Mexicanos y latinos en Estados Unidos: identidad cultural

Abstract

Latin and Chicano cultures have always shown a strong influence from Mexican culture, with which they share norms and values of a symbolic nature. For that reason, they defend their own right to keep their roots and look for an identity of their own, within the contemporary Anglo-Saxon society, proudly calling themselves Chicanos and Latinos. For demographic and socio-economical reasons, Mexican culture has had a remarkable influence in several groups of Mexican and Latin American descendants, who keep alive their differences from the mainstream culture. So, instead of assimilating themselves to the American way of life, Latinos and Chicanos adopt and adapt other cultural values, reinforcing their origins in order to survive and satisfy their basic needs.