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Chicano Experience

An Alternative Perspective

Alfredo Mirande

Exposing the inadequacies of the present structure for social science research on Chicanos, Mirande demonstrates how the conventional immigrant group model of society, with its focus on assimilation into mainstream American culture, cannot apply to Chicanos. He supports his theory with a detailed examination of Chicano social history and culture that includes studies of Chicano labor; the Mexican immigrant and the U.S.-Mexico border conflict; the evolution of Chicano criminality; the American educational system and its impact on Chicano culture; the tensions between the institutional Church and Chicanos; and the myths and misconceptions of “machismo.”

Alfredo Mirandé is professor of sociology at the University of California, Riverside. He is the author of the books Gringo Justice and The Stanford Law Chronicles, also published by the University of Notre Dame Press.

Reviews

“Rejecting the use of ‘Mexican-American’ as falsely connoting immigrant status, Mirande emphasizes that Chicanos are an indigenous people and that their significant indio/mestizo heritage has been neglected. Attacking the immigrant group model which concentrates on acculturation and assimilation, he discusses Chicano labor, criminality, education, the church, the family, and machismo … an interesting and thought-provoking study.” — Library Journal

“[The Chicano Experience] offers an understanding of social, cultural, and economic forces shaping the situation of Chicanos—a context absent from much of what has been written about them.” — Choice

“This is a very interesting book because the subject is interesting, because the treatment of the subject is interesting, and because it is in reality an invitation to sympathy for the Chicano.” — Social Science Quarterly

“[Mirande’s] sophisticated discussion of the interrelationship of scholarly models and cultural pluralism will be of value to all students of American culture.” — American Studies

“Mirande’s major contribution in The Chicano Experience is his proposal of a new perspective that provides for an alternative interpretation of Chicano socio-history, social status, and culture.” — Journal of American Ethnic History