton of Mexicans

They and other Latin American immigrants increasinglyframed as threats to the nations security, culture, andway of life

Leo Chavez coded U.S. magazine covers devoted toimmigration between 1965 and 2000 affirmative covers used text and images to celebrate

immigration

alarmist covers used text and images to convey problems,fears, or dangers associated with immigration

neutral covers were accompanied by articles that offeredbalanced and factual coverage of immigration

Classification by Chavez of US Magazine Covers 1965 2000

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Classification by Chavez of US Magazine Covers 1965-2000

19

72

9

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

Affirmative Alarmist Neutral

Category

P

ercentage

Distribution of Alarmist Covers by Period

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Distribution of Alarmist Covers by Period

18

37

45

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

1970s 1980s 1990s

Decade

Percentage

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Racialization of Mexicans

Not only were immigration-related images

increasingly alarmist Were also selective with respect to

portrayal of the race and ethnicity In his analysis, Chavez also codedcharacteristics of immigrants shown on

magazine covers

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Distribution of people depicted on U.S. magazine covers by raceand ethnicity compared to distribution among immigrants

Cover CoverImmigrants Photos Illustrations

uropean/White 15% 10% 0%sian 31 40 9fro-Caribbean/Black 15 23 46

Latin American/Hispanic 37 26 45

Text Used on Magazine Covers

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Text Used on Magazine Covers

Reveals Two Framing Metaphors Marine

depicting immigration as a tidal wave that was flooding the

United States and threatening to inundate its culture Martial

Border portrayed as battleground under attack from alieninvaders

Border Patrol Officers were outgunned defenders trying tohold the line against attacking hoards

Aliens were a time bomb waiting to explode and destroyAmerican culture and values.

Whether Marine or Martial Covers always portrayed immigration from Mexico as a crisis

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Threat to National Security

President Reagan was first to frame immigration as aquestion of national security linked to ongoing

prosecution of Cold War Communists in Central America will create a tidal wave of

refugeesand this time theyll be feet people and not boatpeopleswarming into our country seeking safe haven from

communist repression to the south Terrorists and subversives are just two days driving time from

[the border crossing at] Harlingen, Texas

Immigrants constitute a fifth column because communist agents

will feed on the anger and frustration of recent Central andSouth American immigrants who will not realize their ownversion of the American dream

Huntingtons reprise of the

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Huntington s reprise of the

Dillingham Commission Warned of the Hispanic Challenge:

The persistent inflow of Hispanic immigrantsthreatens to divide the United States into two peoples,two cultures, and two languages.

Unlike past immigrant groups, Mexicans and otherLatinos have not assimilated into mainstream U.S.culture, forming instead their own political andlinguistic enclaves-from Los Angeles to Miami-and

rejecting the Anglo-Protestant values that built theAmerican dream.

The United States ignores this challenge at its peril.

Immigration as a tate of

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Immigration as a tate of

Emergency. Warns of ongoing Third World Invasion and

Conquest of America.

Refers to an Aztlan Plot Secret plan by Mexican elites to recapture lands lost

in 1848 and thus achieve a reconquista of the

American southwest If we do not get control of our borders and stop this

greatest invasion in history, I see the dissolution of

the U.S. and the loss of the American southwestculturally and linguistically, if not politicallytoMexico. It could become a part of Mexico in the waythat Kosovo is now a part of Albania

Chris Simcox and Vigilante Border

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Chris Simcox and Vigilante Border

Defense Founded the Minutemen Civil Defense

Corps to patrol the Mexico-U.S. border Are terrorists exploiting our porous

borders? We know drug dealers, gangbangers and way too many criminalforeign nationals are creating havoc in our

communities and threatening our publicsafety. Why not terrorists?

Lou Dobbs and the Illegal Alien

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Lou Dobbs and the Illegal Alien

Invasion "Tonight," announced Lou Dobbs at the top of

his show on Mon., Mar. 21, the illegal alien

invasion Called on TV viewers to feel violated."

There is a common front in our illegal-aliencrisis, the war on drugs and the global war onterror. That front line is easily defined as ournation's borders, airports and seaports. AndArizonans know only too well the pain andproblems of living and working on the front lineof our border with Mexico.

The Conspiracy Against the Middle

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The Conspiracy Against the Middle

Class An obscene alliance of corporate supremacists,

desperate labor unions, certain ethnocentricLatino activist organizations and a majority ofour elected officials in Washington works

diligently to keep our borders open, wagessuppressed and the American people all buthelpless to resist the crushing financial and

economic burden created by the millions ofillegal aliens who crash our borders each year.

