Cover of Making Hispanics
Making Hispanics How Activists, Bureaucrats, and Media Constructed a New American
by G. Cristina Mora
University of Chicago Press, 2014
Cloth: 978-0-226-03366-2 | Paper: 978-0-226-03383-9 | Electronic: 978-0-226-03397-6
DOI: 10.7208/chicago/9780226033976.001.0001

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ABOUT THIS BOOKAUTHOR BIOGRAPHYREVIEWSTABLE OF CONTENTS

ABOUT THIS BOOK

How did Puerto Ricans, Mexicans, and Cubans become known as “Hispanics” and “Latinos” in the United States? How did several distinct cultures and nationalities become portrayed as one? Cristina Mora answers both these questions and details the scope of this phenomenon in Making Hispanics. She uses an organizational lens and traces how activists, bureaucrats, and media executives in the 1970s and '80s created a new identity category—and by doing so, permanently changed the racial and political landscape of the nation.

Some argue that these cultures are fundamentally similar and that the Spanish language is a natural basis for a unified Hispanic identity. But Mora shows very clearly that the idea of ethnic grouping was historically constructed and institutionalized in the United States. During the 1960 census, reports classified Latin American immigrants as “white,” grouping them with European Americans. Not only was this decision controversial, but also Latino activists claimed that this classification hindered their ability to portray their constituents as underrepresented minorities. Therefore, they called for a separate classification: Hispanic. Once these populations could be quantified, businesses saw opportunities and the media responded. Spanish-language television began to expand its reach to serve the now large, and newly unified, Hispanic community with news and entertainment programming. Through archival research, oral histories, and interviews, Mora reveals the broad, national-level process that led to the emergence of Hispanicity in America.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

G. Cristina Mora is assistant professor of sociology at the University of California, Berkeley. 

REVIEWS

"Mora has written an excellent and scholarly contribution to our understanding of the origins of the concept of 'Hispanic' and 'Latino.'  It is a nuanced study that eschews political correctness, whether of the Left or Right, and instead documents the politics of ethnic labeling and identity."
— Mario T. García, University of California, Santa Barbara

“Today, Americans celebrate, describe, or worry about the growing Hispanic population. But if not for the actions of diverse individuals in the 1970s and 1980s, that population would probably be understood in other ways.  Based on extensive archival research and interviews with these individuals, Mora deftly shows how similar-minded activists, business interests, and others worked to construct and institutionalize the new ethno-racial category known as Hispanic, which has since become a widely-accepted form of identification and classification.”
— Edward Telles, Princeton University

“It is tempting to think of cultural change as something that just happens. Mora examines one of the most important cultural changes of our time – the embrace of Hispanic identity by millions of Americans who previously thought of themselves in terms of national origin, and the embedding of that self-understanding in the daily routine operations of organizations as diverse as ad agencies, political parties, TV stations, and census bureaus, and demonstrates the complex range of interacting actors and motives behind this transformation.   Making Hispanics is not just a signal contribution to the study of ethnic and racial formation – it is a model and masterpiece of institutional analysis.”
— Paul DiMaggio, Princeton University

"A compelling work of scholarship that is appealing to students of ethnic identity, sociology and organizational theory."
— Hayagreeva Rao, Stanford Graduate School of Business

“How did a US population as nationally, ethnically, and socially diverse as today’s 55 million people of Latin American descent, come to be known as ‘Hispanics’ in the United States? In this well-written and thoroughly researched book, Mora carefully and successfully traces the history and combined efforts of activists, bureaucrats, and the mainstream media to construct this ‘ethnic group’—and to convince its members to identify as Hispanics in the United States. Making Hispanics is essential reading for anyone interested in the popularization and acceptance of panethnicity as a significant force in US politics and society to this day.”
— Suzanne Oboler, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York

“Well researched. . . . Berkeley sociologist Mora’s archival research unearths the confluence of important organizations and US institutions that together created a new brand of Americans who are still on the cusp of being accepted as full members of the US community. . . . Recommended.”
— Choice

“A model and masterpiece. . . . No more is needed, except of course the exceptional talent of a Mora, to produce this (almost) perfect work of sociology . . .  Mora's is an American story twice over, which should be heeded in a Europe that, to paraphrase LBJ, still prefers to ‘trash’ its immigrants.”
— European Journal of Sociology

TABLE OF CONTENTS

List of Illustrations

Preface

Acknowledgments

List of Organizations


DOI: 10.7208/chicago/9780226033976.003.0000
[Panethnicity, Race, Ethnicity, Categorization, Latinos, Hispanics, Ambiguity, Networks, Classification]
The introduction begins by describing the shift from ethnic to panethnic, Hispanic representation in the United States and contending that the rise of the Hispanic category can best be understood by focusing on the actions of the civic, state, and media organizations that helped to pioneer the concept. It argues that the Hispanic category became institutionalized during the 1970s and 1980s as conflicts between state officials, activists, and media executives leaders gave way to processes of cooptation, negotiation, and, eventually, cooperation. For example, by 1980 media executives worked closely with census officials and activists to develop programming that introduced Spanish-language audiences to the new Hispanic census classification. Moreover, the chapter contends that ambiguity was key for the rise of panethnicity because they allowed stakeholders to overcome resistance by framing panethnicity as complementary to ethnic identity and not in competition with it. Implications for the broader study of racial and ethnic categorization are also discussed. (pages 1 - 16)


