‘ a A Q i . .g‘f‘i nu fiLC‘fiK 1968 51 “J ”444 L :4 '6 t z .- "' L 11-: .2 .4 : WaflllllfllfllflfllfllHIIHIIWHIINIIUHHIWIIHII ' i; M“ ‘“ ' g . flit." 10525 7046 4. UT‘M‘T h’LIA‘h-‘fi" ” *1. ABSTRACT MEXICAN-AMERICAN CIVIC LEADERSHIP IN A NORTHERN CITY by Laura L. Morlock In this study of leadership in the Mexican-American community of Lansing, Michigan, seven tepics are examined: the structure of the Mexican-American leadership group; the social, economic, and cultural characteristics of the Mexican-American leaders; the axe ternal and internal constraints under which the leaders Operate; the major concerns of the leadership; the goals and means to obtain those goals advocated by different leaders; the ethnic values held by the leaders; and recent changes in the leadership and organiza- tions within the Mexican-American community. A two-step reputational approach was used to identify leaders within the Mexican-American community, seventeen of whom were inter- viewed. This sample was divided into "top leaders" and "sub-leaders," according to the number of leadership nominations received by each individual. "Tap leaders" were found to differ from "sub-leaders" in three ways: (1) They are more likely to have jobs which are directly related to their leadership roles. (2) They are more likely to be at least partially assimilated to dominant Anglo socio-cultural patterns with respect to choice of marital partner, language preferences, and friendship patterns. (3) They are more likely to be involved in.a large number of organizations and to occupy leadership positions within a political party. Mexican-American leadership is usually defined by knowledgeables in the greater Lansing community in terms of activities engaged in, Mbrlock and by the Mexican-American leaders themselves in terms of the mo- tives prompting leadership activities. Leaders see themselves and other leaders as playing one of three distinct roles: "social ac- tivist," "exemplar," or "representative." The problems they per— ceive in being a Mexican-American leader are related to the leader- ship role which they see themselves playing. The concerns of the leaders in the Mexican-American community, in order of importance, are: the lack of education of the peOple in the community; the lack of adequate lowhcost housing; the need for political action; the lack of job Opportunities; the problem.of cultural and language differences; the lack of ethnic unity; the problem of apathy; spiritual problems; and discrimination. Leaders who are involved in socio-political action can be dif- ferentiated according to the goals they seek for the community and the means they advocate in pursuit of these goals. A "moderate" leader seeks welfare goals and uses the means of access, or "ne- gotiation at the tap." The "militant" leader seeks §E§§9§.§9§}E and uses the means of protest. Leaders in the sample were divided evenly between these two types, although the militant style has emerged only recently. Leadership styles are less crystalized in the Mexican-American community than in some other ethnic and racial sub- communities, because socio-political activity is a recent develOpment and leaders are still experimenting with leadership styles. Therefore, militant and moderate leaders within the Mexican-American community may be subdivided further into social and political moderates and social and political militants. Leaders will adapt different styles depending on differing circumstances. Mbrlock Leaders also may be differentiated in terms of their atti- tudes toward assimilation. "Tap leaders," all of whom desire either stronger ethnic unity within the community, or a united or- ganization for political purposes, feel that the Mexican-American community will, or at least should try, to remain culturally dis- tinct. "Sub-leaders" are more likely to feel that the Mexican- American community will become assimilated, either within the next generation, or at some later date. Leadership in the Mexican-American community is exercised primarily through formal organizations. There have been three major changes in the organizational structure of the community within the last three years: (1) Social-action organizations have increased in number, membership, and activity. (2) A political action organiza- tion has emerged recently which, unlike the political organization which has existed for the last four:years, is adapting a militant, protest style. (3) There is evidence that Federal poverty programs are creating new resource bases for the emergence of new leadership within the Mexican-American community. MEXICAN-AMERICAN CIVIC LEADERSHIP IN A NORTHERN CITY By Laura LifMorlock A THESIS Submitted to Michigan State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS Department of Sociology 1968 7r' 4. ‘R bu I I '- fl .-. ‘ ) ' J K . w, , . l 4 4, ACKNOWLEDGMENTS There are a number of peOple who made this study possible. Informants in the Lansing community and leaders in the Mexican- American community must remain anonymous, but I would like to thank them for their interest and patience, and for many hours of discussions which were both informative and enjoyable. Dr. Harvey M. Choldin first interested me in the tOpic of Mexican-American ethnic leadership. I wish to thank him and Professor Grafton Trout for many valuable suggestions and cri— ticisms throughout the course of the study. I also wish to ex- press my gratitude to them for a research grant from their study of Mexican-American integration and assimilation. Special thanks should go also to the other member of my committee, Dr. James B. McKee. Lee Sloan provided advice based on his recent study of Negro community leadership. I would like to thank him.for a number of insights. I am also very grateful to my husband, Jim, for his understanding and enthusiasm. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter I. II. III. IV. Intro duo tion 0 O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O The Problem . . . . . . . Significance of the Study Research Objectives . . . Methodology . . . . . . . A Defense of the Methodology Structural Aspects of Mexican-American Leadership . Identifying Leaders in the Mexican-American Communi ty 0 O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O 0 Some Structural Aspects of Leadership . . . . . . . The Mexican-American Leader: A Social, Economic and Cultural Profile . . . . . . . . Characteristics of Mexican-American Leaders: AgeandSex oooooooooooooo The Family . