Suchergebnisse

Politics has been referred to by a recent writer as a "great game," which, it may be added, is played ordinarily, not in a political vacuum between a majority and an opposing minority, but rather by groups organized on an economic, social, religious, or racial basis, which coalesce with each other and fall apart only to make new combinations. This process may readily be seen if one turns the telescope on the national political firmament, but it cannot be understood in the minutias of its ceaseless activity unless the microscope be applied to relatively small localities. The state of Texas, because of its wide extent and consequent variations of social and political phenomena, presents an admirable laboratory for this microscopic method of attack. It is proposed here to apply this method to a particular political section of Texas which has recently attracted some attention.The section referred to is that extreme southern portion of the state lying, in general, south of the Nueces River and east of Laredo, embracing thirteen counties and aggregating in area some 18,000 square miles. There are a number of reasons why it merits attention. The first and foremost is that the major element of its population is Mexican in race, but to a large extent American born. Many of these Mexican-Americans are descendants of the first settlers. It was rather the Anglo-American who was the newcomer. Obviously, therefore, the usual process of racial adjustment has been somewhat reversed. The American found the Mexican, and it was the Mexican to whom he to some extent adjusted himself.

Relatively little is known about household immigration to the U.S. and in particular, the cultural and work-related aspects of the transition faced by households. Results from this article suggest that immigration often leads to downward social mobility with respect to legal status of household members, type of employment, and property ownership. Of particular note is the transformation of the household from a single to a multiple worker unit, in response to agricultural labor demands and growing employment opportunities in the non-agricultural sector. These factors are influential in the modification of the traditional ideology concerning the division of labor by sex and age. This article introduces a hypothesis for explaining the increase and permanency of household immigration.