The New Criminalization of

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The New Criminalization of

Immigrants 1996 Antiterrorism and Effective Death

Penalty Act Gave federal government new police powersfor expedited exclusion

Against any alien who had ever crossed the borderwithout documents (no matter what current legalstatus

Against any alien who had ever committed a felony

(no matter how long ago)

Rendered thousands of legal as well as illegalmigrants instantly deportable

Antiterrorism and Effective Death

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Antiterrorism and Effective Death

Penalty Act, continued Delegated to State Department absolute authority to designate any

organization as terrorist making all members of groups so-designated immediately excludable

and deportable Narrowed the grounds for asylum and added alien smuggling to the

list of crimes covered by the RICO statute (Racketeer InfluencedCorrupt Organizations)

Severely limited possibilities for judicial review of deportationdecisions According to law professor Stephen Legomsky this law constitutes

the most ferocious assault on the judicial review of immigrationdecisions ever launched by creating new removal courts that allow

secret procedures to be used to remove suspected alien terrorists;by shifting the authority to make expedited removals to immigrationinspectors at ports of entry; and by setting unprecedented limits on

judicial review of immigration decisions.

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USA PATRIOT ACT

granted executive branch additional powers ofdeportation

Allows summary expulsion without any hearing orpresentation of evidence, of any alien, legal or illegal

Attorney General need only have reason to believethe immigrant might commit, further, or facilitate actsof terrorism.

For the first time since the Alien and Sedition Act of1798 Congress voted to permit the arrest,imprisonment, and deportation non-citizens upon theorders of the Attorney General without judicial review

Effect of Demonization on Public

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Effect of Demonization on Public

Opinion Pew Charitable Trust Poll Asked

Americans Whether they Agreed orDisagreed with the Following Statement

Immigrants today are a burden on ourcountry because they take our jobs,housing, and health care

Percentage Agreeing: 38% in 2000

52% in 2006

O h P ll R l

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Other Poll Results

48% though newcomers from other countries threatentraditional American values and customs

54% said that the United States needed to be protectedagainst foreign influence

49% said believe that immigrants kept to themselves

and do not try to fit in 58% believe that immigrants do not learn English in a

reasonable amount of time

60% of those who had heard of the Minutemen approvedof their activities

Half of all respondents believe the percentage ofimmigrants in the US is 25% or greater

Lingusitic survival among Hispanics and Europeans

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0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

0.9

1

1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0

Generations in United States

Pro

portionSpe

akingMotherTongue

Mexicans Salvadorans-Guatemalans Other Latin Americans White Europeans

Effect of Extensive Framing and

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Effect of Extensive Framing and

Boundary Work Lee and Fiske applied the stereotype content model to immigrants Based on respondent ratings, they plotted the position of different

groups in the two dimensional space of warmth and competence social space of esteemed groups occupied by Canadians, Europeans,

documented immigrants, and third generation immigrants

Social space of envied groups occupied by classic middlemenminorities such as the Koreans, Chinese, Japanese, and Asians

Social space of despised groups occupied by South Americans, Latinos,Mexicans, farm workers, and Africans

Most despised immigrant group is undocumented migrants

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2000 H i Di i i ti St d

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2000 Housing Discrimination Study

Revealed significant increase in discriminationagainst Hispanics

In 1989 Hispanics were 19% less likely than blacks toexperience adverse treatment in Americas rentalmarkets

In 2000 were 8% more likely suffer discrimination

In 1989 blacks were twice as likely as Hispanics toexperience discrimination in home sales

In 2000 Hispanics were were18% more likely thanblacks to experience discrimination in sales

Hispanic and black personal income as a ratio of white income

(Source: U.S. Bureau of the Census)

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(Source: U.S. Bureau of the Census)

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

0.9

1

1972 1974 1976 1978 1980 1982 1984 1986 1988 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002

Year

Inc

omeRatio

Black Men

Hispanic Men

Hispanic Women

Black WomenImmigration Reformand Control Act

OperationGatekeeper

Poverty rates for white, black, and Latino Families 1972-2002.

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0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

1972 1974 1976 1978 1980 1982 1984 1986 1988 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002

Year

PovertyRate

Blacks

Latinos

Whites

Passage of IRCAOperation

Gatekeeper

Building a Better Underclass

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Building a Better Underclass

US policies are moving Mexican Americans steadily away from theirmiddle position in the economic hierarchy toward the bottom

After occupying a middle socioeconomic position for generations,

the economic fortunes of Mexicans are now at levels at or belowthose of African Americans

At least Blacks have the legal right to live and work in the UnitedStates

In contrast, one fifth of all Mexican Americans lack any legal claimon American society If the share of Latinos in undocumented status continues to rise, the

resulting underclass will be even better than the one that emergedin black inner cities during the 1980s

Not only will its members be exploited and excluded they will be outside the law itself and deportable at a moments notice at serious risk of incarceration for the crime of working in the US without

permission

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