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Birthplace and Length of Residence in Lansing Education .................. occupation ooooooooooooooooo Occupational Factors Relevant for Leadership . Social Class Characteristics: A Cemparison of Findings ReligionOOOOOOOO... Language Preferences . . . . Friendship Patterns . . . . . Ties to Texas and Mexico . . . . . Organizational and Political Participation Socio-Economic Differences Among Leaders: A Summary The Community Context: External and Internal Constraints on Ethnic Leadership . . . . . . . The Dominant Community: A Brief Profile of Lansing An External Constraint: The Lack of Power . . . . . An External Constraint: The "Siphoning Off" Effect . The Mexican-American Sub-Community . . . . . . . . Internal Constraints on Mexican-American Civic Leadership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Minority Ethnic Leader: A Problem in Definition Leadership Roles in the Mexican-American Community . iii Page l-’ HO‘sU‘KAH 15 17 24 24 25 25 25 26 32 32 36 37 38 39 40 5O 52 6O Chapter V. VI. VII. VIII. Major Concerns of Mexican-American Leaders . . Education: The Major Problem . . . . . . . . . The Problem of Adequate Housing . . . . . . . . The Problems of Lack of Unity and Lack of Organization . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Problem of Lack of Job Opportunities . . . The Problem of Discrimination . . . . . . . . . Goals and Means Advocated by Mexican-American Leaders: A Typology of Leadership . . . . Ideal Types: The "Militant" and the "Moderate" Conditioners of Leadership Style . . . . . . . Moderate and Militant Leadership Styles within the Lansing Mexican-American Community . . A Mbdification of the Moderate-Militant Typology Ethnic Values of the Mexican-American Leader: The Assimilation-Segregation Dilemma . . . The Dilemma: Ethnic Values vs. Civic Equality . Attitudes Toward Assimilation . . . . . . . . . Segregation as a Political Strategy . . . . . . Recent Changes in Organizations within the Mexican-American Community . . . . . . The Role of Anglo Leaders in the Mexican- American Community . . . . . . . . . . . . cone lu Si on S O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O I Bibli 0 g raphy O O O O O O O O O I O O O O O O 0 iv Page 6t: 66 67 68 69 71 73 77 79 87 98 103 104 108 LIST OF TABLES Table Page 1. Number of total leadership nominations and mutual nominations received by each leader . . . . . 22 2. Language preferences of leaders when speaking to close friends, marital partners and own children . . 35 3. Concerns of Mexican-American Leaders . . . . . . . . . . 65 LIST OF FIGURES Figure Page 1. All leadership choices of tap leaders . . . . . . . . . 20 2. All leadership choices of sub-leaders . . . . . . . . . 20 3. Leadership choices within the top leadership group . . . 23 h. Wilson's typology: Leadership styles . . . . . . . . . 89 5. Leadership styles in Lansing's Mexican American community . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 I. INTRODUCTION The Problem There are some five million people of Mexican descent or birth living in the United States. About four and a half million new live in five Southwestern states: Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas. However, the MexicaneAmerican population also seems to be growing steadily in the North Central states as Mexican- Americans, in increasing numbers, settle out of the migratory farm labor stream into northern communities. Census statistics and other studies shOW'MexicaneAmericans to be worse off in most respects than other segments of the American population. Generally they are poorer, their housing is more crowded and dilapidated, their unemployment rate is higher, and their average educational level is lower. The extraordinary aspect of this situation, as Helen Rowan has pointed out in a recent article, "is not so much that it exists as that it is so little known,"1 and ‘we might add, that so little is being done about it. One critical aspect of dominant-subordinate group relations, watson and.Samora have stated, is "the ability of a subordinate group to generate effective leadership in its relations with a dominant 1HelenRowan, "A Minority Ndbody Knows," The Atlantig,‘Vol. 219, No. 6 (June, 1967), p. 47. 2 alien people. "2 As late as 1963 Watson and Samora noted that the most outstanding fact about the Mexican-American ethnic group, besides their low rate of acculturation, is the perennial lack of leadership among them.3 Most observers agree that it has been only within the last few years that civic leadership has begun to be generated within the Mexican-American population. What has prompted this recent emergence of leadership? John Martinez lists three factors which he feels have been responsible for stimulating an interest in civic activities and the emergence of civic leadership among the Madman-Americans: the rise in the educational level among the Mexican-American population since World War II: the Negro civil rights movement which has helped indicate to the Mexican-Americans the necessity of political activity; and the Economic Opportunity programs in which many Meadow-Americans have participated at the local level.“ Ethnic leadership has been described as "the least researched and least understood aspect of ethnic life in the United States."5 This statement is applicable especially to the Meadow-American ethnic group, within which the emergence of dynaflc civic leadership has been so recent. In La Raza: Forgptten Peoples, a recent book 2James B. Watson and Julien Samora, "Subordinate Leadership in a Bicultural Community: An Analysis," American Sociological RGV'iGW, VOlo 19 (1952+), p. "’13. 3Ibid., p-414. ”John R. Martinez, "Leadership and Politics," 11‘: Raza: For- gotten Peoples , ed. Julien Samora (South Bend, Indiana: University of Notre Dame Press, 1966), pp. 49-50. 5Ibid. , p. 60. 3 on MexicaneAmericans, Herman.Gallegos, Lyle Sanders, and.Julien Samora conclude: "There has been little research on the question of leadership. How does it come into being? How can leaders function effectively given the condition that a subordinate group has to resolve its prdblems within the structure of a dominant society? (How can ethnic leadership exist when) . . . the dominant so- ciety tends to siphon off those persons whg have the characteristics for potential leadership?" Most of the research studies which do exist on.Mexican- Americans and their civic leadership have been conducted in the southwestern United.States. These questions have been explored even less in the differing conditions of urban northern cities, some of which are rapidly increasing in their MexicaneAmerican population. Significance of the Study One of the few such studies in a northern city was conducted in 1964 by John F. Nugent. His study, "Leadership in the Spanish- Speaking Community of Lansing, Michigan," concluded that "leader- ship among the Spanish-Speaking in Lansing is following a universal trend and is experiencing an gl§p_zit§l which has lifted group activity beyond the narrow confines of ghetto-like restriction."7 Nugent found the beginning of an "awakening" of major proportions within the Spanish-speaking community. 