Identify and discuss the unique characteristics of the working class Puerto Rican family,

Question

describing how these characteristics might aid immigrants when they come to the United
States.

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Characteristics such as machismo, Marianisma, traditional family role structure (male
dominated), family loyalty, duality of roles between men and women, unskilled workers
with little education and similar characteristics will be mentioned.
Each characteristic, while often limiting, also has a helpful side. For instance machismo
enables men to have high self esteem, a characteristic that in turn allows them to have
more confidence in themselves, adjust to Chicago mores and culture, confidently send for
more relatives etc. Reverence for women makes it easier for macho men to accept
women's increased economic roles. Compare and contrast this with the situation in
Vietnamese immigrant families. Strong family loyalties provide an easy way to network
find jobs, gain emotional support, etc.
Women have been a sort of unpaid domestic servants/caretakers, unskilled workers.
Strong family loyalties make it easier to gain support for jobs and training, as well as child
care. The tendency to enclave in family and community groups offers support in a
sometimes hostile environment prejudiced against ethnic minorities. Expectations of
family life build on gender role scripts and class which in turn provide a framework for
family life that can be transferred to the new culture with only minor adjustments. The
family stage migration practices allow whole families to be reassembled in the new home
area, and also provides a network from which to gain knowledge about the new
environment, the culture, and practices of the near environment, opportunities for work
and advancement. The reproductive work of women is familiar and transferable to the
new country if the husband has sufficient income. Women help each other and many of
them work at industry not unfamiliar to them in their country of origin.