| Abstract: | It generally is believed that with age and time in the urban industrial community, differences between rural-reared and urban-reared persons decline or disappear. This longitudinal study of 973 families (280 Mexican-Americans, 280 Negroes, and 413 Anglos) in Racine, Wisconsin, finds little significant change (1960–1971) in the relative position of Mexican-Americans and Negroes on occupational level, income, and level of living, even though controls for age, education, urban work experience, time in the community, and other pertinent variables are introduced. These findings suggest that the community is organized in such a way as to facilitate better the economic absorption of its Anglo inmigrants than Negroes from the South or Mexican-Americans from Southwest, in spite of the fact that numerous programs were introduced in the United States during the 1960s, with the purpose of aiding the less fortunate in our society. Race/ethnicity remains the most powerful determinant of a family's position in the community. |