6HermanGallegos, Lyle Sanders, and.Ju1ien Samora, La Raza: Forgotten Peoples, p. 208. 7John F. Nugent, 'Leadership in the SpanisheSpeaking Community of Lansing, Michigan (unpublished Master's thesis, Dept. of Sociol- ogy, Michigan State University, 1964), pp. 25-6. L, More specifically, Nugent in his study of thirty Mexican- American leaders and fifteen organizations used "a typology which considered leader and organization in functional roles based upon either a direct, socio-political action philosophy for community development: or a traditional, religio-ethnic centered philosophy for maintenance of socio-cultural stasis. The former, progressive type was designated pragmatist: the latter, traditional type was termed perennialist."8 Leaders were designated pragmatist, peren- nialist, or moderate according to their organizational activity in each of these types of leadership. Nugent found that a little over half of the leaders were moderates: one-fifth.were pragmatists: and slightly more than one-fourth were perennialists.9 His pre- diction based upon his study was for continued growth of the prag- matist, or direct-action, type of leadership.10 There are at least three events which have occurred since the completion of Nugent's study, which might be expected to have a profound impact on MexicaneAmerican civic leadership, and which 'would seem to underscore the appropriateness of a restudy of Nexi- caneAmerican leadership in Lansing at this time. Two of these events have been mentioned above: the Economic Opportunity Act has been put into effect on the local level since the completion of Nugent's study, and since his study, the Negro civil rights movement has developed a new emphasis on the importance of politi- cal participation and political and economic power. The third event has been even more recent: the surprising success of Cesar Chavez's attempt to unionize MexicaneAmerican agricultural workers 8mm. , p. 2. 9mm. lOIbid. in California, and the encouragement that success has given to the hopes of’many'MexicanpAmericans across the country that organiza- tion among MexicanpAmericans for political, social, and economic gains is possible. Research Objectives This study had as its purposes: (1) the identification of active civic leaders and prominent civic organizations within the MexicanpAmerican community of Lansing; (2) a comparison of these identified leaders and organizations with those which Nugent. studied in 1964; and (3) an analysis of any changes which have taken place within the leadership or organizations within the last three years. The initial hypothesis was based on Nugent's predic- tion that there would be an increase in the number of pragmatist, or direct-action, types of leaders and organizations since his study in 196h. The remainder of the study was exploratory in nature. The following questions were used as guidelines: Who are the leaders in the MexicanpAmerican community as defined by'Mexican-American knowledgeables? ‘Who are the MexicanpAmerican leaders in the Opin- ions of noonexicanpAmerican knowledgeables within the Lansing community? How is MexicanpAmerican leadership defined by the leaders within the MexicanpAmerican community? Do these leaders who have been identified perceive any recent changes within the MexicanpAmerican leadership or within the MexicanpAmerican community itself? Has there been a change in the way'MexicanpAmerican lead- ers identify problems concerning the Mexican-American community 6 in Lansing since Nugent's study? 'What are the bases of influence of these leaders? Are there distinct and distinguishable leader- ship styles? What goals are preferred by Mexican-American lead- ers? What‘imejns: are preferred in the struggle to reach these goals? To what degree is there consensus among the leadership regarding goals and means? ‘What factors seem to account for any differences discovered? Insofar as goal attainment is concerned, do different leadership styles complement one another, or do they seem to undermine effectiveness of the leadership? 'What impact have the local poverty programs had on.MexicanpAmerican leadership? Does there seem to be an increase in political activity among this leadership? Can any discovered increase in political activ- ity be traced to an influence on the leadership by the "new mili- tancy" in the Negro civil rights movement, or to MexicanpAmerican unionization activity in California or Texas? Finally, from what perspectives do these leaders view the assimilation-segregation dilemma which is presented to every minority ethnic group in the United States? It was the intent of this study, in so far as possible, to place the answers to these questions in a typological framework suggested by these research findings, and the findings of other researchers on leadership among minority ethnic and racial groups. Methodology The intent of this study was to interview a sample of leaders in the MexicaneAmerican community of Lansing. A.major problem was selecting those persons to be interviewed, since there was no group designated in advance as a total set of leaders from which a sample could be drawn. A sample was developed for the study by pro- curing first a list of names of possible leaders from knowledge- able persons within the total Lansing community, and then inter- viewing persons on that list in order to verify those names and secure additional names. In other words, a two-step reputational method was employed. This method, a refinement of Floyd Hunter's reputational technique11 developed by Charles M. Bonjeanlz, when supplemented with additional sociometric data, made it possible to probe group characteristics and internal differentiation of the sample of leaders. As the first step in the reputational method used, nineteen "Anglo"13 knowledgeables were identified in the Lansing community who occupied positions of importance which affected in some way the lives of MexicanpAmericans in Lansing. In some cases, these individuals could be considered "influentials" in the total com- munity, but in most cases, they were not influentials themselves, but rather persons whose positions served as bridges between the Mexican-American population and the larger community of Lansing. They were usually persons whose jobs included at least part-time work with or for the Mexican-American population in behalf of the larger community. These were individuals, in other words, who had 11Floyd Hunter, Community Power Structure: A rStudy of Decision Makers (Garden City, New'Iork: Anchor Books, Doubleday and Co., 1963) pp 0 11-12 a 12CharlesM. Bonjean, "Community Leadership: A Case Study and Conceptual Refinement," American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 68, No. 6 (May 1963), pp. 672-681. 13WAnglo" is a term.generally used to refer to an American of noneMexican origin. In this study it is used to refer to both white persons and Negroes. 