Four Ethnic Groups in the US

African-Americans in the 1990s are a diverse group, yet society often focuses on their similarities. Granted, blacks as a group tend to have lower incomes than their white peers. However, the black community exhibits the same class stratification as the white community: upper, middle, and lower. Members of the black upper class include the rich and famous such as celebrities, politicians, and literary figures, along with leading members of the professional class, such as doctors, lawyers, and executives. This group includes both those who have benefitted from inherited wealth and those whose gains have been based solely on personal initiative.

The black middle class is the growing, stable core of African-American professionals, civil service workers, and business owners. Their values reflect mostly those of their white counterparts regarding the importance of education, homeownership, and family. A significant difference is that members of the black middle class do not enjoy the same degree o

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of mixed Hispanic heritage. The major Hispanic subgroups--Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, and Cubans--are concentrated in different parts of the United States, with Mexican Americans being the largest of the three groups. In comparison to their white counterparts, Mexican Americans experience a greater level of poverty and lower educational achievement: "The Chicano is significantly below the white Anglo male on most indices of inequality, including education, income, occupation, and housing." Recent immigrants to the United States face a particularly difficult time because of limited English and limited education in their home countries. In addition, the American educational system is perceived as having failed many in the Mexican American community due to high dropout rates and low achievement. Because a significant number of Mexican Americans are of mixed Indian and Spanish ancestry, they also face problems of racial discrimination in the United States. Generally, the Mexican Americans who are more European in appearance do not face the same degree of discrimination. Like Hispanic Americans, Asian-Americans are so diverse that a description of one subgroup does not necessarily describe another. For instance, a wide deg
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