Social Identities -- A Framework for Studying the Adaptations of Immigrants and Ethnics: The Adaptations of Mexicans in the United States

Past treatments of immigration and ethnicity (and of the relationship between them) tend to ignore processes by which the effects of history and social structure occur at the individual level. Many scholars call for social psychological analyses that show how history and macro-social features of the environment produce individual modes of adaptation to immigration, including the construction and reconstruction of ethnicity as one of the modes. We use a social psychological analysis to tie macro-social characteristics to micro-social characteristics of immediate social contexts to examine how two groups of Mexicans in the United States—Mexicanos and Chicanos—differ in their social identities and in their cultural adaptations. Our results from the analyses of the data in the National Chicano Survey indicate that, as predicted by social identity theory, the differences in the structural and historical conditions experienced by immigrants and ethnics result in a more differentiated identity structure for Chicanos than for Mexicanos. The content of the social identities of the two groups also shows important differences according to outgroup comparisons through mastery of the English language. Also consistent with social identity theory, the most problematic social identities—for example, class and race—are the most psychologically powerful in determining cultural adaptations for both groups. In conclusion, differences between immigrants and ethnics are largely the outcome of shifts in reference groups as they compare themselves to a wider array of people who either promote acceptance of devalued social categorizations or in feelings of discontent about one's social identity.