8 been appointed, either by an influential in the community such as the Governor or Mayor, or by a particular agency, to work with portions of, or representatives from, the Mexican-American population. A special attempt was made to include persons as knowledgeables who had been responsible for appointing repre- sentatives from the Mexican-American community to serve on special governmental committees on either the state or local level. Those persons interviewed included representatives from the Office of the Governor, the Michigan Economic Opportunity Office and the local Economic Opportunity Commission, the Michigan BI- ployment Securities Commission, the Lansing Human Relations Com- mittee , Michigan Migrant Opportunity, Inc. , the regional office of the Civil Rights Commission, the Lansing State Journal, the Lansing Urban League, the Michigan Secretary of State's office, the Governor's Commission on Migrant Labor, the Office of the Mayor, the Michigan Board of Education, the School of Social Work of Michigan State University. and various public and private wel- fare agencies and community centers. In most cases the persons contacted from these various organizations and offices could be regarded as systemic links between at least portions of the Mexican- American population and the larger social system of Lansing. No one definition of leadership was used in these interviews with knowledgeable persons. Rather, each individual was asked to name those persons whom he considered leaders within the Mexican- American community, and then was encouraged to explain why he con- sidered those persons named as leaders. Most knowledgeables also 9 supplied a general definition of MexicanpAmerican leadership. The remaining portions of the interviews with knowledgeables were de- signed to elicit from each particular individual information about activities or issues relevant to the Mexican-American community in which he played a role or about which he was most concerned. Interviews with knowledgeables varied in length from twenty minutes to about two and one-half hours. Theoretically, this portion of the study rested on a prOpo- sition which formed the rationale for not only Obtaining names of possible leaders from.Mexican-American knowledgeables, but from "Anglo" knowledgeables as well: A minority leader may claim at least part of his right to leadership by his access to positions of influence within the dominant society. "The minority leader must be acceptable to his own people, but his position depends ul- timately on his acceptance by the majority,"1n‘whether that accep- tance is based on his personal qualities or achievements, or on the belief that he represents a large group of people.15 As Seymour Leventman has pointed out: "He 'leads' but is the most led of persons. In his tenuous position he must pacify both groups. He must integrate their conflicting demands, those of the minority group requiring commitment to its most cher— ished values, including claims for social equality, 1#Seymour Leventman, "Minority Group Leadership: The Advan- tages of the Disadvantages," Mass Society in Crisis, ed. Bernard Rosenberg (New'YOrk: The MacMillan Co., 1966), pp. 604-605. 15It must also be remembered, as Peter Rossi has pointed out, that in analyzing bases of influence, "Reputed facts may count as much as objective facts." See Peter Rossi, "Theory, Research, and Practice in Community Organization," Social Science and Community Action, ed. Charles R. Adrian (East Lansing, Michigan: Institute for Community'Development, 1960), p. 13. 10 and those of the majority group requiring acceptance of its values, including maintenance of its dominant position. . . . Although his position rests on 'two centers of gravity,‘ it is the majority group whose judgment of his acceptability ultimately matters. In making the demands of both groups palatable to each other, the minority leader therefore must pay more homage to the majority gince it is the group that 'runs things' in society."1 It was not hypothesized that access to the dominant com- munity was the only base of influence within the MexicanpAmerican community, but rather that it was one important base which must be considered. In the second step of this modified reputational approach, those persons in the Mexican-American.community most frequently named as leaders by Anglo knowledgeables were interviewed and asked to name individuals whom they considered to be leaders within their community. This list of names was combined with the first list obtained from Anglo knowledgeables. Those persons whose names ap- peared on this ”master list" were considered to be leaders in the MexicanpAmerican community for the purposes of this study, and standardized interviews with a purposive sample from this pool pro- vided the largest proportion of the data from.which conclusions were drawn. The length of these interviews ranged from.fortyAfive minutes to four and one-half hours. The longer interviews were held in two sessions. The purposive sample mentioned above which.was drawn from this pool of reputed leaders was based on two criteria. First, the names léLeventman, pp. 604-605. ll of all leaders most frequently'mentioned were included in a sample of "top leaders." The remaining list of names included over forty individuals. Selection from this list was guided by the desire to include in the list to be interviewed names of leaders representing different aspects of the Mexican-American community. In other 'words, leaders in this subsample were selected with regard to their position within the community, as well as their reputation for leadership, in order to insure in the leadership sample, represenp tation of leaders from different areas of interest within the com- munity. In addition to the nineteen interviews with Anglo knowledge- ables and the seventeen interviews with MexicanpAmerican leaders, several unstructured interviews were held with.MexicanpAmericans who were knowledgeable in different aspects of MexicanaAmerican communi- ty affairs. These interviews, varying in length from one-half hour to a seven hour interview conducted in three separate sessions, were an invaluable orientation to the community during the early phases of the study. A Defense of the Methodology It is hoped that this refinement of Hunter's reputational tech- nique, used in a community as small as the MexicanpAmerican communi- ty in Lansing. with its estimated population of “COO-#500, avoids many of the criticisms usually levied against the reputational method of determining community influence structures.17 Five of 17Criticisms of this technique include Robert A. Dahl. "A Critique of the Ruling Elite Model," American.Political Science Re- view, Vol. 52 (June 1958), pp. #63-#6§?Herbert Kauflman and Victor 12 these criticisms will be examined briefly. One