Latino Politics

The third edition of this popular text provides students with a comprehensive introduction to Latino political engagement in U.S. politics. Focusing on six Latino groups - Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, Cubans, Dominicans, Salvadorans, and Guatemalans - the book explores the migration history of each and examines their political status on arrival in the United States, including their civil rights, employment opportunities, and political incorporation. Finally, the analysis follows each group's history of collective mobilization and political activity, drawing out the varied ways they have engaged in the US political system.

Using the tension between individual agency and structural constraints as its central organizing theme, the discussion situates Latino migrants, and their children, within larger macroeconomic and geo-political structures that influence their decisions to migrate and their ability to adapt socially, economically, and politically to their new country. It also demonstrates how Latinos continually have shown that through political action they can significantly improve their channels of opportunity.

Fully revised and updated, the new edition explores the state of Latino politics under both the Obama and Trump administrations, discussing issues such as migrant detention at the U.S./Mexico border, the aftermath of Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico, and the thawing of relations between the United States and Cuba. It encourages students to think critically about what it means to be a racialized minority group within a majoritarian U.S. political system, and how that position structures Latinos' ability to achieve their social, economic, and political goals.