DOI: 10.7208/chicago/9780226033976.003.0001
[CCOSS, IMAA, Hispanic, Latino, Race, Ethnicity, Politics, Nixon, Classification, Categorization]
Chapter 1 begins with the political context of the 1960s and examines how the federal government responded to the early demands of Mexican American and Puerto Rican activists. At that time the African American civil rights movement had created a political opening that sensitized elected officials to the demands of racial/ethnic minority groups. Specifically, chapter 1 traces how Congress and the Johnson and the Nixon administrations responded to the demands of Mexican American and Puerto Rican activists by establishing the Inter-Agency for Mexican American Affairs (IMAA) and its successor, the Cabinet Committee on Opportunities for Spanish Speaking Persons (CCOSS). It argues that federal officials used the panethnic "Spanish Speaking" classification to co-opt and diffuse potential threats from nationalist Puerto Rican and Mexican American activist groups. The chapter also show that the label--and the committee's activities--quickly became a target for East Coast elected officials who were eager to win favor--and votes--among their Cuban American constituencies. In response, CCOSS developed a panethnic agenda, and by 1975 it served as the official government platform for discussing "Hispanic" issues. (pages 17 - 49)


DOI: 10.7208/chicago/9780226033976.003.0002
[NCLR, Hispanic, Latino, Social Movements, Panethnicity, Race, Ethnicity, Ethnic Mobilization]
Chapter 2 provides an in-depth look at how activists responded to federal efforts by exploring the evolution of the National Council of La Raza (NCLR), the nation's oldest and most well-established national Hispanic advocacy organization. This chapter argues that the NCLR transitioned from a Mexican American to a Hispanic organization to acquire more grants and resources. Indeed, as NCLR competed with African Americans organizations for government resources in the 1970s, it quickly learned that the idea of Hispanic panethnicity would best help the organization to adapt to the perceptions of CCOSS and other state grant-making agencies. Moreover, the notion of panethnicity allowed NCLR leaders to claim to private foundations that its constituency was large and thus rivaled the size of African Americans. As NCLR made these claims, it began to use its resources to attract Puerto Rican and, later, Cuban constituencies, thus becoming America's foremost panethnic advocacy organization by 1980. (pages 50 - 82)


DOI: 10.7208/chicago/9780226033976.003.0003
[Census, Latino, Hispanic, Panethnicity, Race, Ethnicity, Classification, Categorization, Ambiguity, Analogy]
Chapter 3 examines the negotiations undertaken by census officials to develop a Hispanic category for the 1980 enumeration. It shows that the Bureau faced a legitimacy crisis following the 1970 census as CCOSS bureaucrats and activist groups protested the Bureau's estimates for the Mexican American and Puerto Rican populations. Activists also questioned the Bureau's classification practices and demanded that it stop lumping data on Mexican Americans and Puerto Ricans with those on Anglo Americans. The Bureau responded to these demands by developing advisory councils staffed with Mexican American, Puerto Rican, and Cuban community leaders, some of which had ties to NCLR. After several rounds of negotiation, the Census Bureau and the advisory council eventually adopted the panethnic "Hispanic" category. Throughout the process, the Bureau shifted its perception of racial and ethnic categories and came to accept the understanding that categories were fluid and ambiguous rather than valid and objective. (pages 83 - 118)


DOI: 10.7208/chicago/9780226033976.003.0004
[Spanish-language Media, Panethnicity, Latino, Hispanic, Race, Ethnicity, Univision, Categorization, Classification]
Chapter 4 examines the role that the media played in promoting the 1980 Hispanic census category and in institutionalizing the notion of panethnicity more generally. It does so by tracking the evolution of Univision from a regional Mexican network into a national Hispanic one. Specifically, the chapter shows that the network became heavily involved in census promotional activities in the late 1970s because media executives could use census data to create Hispanic marketing manuals. Hispanic census data also allowed media executives to prove to advertisers and corporate firms that their audience was sizeable and national in scope. And as media executives became increasingly reliant on census data, they began to change their programming formulas. By the mid 1980s, then, media executives had established a series of studios in Miami that produced several new Hispanic, panethnic entertainment and news programs geared toward Mexican Americans, Cuban Americans, and Puerto Ricans alike. (pages 119 - 154)


DOI: 10.7208/chicago/9780226033976.003.0005
[Panethnicity, Latino, Hispanic, Race, Ethnicity, Classification, Categorization, Ambiguity, Networks, Politics]
The concluding chapter reiterates the role of the tight web of organizational networks and links that to this day help uphold the notion Hispanic panethnicity. It contemplates what effects the growing acceptance of the Hispanic category has had on American politics and the broader discourse on race in America. It argues that despite the political gains that the category has delivered for Mexican Americans, Cuban Americans, Puerto Ricans, and others, the wide application of the category has also masked important differences, which should make Hispanic leaders proceed with caution. (pages 155 - 170)

Notes

Index

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