criticism of this method which is often made is that in using the reputational approach we must take into consideration inaccuracies in our respondents' perceptions. Our knowledgeables, it is claimed, may be unreliable sources of information on leader- ship. This criticism.may'be met in part by remembering that the first group of respondents were not merely observers of leadership within the MexicanpAmerican community, but on the contrary, partly responsible for the creation and maintenance of this leadership, at least to the degree that this leadership within the Mexican- American community depends on access to the dominant community, In addition, it is hoped that the one-sided view of leadership provided by the Anglo knowledgeables was counterbalanced by the opinions of MexicanpAmericans from various segments of the MexicanpAmerican com. munity. A second criticism often.made of the reputational method is that it is possible to achieve a "premature closure" of names be- fore a comprehensive coverage of leadership possibilities within the community has been obtained. A third criticism is that names of leaders which have been obtained may be people who have a repup tation for leadership. but whose actual behavior may not justify this reputation. According to these critics, these individuals Jones, "The Mystery of Power," Public Administration.Review, Vol. 14 (Summer l95h), pp. 205-212; Nelson W; Polsby, "The Sociology of Community Power: A.Reassessment," Social Forces. Vol. 37 (March 1959), pp. 232-236; Nelson W. Polsby, "Three Problems in the Analysis of Community Power," American Sociological Review, Vol. 2n (December 1959), pp. 796-803; and Raymond E. wolfinger, "Reputation and Reality in the Study of Community Power," Ameri- can Sociological Review, Vol. 25 (October 1960), pp. 636-61fl72" 13 would be reputed, but not "real" leaders. These criticisms are less valid when the reputational approach is used in a small community, where it is generally agreed, even by these critics, that any community leaders are likely to be visible to most of the community,18 and where, because of this heightened visibility, there is less likely to be a gap between reputation and its jus- tification in behavior.19 A fourth criticism against researchers using the reputational approach is that these researchers usually assume that the list of names of top leaders which they Obtain by using the reputational technique comprises a leadership structure, but before this infer- ence can be made, it must be shown empirically that "those who have the most influence are united so as to act in concert rather than in Opposition,"20 or without reference to one another at all. This criticism can be met by using sociometric techniques in addition to the reputational method: "First, if most tOp leaders also select one another as top leaders and, secondly, if, in fact, they actually indicate that they interact with one another, it seems reasonable to assume that a‘ggggp has actually been discerned as opposed to a mereziggregate of individuals with similar characteristics." A fifth criticism levied against the reputational approach is that the method assumes an essentially static distribution of 18Polsby, "Three Problems in . . . ". p. 796. l9Harold‘W’. Pfautz, "The Power Structure of the Negro Sub- Community," Phylon, Vol. 23, No. 2 (Summer 1962), pp. l6h-l65. 20W'olfinger, p. 6&3. 21Bonjean, p. 676. 14 leadership. An attempt was made in this study to avoid this pit- fall by probing in both the Anglo and Mexican-American interviews for recent changes in community leadership, and by ascertaining in each interview with the sample of Mexican-Americans how long the respondent had been involved in community affairs. II. STRUCTURAL ASPECTS OF MEXICAN- AMERICAN LEADERSHIP Identifying Leaders in the Mexican-American Community The first concerns of this study were the identity of Mexican- American leaders as defined by Anglo knowledgeables and by'Mexicanp American knowledgeables,1 and whether the two lists of leaders com- piled in these two ways differed greatly'from one another. A fur- ther concern was whether the "top leadership" as defined by both groups of knowledgeables should be defined as an unstructured ag- gregate of individuals or as a group with its own structural char- acteristics. The leadership list compiled from the nominations of Anglo knowledgeables consisted of the names of fortyatwo individuals, thirtysfive of whom were MexicanpAmerican. The remaining seven nominated leaders were noanexicanpAmericans who worked within the Mexican-American community. Although their roles were important ones to understand for a thorough analysis of MexicanpAmerican leadership, they will not be considered in detail until a later chapter. Of the thirtyefive MexicanpAmericans nominated, one person re- ceived twelve votes. one received eight votes, three received seven votes apiece, one received six votes, one received four votes, three 1These MexicanpAmerican knowledgeables were the individuals most often nominated as MexicanpAmerican leaders by the Anglo knowl- edgeables. 15 16 received three votes apiece, four received two votes apiece, and twentyzone individuals received one vote apiece. (see Table 1) Individuals who received four votes or more were designated "top leaders." The leadership list compiled from the nominations of Mexican- American knowledgeables contained the names of thirtyssix persons, thirtybthree of whom were MexicanpAmericans. Of the thirtyathree MexicanpAmericans nominated, one person received fourteen votes, one received eleven votes, one received six votes, one received five votes, two persons received four votes apiece, seven.persons received three votes apiece, five persons received two votes a- piece. and sixteen persons received one vote apiece. As in the first sample, individuals who received four votes or more were designated "top leaders." In the next step of the study these two lists of leadership nominations were combined into a "master list" of names of fiftys nine different persons, fiftyhone of whom were Mexican-American. In this "master list", twenty-five persons received at least two votes. These twentybfive persons were considered leaders for the purposes of this study. Seventeen of these individuals were inter- viewed. It is not prOposed that these twentybfive individuals com. prise a closed system.of leadership within the Lansing Mexican- American community, Rather, it is suggested that the degree of con- sensus regarding these individuals as leaders, plus the lack of concerted opinion on additional individuals would indicate that these twentyhfive persons represent at least a nucleus of Mexican- American community leadership. 