Second generation optimism and the reproduction of a working class

This study examines the school and work outlooks and decisions of young adult children of Mexican immigrants. It is motivated by the segmented assimilation theoretical argument that this group is destined to experience downward assimilation in the inner city because it is acculturating to the "adversarial outlooks" of native U.S.-born minorities. To test this argument, I repeatedly interviewed forty-two children of Mexican immigrants, ages 17-23, from two high poverty neighborhoods in Los Angeles, one predominantly Mexican immigrant and the other mixed, Latino and Black. I find that segmented assimilation ignores important dynamics of the urban context, including how violence structures peer and race relations in ways that make it difficult to form connections with Black Americans, much less acculturate to their beliefs and behaviors. Instead, adversarial behavior is often in response to neighborhood violence and not due to an "oppositional" outlook. I find no evidence that the second-generation embraces a "reactive identity", an oppositional outlook towards school or work, or is at risk of downward assimilation in either context. Instead, I find this group is heavily influenced by their immigrant parents' social mobility and drive. These young men believe in the American Dream and are highly optimistic about their social mobility prospects. Despite this optimism and even though they pursue divergent school and work paths--some dropping out and others attending college--various factors position most to reproduce their working class status. I conclude that for socioeconomic assimilation to occur for the Mexican-origin group, social capital is needed to provide leverage into the middle class.