Panethnicity as a reactive identity: primary panethnic identification among Latino-Hispanics in the United States

ABSTRACT

Research finds willingness to identify on panethnic terms is increasing among people of Latin American descent in the United States, as is the assertion of Latino-Hispanic panethnicity as a primary identity. The 2013 National Survey of Latinos found that one-fifth of respondents identified most often as “Hispanic/Latino” rather than with a “Hispanic origin term” or as “American”. Drawing on these data, we examine the sociodemographic factors associated with primary panethnic identification (PPI). We find that Democratic Party affiliation and Mexican heritage increase the overall likelihood of PPI. Having less than a high school education, identifying racially as “Hispanic/Latino” or “other race”, Spanish fluency, being a first-generation immigrant, and non-citizenship increase the likelihood of PPI over “American”. These results suggest Latino-Hispanic panethnicity may represent a reactive identity associated with politicization, marginalization, and racialization. Many Latino-Hispanics in the United States are opting for a racialized primary panethnic identity over an “American” identity.

KEYWORDS:

• Latinos
• Hispanics
• panethnicity
• reactive identity
• primary panethnic identification
• racialization

Acknowledgements

We thank Cary Funk, Mark Hugo Lopez, Jessica Hamar Martínez, and the Pew Research Center for allowing us to use the 2013 National Survey of Latinos.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 We use the term “Latino-Hispanic” to refer to people of Latin American descent residing in the United States. The terms “Latino” and “Hispanic” are used interchangeably and in the context of Latino-Hispanic panethnicity, unless otherwise noted.

2 We use the term “ethno-racial” because the US Census defines “Latino-Hispanics” as members of an ethnic group of any racial background. Yet, a notable share of Latino-Hispanics self-report as being “some other race,” which further complicates the Census’s designation of this group.

3 Using listwise deletion for the inferential analyses resulted in the loss of 34.6 per cent of cases from the full sample. The highest rates of missingness are associated with the following variables: Annual Income (18 per cent), Political Party (5 per cent), and Race (5 per cent).