17 So much has been written about the subordinate status of the woman in the MexicanpAmerican culture, and the absence of women in MexicanpAmerican community affairs,2 that it is startling to find that six of these twentyafive leaders are women. Five out of the six women are the wives of men who are also included in the sample. Some Structural Aspects of Leadership Within this group of twenty-five persons, nine received at least four votes from either the Anglo or the Mexican-American knowledge- ables, and for the purposes of this study, these persons were con- sidered "top leaders." Eight of these nine "top leaders" were interviewed. Data from the interviews of these two groups of "top leaders" and "sub-leaders" usually were analyzed separately and a number of differences were found to exist between them. These differences will be discussed at length in the following chapters. The group of "top leaders" was further subdivided into three categories. Individuals who received four votes or more from‘bgth the Anglo and the Mexican-American knowledgeables were designated visible leaders. Individuals who received four votes or more from the Anglo knowledgeables, but not from.the Mexican-American knowl- edgeables, were designated symbolic leaders, and those individuals who received four votes from the Mexican-American leaders but not from the Anglos were called concealed leaders.3 Five of the "top 2For example, see Nugent, p. 61; Sister Frances Jerome‘woods, "Mexican Ethnic Leadership in San Antonio, Texas," (washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America Press, 1949), p. 81: and Ruth Tuck, Not With the Fist (New York: Harcourt, Brace and Co., 1946), p. 149. 3This typology was devised by Charles M. Bonjean, pp. 678—681. 18 leaders" were found to be visible leaders, three were symbolic leaders, and one was a concealed leader. Some interesting dif- ferences were found to exist among these three types of "top leaders." These differences will be discussed in later chapters. The next question asked in this study was to what degree these seventeen individuals could be considered a leadership group. Of special interest was whether the eight "tOp leaders" interviewed could be considered in any sense a Mexican-American leadership elite. The answers to these questions were sought in the socio- metric data provided by the interviews with the seventeen leaders. Out of ninety-four leadership choices made by these seventeen leaders, sixtyeeight leadership nominations, or seventy-two per cent of the total number of choices, were of individuals included among these seventeen persons. ‘we may conclude then that the seventeen persons in this leadership sample are more than an aggregate of individuals unknown to one another. Furthermore, these leadership choices, far from being randomly distributed among the seventeen persons, seem to form.a distinct structural pattern. Figures 1 and 2 illustrate the differentiation of choices among the leaders interviewed.“ The top half of the circle in each figure shows the individuals designated as "top leaders." while the bottom half shows those individuals in the sample designated as "sub-leaders." The criterion of belonging to the top leadership group, it will be recalled, was receiving four or more leadership nominations from either the Anglo knowledgeables “This sociometric representation was used by Floyd Hunter in Community Power Structure. 19 or the MexicanpAmerican sample. Figure 1 represents all leader- ship choices of the "tOp leaders" in the sample. It is clear that most of the leadership choices of the members of this group are directed to other members of the "tOp leadership" group. Only five times did the "top leaders" go out of the "top leader- ship" group in order to nominate individuals as leaders. On the other hand, Figure 2 which represents all leadership choices of the "sub-leaders" in the sample, shows that the "sub-leaders" often looked to the "top leadership" group in choosing leaders. Twentyafive of their choices are among the "top leaders." These two groups were further differentiated in the number of mutual leadership choices they contained. Seven of the thirteen mutual choices in the sample of seventeen leaders occurred within the "top leadership" group. Three of the mutual choices occurred between "top leaders" and "sub-leaders" and only three mutual choices out of the thirteen occurred within the "sub-leadership" group. As the leadership array in Table 1 shows, there seems to be at least a rough correlation between the number of votes received by an individual and the number of mutual choices he made and re- ceived.5 Column 6 of Table 1 shows what percentage of all choices made by the individual were reciprocal, or in other words, mutual choices. In the "top leadership" group, six out of the eight lead- ers interviewed had forty per cent or more of their choices recip- rocated. In the "sub-leadership" group, however, a percentage of forty or more occurred in only two out of the nine cases. 50ther researchers have noticed this relationship. See Hun- ter, p. 117. Fi__gure 1. All leadership choices of tap leaders. T. Gonzalez C. Perez T. Cortazar $.11ng J. Caldron /' W ‘ E. Lopez ."AA_ - M. Rodriguez C. Alvarez i J. Garcia ‘ J. F1 ores B. Cortez . Hernandez E. Fuente\ . Juarez ,. P. Hu N ‘0’ area B. Perez Fi re 2. l eade hoices of sub-leaders. T. Gonzalez Perez T. Cortazar ‘ . Caldron E. Lopez ' . Rodriguez M. Delacruz ~ . Alvarez / T A] r J. Garcia // J\ J. Flores B. Cortez . Hernandez E. Fuentes . Juarez P. Hue . Juarez B. Perez 21 Figure 3 is a visual representation of all choices among the "top leadership" group. In all cases where a mutual choice occurs, and in most cases where a unidirectional choice occurs, the individuals indicated in the interview that they worked close- ly'with the leader they nominated in either an organization or a project concerned with some aspect of the MexicanpAmerican com- munity. In summary, it seems reasonable to assume on the basis of the sociometric data collected in the interviews with.MexicannAmerican leaders, that the eight "top leaders" in the sample constitute, not an unstructured aggregate of individuals, but an actual group with at least working relationships. It may also be concluded that the seventeen leaders in the sample are also something more than an aggregate of individuals, but the group formed by all of these leaders is of a less integrated, less cohesive pattern. Table 1. Number of total leadership nominations and mutual nominations received by each leader. l 2 3 4 5 6 Total Anglo M.A. Type Mutual % Leader votes votes votes Choices choices N=35 =18 N=lZ mutual Carlos Perez 26 12 1% v 6 109%; Juan Caldron 18 7 11 v 1 lOQfig Tomas Gonzalez 14 8 6 v 2 40% Tom Cortazar 10 7 4_3 s O 0% Ed Lgpez 10 7 .3 S 3 25% Maria Rodriguez 10 6 # v 1 EQfig Alfredo Fuentes* 7 43 4 v uk uk Manuel Delacruz 6 d 2 s l 433% Carlos Alvarez 6 l 5 C 3 5Q§ Jose Flores 6 3 3 l 16% Chuck Juarez i 2 3 2 J31? Peter Huevas 4 l ,3 l 450% Mario Hernandez 3 ,3 0 0 0% Elena Juarez _3 2 l l 16% Esther Fuentes 3 1 2 2 50% Benito Perez 3 2 1 l 25% Bill Cortes 2 1 l l 433% John Garcia 2 0 2 0 9% *not interviewed Kgy to columns: Number of leadership nominations received in total Number of leadership nominations received from Anglo knowledgeables Number of leadership nominations received from Mexican-Americans Type of top leadership: visible, symbolic, concealed Number of mutual choices with total sample of 17 leaders Percentage of total choices made by individual which are mutual ChU't-C‘KANH 22 Figure 3. Leadership choices within the tap leadership group. d! E.......