Hispanic Identity Fades Across Generations as Immigrant Connections Fall Away
11% of American adults with Hispanic ancestry do not identify as Hispanic
BY MARK HUGO LOPEZ, ANA GONZALEZ-BARRERA AND GUSTAVO LÓPEZ
More than 18% of Americans identify as Hispanic or Latino, the nation’s second largest racial or ethnic group. But two trends – a long-standing high intermarriage rate and a decade of declining Latin American immigration – are distancing some Americans with Hispanic ancestry from the life experiences of earlier generations, reducing the likelihood they call themselves Hispanic or Latino.
Among the estimated 42.7 million U.S. adults with Hispanic ancestry in 2015, nine-in-ten (89%), or about 37.8 million, self-identify as Hispanic or Latino. But another 5 million (11%) do not consider themselves Hispanic or Latino, according to Pew Research Center estimates. The closer they are to their immigrant roots, the more likely Americans with Hispanic ancestry are to identify as Hispanic. Nearly all immigrant adults from Latin America or Spain (97%) say they are Hispanic. Similarly, second-generation adults with Hispanic ancestry (the U.S.-born children of at least one immigrant parent) have nearly as high a Hispanic self-identification rate (92%), according to Pew Research Center estimates.
By the third generation – a group made up of the U.S.-born children of U.S.-born parents and immigrant grandparents – the share that self-identifies as Hispanic falls to 77%. And by the fourth or higher generation (U.S.-born children of U.S.-born parents and U.S.-born grandparents, or even more distant relatives), just half of U.S. adults with Hispanic ancestry say they are Hispanic.
Among adults who say they have Hispanic ancestors (a parent, grandparent, great grandparent or earlier ancestor) but do not self-identify as Hispanic, the vast majority – 81% – say they have never thought of themselves as Hispanic, according to a Pew Research Center survey of the group. When asked why this is the case in an open-ended follow-up question, the single most common response (27%) was that their Hispanic ancestry is too far back or their background is mixed.
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An offshoot of the AOC thread. But as Hispanics experience upward mobility after a couple generations into the American middle class, more and more no longer see themselves as anything but white.
People from Spain are kind of shocked that they are viewed as non-white in America. They consider themselves white Europeans and think American concepts are absurd.
So while some Democrats may want to drool over the prospects of the changing demographics in the US, there is the likihood that future generations will not embrace the identity politics which the Democrats so heavily depend upon. On the otherhand, Trump successfully played the opposite side in an ugly way.
I for one hope as we become even more of a melting pot and these lines between groups fades as their definitions become even more absurd, that both these types of racially based politics disappears and we can discuss real issues.
11% of American adults with Hispanic ancestry do not identify as Hispanic
BY MARK HUGO LOPEZ, ANA GONZALEZ-BARRERA AND GUSTAVO LÓPEZ
More than 18% of Americans identify as Hispanic or Latino, the nation’s second largest racial or ethnic group. But two trends – a long-standing high intermarriage rate and a decade of declining Latin American immigration – are distancing some Americans with Hispanic ancestry from the life experiences of earlier generations, reducing the likelihood they call themselves Hispanic or Latino.
Among the estimated 42.7 million U.S. adults with Hispanic ancestry in 2015, nine-in-ten (89%), or about 37.8 million, self-identify as Hispanic or Latino. But another 5 million (11%) do not consider themselves Hispanic or Latino, according to Pew Research Center estimates. The closer they are to their immigrant roots, the more likely Americans with Hispanic ancestry are to identify as Hispanic. Nearly all immigrant adults from Latin America or Spain (97%) say they are Hispanic. Similarly, second-generation adults with Hispanic ancestry (the U.S.-born children of at least one immigrant parent) have nearly as high a Hispanic self-identification rate (92%), according to Pew Research Center estimates.
By the third generation – a group made up of the U.S.-born children of U.S.-born parents and immigrant grandparents – the share that self-identifies as Hispanic falls to 77%. And by the fourth or higher generation (U.S.-born children of U.S.-born parents and U.S.-born grandparents, or even more distant relatives), just half of U.S. adults with Hispanic ancestry say they are Hispanic.
Among adults who say they have Hispanic ancestors (a parent, grandparent, great grandparent or earlier ancestor) but do not self-identify as Hispanic, the vast majority – 81% – say they have never thought of themselves as Hispanic, according to a Pew Research Center survey of the group. When asked why this is the case in an open-ended follow-up question, the single most common response (27%) was that their Hispanic ancestry is too far back or their background is mixed.
____________________
An offshoot of the AOC thread. But as Hispanics experience upward mobility after a couple generations into the American middle class, more and more no longer see themselves as anything but white.
People from Spain are kind of shocked that they are viewed as non-white in America. They consider themselves white Europeans and think American concepts are absurd.
So while some Democrats may want to drool over the prospects of the changing demographics in the US, there is the likihood that future generations will not embrace the identity politics which the Democrats so heavily depend upon. On the otherhand, Trump successfully played the opposite side in an ugly way.
I for one hope as we become even more of a melting pot and these lines between groups fades as their definitions become even more absurd, that both these types of racially based politics disappears and we can discuss real issues.
