The racial and ethnic socialisation continuum: racial oppression and resistance in Latinx families

ABSTRACT

Research on racial and ethnic socialisation of Latinxs has focused on ethnic socialisation while under-examining the racial discourses and ideologies that Latinxs use when discussing racial and ethnic identity and stratification in their families. This study draws on 65 interviews with predominantly U.S.-born Latinxs. Using the theoretical framework of racial formation, I develop the racial and ethnic socialisation (RES) continuum to conceptualise the content of racial discourses present in Latinx families that reflect a range of racial ideologies. There are five discursive styles that fall into three general types of racial ideologies: (1) maintenance of hierarchies, (2) lack of direct discussions about race and ethnicity, and (3) anti-racist and feminist socialisation, but with flaws. The RES continuum contributes to research on racialisation by developing the processes of how structural racism unfolds in Latinx families through racial discourses and racial and ethnic socialisation.

KEYWORDS:

• Racial and ethnic socialisation
• racial discourses
• racial ideologies
• families
• race and ethnicity
• racialisation

Acknowledgement

I would like to extend my sincerest gratitude to the participants of this study for making this research possible. I would also like to thank Dr. Tanya Golash-Boza, Dr. Ed Orozco Flores, Dr. Elizabeth Aranda, Dr. Elizabeth Hordge-Freeman, Dr. Mary Lederer, Dr. Aaron Winter, and the anonymous reviewers for their help in developing this paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. I use the term ‘minoritised’ to reference people or cultures who experience structural exclusion (such as racialisation). However, those I have labelled as minoritised may not feel as though they are minorities or have lived experiences of other minoritised groups. For example, they may have lived in areas where they are part of the majority of a city, state, or territory (Puerto Ricans living in Puerto Rico, middle-class Cubans in Miami, etc.) but continue to experience structural minoritisation. See Wingrove-Haugland and McLeod (2021) for more information on the use of ‘minoritised’.

Additional information

Funding

Thank you to the National Science Foundation (NSF) Alliances for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (AGEP) [NSF #1820875], the University of California, Merced’s Graduate Division and Sociology Department, and the University of Illinois at Springfield for awarding me fellowships and research funds to complete this research.