‘" . Delacrus T. Gonzalez 3 v M. Rodriguez C. Alvarez c v=visible leader s=symbolic leader c=concealed leader 23 III. THE MEXICAN-AMERICAN LEADER: A SOCIAL. ECONOMIC AND CULTURAL PROFILE What kinds of men and women comprise the civic leadership group in Lansing's Mexican-American community? In the first part of this chapter socio-economic characteristics of the leaders such as age, sex, family size, education, occupation, birthplace, and length of residence in Lansing will be discussed. In the remainder of the chapter socio-cultural factors will be considered such as religious and language preferences, friendship patterns, ties to Texas and Mexico, and organizational and political parti- cipation within the Mexican-American and greater Lansing communities. Characteristics of Mexican-Anerican Leaders: Age and Sex The average Mexican-American leader in Lansing is a relatively young man in his middle or late thirties. Ages among the leaders in the sample vary from the mid-twenties to the mid-sixties. The majority, however, fall in the late twenties to early forties range.l Two of the nine sub-leaders are wunen. One is married to a fellow sub-leader. One of the eight top leaders interviewed is a woman. Her husband, however, is not active in community affairs. 1This group is slightly younger on the average than the sample of Mexican-American leaders studied by Sister Frances Jerome Woods. The average age of her sample in San Antonio was lbs-55. 21+ 25 The Family All but one of the seventeen leaders are married, fourteen to MexicanpAmericans. Two men, both top leaders in their twenties, have married outside the Mexican-American ethnic group. The average leader in the sample has three or four children, although the num- ber of children varies from one to ten. Birthplace and Length of Residence in Lansing Eleven of the leaders studied were born in Texas, five in Mexico, and one in Michigan. The average length of residence in Lansing is 15.7 years, with a range from one year to thirtybone. The average length of residence for the top leadership is 17.8 years, slightly higher than the average 15.7 years for the sub- leadership group. Few of the leaders live in neighborhoods which are predominantlyIMexicanpAmerican. Their places of residence are scattered widely throughout the city and its suburbs. Education Years of formal education among these leaders vary from three to sixteen. with a group mean of 10.7 years. This mean is five years higher than the estimated mean years of formal education of the MexicanpAmerican adult,male inLansing.2 Ten out of the seven. teen leaders have finished high school, and out of these ten, six have had at least some college experience. One member of this group has a college degree. Although he is a sub-leader, his mem. bership in this group prObably can be explained by the fact that he 2Several Anglo knowledgeables who are concerned with education estimated that the average MexicanpAmerican adult male in.Lansing has a fifth grade education. 26 has lived in.Lansing only one year. There is little doubt that these leaders constitute a group with high educational achieve- ment when contrasted to the majority of MexicanpAmericans in the Lansing community, and indeed, educational attainment was often mentioned in the interviews as one qualification for leadership. Comments such as, "He would be a leader, but he doesn’t have the education," or "He has a high school diploma, and although that doesn't sound like much, it means a lot in the Mexican-American community," were heard frequently. Occupation There is a wide variety of occupations among the seventeen leaders. In the sub-leadership group there is one state-employed program administrator, one store manager, one salesman, one skilled plant worker, three semi-skilled plant workers, one secretary, and one housewife. Occupations in the top leadership group include a semi-skilled plant worker, a secretary, a barber, a selfeemployed construction worker, and four nonpprofessional social workers en. gaged primarily in employment counselling and community'work.3 Occupational Factors Relevant for Leadership It is interesting to note that the four social workers in the top leadership youp are the only leaders whose jobs may be said to involve activities which are directly related to their positions of leadership within the community. Not only do these jobs bring 3The ninth top leader who was not interviewed has two run. time jobs which are both semi-skilled. One of the semi-skilled sub-leaders has two full-time jobs. 27 them into contact with a large circle of MexicanpAmericans, they also bring them into frequent contact with many professional per- sons in the greater Lansing community. These are the only leaders who, in their occupational roles, serve as systemic links between the Mexican-American and the greater Lansing social systems. All four of these men have served in these positions less than three years; one less than one year. Before assuming these positions, all of which were created at least in part with funds from the federal poverty program, all of these men held semi-skilled jobs. and all but one were inactive in civic affairs within the Mexican- American community; ‘With these facts in mind, it is not surprising that three out of four of these men are symbolic leaders: they were chosen as top leaders by the Anglo knowledgeables, but not by the MexicanpAmerican leaders. Although all three of these symbolic leaders are highly visible to Lansing social welfare and governp mental professionals, two are concerned in their jobs with limited segments of the Mexican-American community and one has held his position for less than one year, apparently an insufficient amount of time to establish himself in a leadership position. His own comment is revealing: "They know me but I haven't proved myself yet." Although these three men were not chosen as top leaders by the MexicanpAmerican leaders, this fact, in at least one of the cases, may be a misleading indicator of their influence within the Mexican- American community. For example, although one of these symbolic leaders received only three leadership naninations from the Mexican- American sample, the sociogram