Do Hispanic Americans prefer a panethnic identity or an identity specific to their country of origin? What is the influence of social class and country of origin on their preferences?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Panethnicity is the development of solidarity between ethnic subgroups. Hispanics do not share a common historical or cultural identity. Non-Hispanics often give a single label to the diverse group of native-born Latino Americans and immigrants. This labeling by the outgroup is similar to how the dominant group views American Indians or Asian Americans as one collective group. The treating of all Hispanics alike is an unfortunate lack of attention to their history and the history of the United States.
While generally two-thirds of Latinos and Hispanics in the United State agree that they share a common culture that does not mean they feel they share a common name. Overall, about half would prefer to use country of origin to identify themselves, such as Mexican American; the balance is split between Hispanic or Latino and American. Among Hispanic youth aged 16–25, only a minority, about 20 percent, prefers to use panethnic names such as Hispanic or Latino. In Miami, Florida, bumper stickers proclaim "No soy Hispano, soy Cubano": "I am not Hispanic, I am Cuban." As might be expected, identity preferences vary according to whether one is an immigrant or is U.S.-born of U.S.-born Hispanics. About 72 percent of immigrant youth prefer country of origin compared to 32 percent of grandchildren.
An even trickier issue is how Latinos identify themselves in racial terms now and how they will in the future. Typically, the sharp White–Black divide is absent in their home countries, where race, if socially constructed, tends to be along a color gradient.