When Labels Don't Fit: Hispanics and Their Views of Identity Sandra Lilley - NBC Latino
go to original February 26, 2013

“Don’t label us,” seems to be the takeaway from a new survey on U.S. Latinos. Most of us would rather be known as “Mexican” or “Dominican” rather than “Latino” or “Hispanic,” and what is more, a majority of us – almost seven-in-ten- think U.S. Latino groups are made up of different cultures rather than a shared common culture.

These are some of the findings in a poll by the Pew Hispanic Center, When Labels Don’t Fit: Hispanics and Their Views of Identity.  Over half of Latinos (51 percent) describe themselves through their family’s country of origin rather than through a pan-ethnic term like Latino or Hispanic.  In fact, less than one-quarter (24 percent) of Hispanics use “Latino” or “Hispanic” to describe themselves.

“What we found is that a family’s country of origin is the term Hispanics prefer to describe themselves,” says Mark Hugo López, Associate Director of the Pew Hispanic Center.

“Latinos’ responses reflect our diversity in a number of dimensions,” López says, adding “this includes countries of origin, language, where you are born and what region of the country you live in.”

If they had to choose, 33 percent preferred “Hispanic” and only 14 percent say “Latino” is a better term.

Is there a Latino “culture?” Less than three-in-ten Hispanics (29 percent) say there is a “common culture” among U.S. Hispanic groups.

Read the whole story at NBC Latino

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