Ethic Group Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Ethic Group - Essay Example r areas in Los Angeles, particularly to East Los Angeles, by the 1870s†¦The arrival of immigrants into Los Angeles caused an increase of Hispanics into other areas of the city†¦Ã¢â‚¬ 1 The influx of immigrants definitely changed the face of Los Angeles forever, making it a city that would someday cater more to Latino culture in many aspects, which will be examined in the next section about assimilation. Assimilation has not always been easy, as much of the discrimination that Latinos have faced in L.A. Latinos in Los Angeles have traditionally been labeled as the ethnic group which â€Å"takes away American jobs,† supposedly. However, many times, these jobs are those which no middle-class or even working class American would be likely to want to do. Symbolic interaction theory explains this by basically introducing the concept that â€Å"†¦people give meaning to symbols and that those meanings come to control those people [as a form of] social behaviorism†¦Ã¢â‚¬ 2 Social biases have kept many Latinos from advancing to their full potential because they are pegged as working class people who do not have much means for upward social mobility. Of course, certain parts of L.A. are more conducive and open to Latino culture than others. â€Å"Since the turn of the twentieth century, East Los Angeles in particular has been a center of Latino organizational and cultural life. This has served as an important source of contextual capital for Latino residents.†3 The Latino population is exploding with bursts of growth. By 2000, after one of the most intense periods of immigration in American history, the Latino population had grown to 35 million, or nearly 13 percent of the entire population of the United States... [major] Latino population[s] of the United States live in†¦Los Angeles County (4.2 million)†¦[basically] 46.5 percent [of the population of L.A.]†4 There are many people living in Los Angeles who, for whatever reason, are assimilating to American culture by