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Mexican-American Childhood Experience in Texas

The purpose of this research is to examine the childhood phase of life in the Mexican American community of south Texas, comparing and contrasting it with a conventional understanding of the standard American middle class experience. The plan of the research will be to set forth the principal elements of an ethnographic study of the community under investigation, and then to discuss the childhood life cycle phase in that community, comparing it with the same phase in American middle class life, with a view toward fuller appreciation of each community's body of beliefs and behaviors.

The sociocultural system of family structure into which a child is born appears to have an especially strong impact on the shape of Mexican-American childhood experience, attitudes, and behavior. This is consistent with Maslow's humanistic theory of hierarchical motivation for behavior, inasmuch as Maslow's view is that the individual is more than mere biology and physiology or indeed the accumulation of steps toward development. The hierarchy of motivation arises because it is attached to the social environment or class in which individual development takes place. In this view, environment affects the manner in which the individual experiences the fulfillment of physical survival needs on one hand and the sense of safety, belongingness to the environment, self-esteem, and self-actualization, or the potential to fulfill personal psychological needs.

Multigenerational cohesiveness of family life, shaped by hierarchically determined values and priorities, is a significant attribute of Mexican-American society across social classes. Citing the importance of family solidarity to the culture, Madsen (1973, pp. 46-7) presents examples from families that demonstrate tension between individual development and the demands made on the individual, especially on the post-adolescent individual, by the family unit. However, the binding of parents and children...

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Mexican-American Childhood Experience in Texas. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 15:51, March 28, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1712064.html