The Lack Of Upward Mobility Within The Hispanic Community
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Upward social mobility within the Hispanic community in San Antonio is fairly low considering the growth that has been made in terms of population. The Hispanic community has been growing in great quantities since Texas was annexed into the United States. The Hispanic community has had many struggles trying to assimilate into the lifestyle of the American culture, especially in gaining higher socioeconomic status. There Hispanic community within San Antonio has tended not to see a lot of upward mobility. When Hispanics experience social mobility other Hispanics tend to think of the higher class Hispanics as different. This may be a reason that many Hispanics are not experiencing upward mobility. There are many ways to explore the problem further in order to see why the problem continues.
To get a more in depth look at the problem I observed reasons and talked to family members during many family gatherings. In my family some people have experience upward mobility and some have not, so I observed the differences about these people and got to know why or why not upward mobility was so important to them. I also asked many of my family members if they thought there were specific reasons why they did or did not gain social mobility even though they grew up in relatively the same way. I also used life experience; I thought about friends who have chose to live their life in such a way where they knew they would or would not attain upward mobility if they were poor. And I also thought back to when I was a child. When I went to school I often went to schools on the south side of San Antonio, even though I lived on the North West side of San Antonio in nicer area of town, because my parents worked at those schools. My mother was a teacher and my father a principal at another school. Children often noticed the differences with in our class from the way I talked to the clothes I wore. To learn more about the Hispanic community in San Antonio and there socioeconomic status I looked online for different facts.
I talked extensively to family members. My family is Hispanic and many of my family members have experienced upward mobility. On my mothers side of the family all of my aunts and uncles grew up very poor. My mother often tells stories about how bad life used to be for her and what good a life my sisters and I have. My mothers sister, Maggie Shepars, has experienced a big social change. She has a Masters degree and a very wealthy husband. She experienced upward mobility because she had many opportunities, and is a very smart and determined lady. She graduated salutatorian from Mc Collum high school on the south side of San Antonio. I asked her about how she felt about her upward mobility. She told me that she felt that some of her friends think that she is too good. She does not talk to some of the friends that she grew up with any more. She has lost many friends on her trip up to a life with wealth, but she says that it was worth it. She feels happier now that she knows her children will have all that she did not have as a child. She also feels that sometimes people think that she has lost her Hispanic roots. That because she has done a good job of assimilating into the American culture that her friends and family says the she is more white, and tease her because she has forgotten how to speak Spanish fluently.
I also talked to my father, Edward Balderas, about what he has experienced because he has gained wealth and education. My father did not grow up very poor, but his parents were from Mexico and were not educated. His beginnings were much more humble than now. My father has a Masters degree and is now a school principal. None of his brothers or sisters went to college and some even live in poverty. He feels that in many times he is obligated to help family members, because he has attained wealth. They often come to him when they need money or help in other ways. My father often takes his mother out to eat and takes care of her in many ways. Because of our Hispanic culture, we do not put the elderly into nursing homes. We value and take care of the elderly members in our family. My father knows that he will be the one to take care of my grandmother when her health weakens. My father will always remember when he chose to move to a new house. He wanted a new house, and had to move from his small house from the south side of San Antonio to the northwest side of San Antonio into a big two story house in a nice neighborhood. He can remember people jokingly telling him how he was “moving on up” and other things of that nature. He felt insulted, and that people were teasing him for wanting something better for his self and family. He always knew that his house would be a trophy for him signifying his success, but he did not know that people would be negative in any way about moving from one side of town to another.
I felt that to get a very in depth look at this phenomenon that I needed to talk to people that did not experience upward mobility in my family. My uncle Pedro Flores, works unloading trucks for a company, and also works in construction when he can. He is sometimes out of work and lives in my grandmothers house when he has no place to stay. He does not have children, but can not make enough money to keep himself on his feet sometimes. I asked my uncle why he believes that he did not move up in class. He told me that he feels that he has had a rough life as a result of growing up poor. He would do drugs and drink alcohol because he was depressed about being poor and how hard his life was. He never did well in school, and felt that he did not have as many opportunities as some of his brothers and sisters. He feels that he did not have what it took to attain wealth in this society. Although he knows that his life would be better he has no desire to move up in class because he feels that he would not know how, and feels that in some ways he is just used to a life of poverty.
There were even times as a young girl that I realized that in the Hispanic culture social class did matter. When I was in elementary school I attended a school on the south side because my father and mother worked at schools on that side of town. I invited friends to a birthday party, and they noticed that I had a bigger