The culture of concern and family economy among working Latino youth

Abstract

This paper focuses on Latino youth who work as a way to participate in and contribute to the family economy. Based on forty in-depth interviews conducted with Latino youth in Oakland, California, this discussion examines working children in Latino immigrant families and the cultural and social aspects of their decision to help support the family. Research findings reveal children's participation in the family economy that contradicts the perception of children as totally dependent subjects and the ultimate objects of family care. Working children in immigrant families were active agents, earning and contributing to the family's welfare and wellbeing. Although the financial need was evident, parents in Latino immigrant families never directly required or demanded that their children work for the family's sake. Rather, the youths' motivations to work derived from a general culture of concern practiced and understood by many Latino families in this study. This culture of concern was based on a tradition of respect and reciprocity central to the collective survival strategies that Latinos have relied upon for generations. Although many families studied did cohere collectively for survival, there were critical gender differences among the youths' meanings for their financial contributions. Finances were a concern for both male and female youth in my research, but Latina (female) youth recognized that family financial problems were considerably weightier for their mothers because cultural traditions and social conditions tended to shift the burden of child rearing as well as financial support in their direction. Latino (male) youth were as tuned into financial problems, but rarely indicated how sexist oppression intensified the pressure their mothers endured while addressing these problems. Finally, because of a decrease in state support and increase in economic pressure, many children in these Latino immigrant families were participating in a "multiple earner" strategy necessary to remain at a basic subsistence level. Without an increase in state support and a general improvement in wages, immigrant children will continue to work for the family's survival instead of devoting this time and energy to studying or saving for college and ascending into the middle class.