representing choices of top leaders 28 in Figure 3 shows that all three of the nominations he did re- ceive were from persons who were chosen as top leaders by the MexicanpAmerican sample, and all three of these choices were mutual ones, indicating working relationships among these indi- viduals. Although this sociometric position is unique among the symbolic leaders, this case increases in importance when we consider the fact that this leader belongs to only one civic organization, in which he participates in a nonpleadership capacity; His other civic activities are all directly related to his occupation. In other words, this man's position of leadership derives solely from his occupational activities, and there is high regard for his lead- ership among the Mexican-American top leaders, as well as among the Anglo knowledgeables. There is some evidence here that would indicate that occupations created within the last few'years by the Office of Economic Opportunity are creating new'bases for leadership in the MexicanpAmerican community. (Bases of leadership will be discussed at length in a later chapter.) Unlike the four leaders just discussed, the majority'of lead- ers in Lansing's MexicanpAmerican community must participate in any civic activities after working hours. A number of leaders inter- viewed pointed out that this situation is in contrast to the more fortunate circumstances of most civic leaders in the Anglo community, many of whom work in businesses and organizations which encourage their Junior executives to participate in civic leadership activi- ties. As one MexicangAmerican leader pointed out: "Our leaders can only spend part of their time-- and they can never do things during their jobs. Most 29 of them don't have offices with secretaries like the Anglos who are leaders or the Negroes. The Sp sh have to do everything after they get off work." This statement presents an interesting contrast to many of the remarks concerning community participation in a recent study of greater Lansing's community influentials. Form and Sauer have noted: "When (Lansing's influentials were) asked why they spent so much time, energy, and money on community participation, they suggested that community and bus- iness goals were somehow linked. Many asserted that what was good for the community was also good for business and vice versa. . . Irrespective of whether the motives (in participating in community activi- ties) were dominantly for business or for the com- munity, all of the influentials felt that they lit- erally had to restrain their organizational activi- ty to have time for business."5 Social Class Characteristics: A Comparison of Findingg In her study of Mexican-Amarican leadership in San Antonio, Texas, Sister Frances Jerome Woods found no evidence to contra- dict her initial hypothesis that "ethnic leadership is inextri- cably linked to the class structure and supplied principally by the middle classes."6 Other researchers in the Southwest have 7 reached similar conclusions . 4All quotations unless otherwise noted are taken from recorded interviews with individuals in the Mexican-American leadership sam- ple or in the Anglo knowledge able sample . 5William H. Form and Warren L. Sauer, "Community Influentials in a Middle-Sized City: A Case Study," (East Lansing, Michigan: Institute for Community Development, 1960), pp. 10.11. 6 Woods, p. 8. 7See Samara, pp. 1146-157. 30 In contrast to these studies, but in complete agreement with the findings of Nugent's study of Mexican-American leadership in 1964, none of the leaders interviewed in Lansing could be classi- fied as more than lower-middle class.8 Probably only five out of the seventeen leaders interviewed could be said to rank that highly. In the words of one Anglo knowledgeable, "Most of the leaders in the Mexican.American community have just come out of the subsistence level themselves." It is not difficult to account for the discrepancies in these findings. As Nugent has pointed out: "In some of the larger cities in the united States with heavy Spanish-speaking populations such as San Antonio,.Texas, or Los Angeles, California, the ethnic groups are only roughly comparable to that of Lansing. In those larger cities, the Span. ish-speaking have been established for many genera- tions. In numerous cases they were the pioneers and the aristocracy of the region. Not only is there a strong middle class in those cities: there is a respected upper class. They, too, have their masses of uneducated, unskilled, and underprivileged. (But) they do have a wide range of social class 3 ratifi- cation: Lansing's Spanish-speaking do not." Two recent studies of the Mexican-American community in.Lan. sing have found that these families. most of whom are relatively recent "drop-outs" from.the stream of’migrant agricultural work- ers, fall almost entirely in the lowest socio-economic stratum.10 8Nugent, p. 35. 9Ibid. 10 Nugent, p. 35: Victor Goldkind, "Factors in the Differential Acculturation of’Mexicans in a Michigan City," (unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Dept. of Sociology; Michigan State University, 1962), pp. 28-40. ‘3 In contrast to these studies. but 1:. 31KLPEI are-m 21’?- the findings °f Nugent's “336' at Hanan-ants: lasers: 3: 1961!. none oftheleadersWh“ gist-a. fied as more than 1w. an! ”‘3‘ °f th" ““3“” Incl-rs w unit-1.1M highly. In the "as of .**w leaders in the M II b ' the subsistence level m. It is net, m 1' -l I kt these fillings. LI w h#‘ The "Ins-dithw ofLan- i ty States with has] . - . . as Sam m h c 193 with the ethnic m - fl’ ' -- that of Ian-1', I. b - " themselves ish-speakig h h - ‘- ‘ . tions. In .- - - on two leaders they do be afi-‘ “ti-OI: W1 - r f--why should I ‘. gotten out of ,' .- don't have to be I from”! sing h". 3...; a: «'00 homes. They are 'out.' us organize. They stay recent 4 These are definitely our who should be active-- ers, .’ 1/ ~ / ”lained that the attitudes of Mexican- least moderately successful is: "If » it, so why does anyone need my help?" 31 Nugent concluded from his study of the general Mexican.American community that, "There was no appreciable middle class; workers were mostly unskilled and semi-skilled: education, income, and net worth were correspondingly low; home ownership and civic activity were almost negligible."ll Although some of the leaders interviewed could be regarded as middle class, there is little evidence to indicate that the small, but growing, middle class segment of Lansing's Mexican. American population is beginning to assume primary responsibility for civic leadership within the Mexican-American community. The majority of leaders interviewed agreed that although some of Lan. sing's middle class Mexican.Americans maintain social ties with other members of the community, most do not concern themselves with civic activities. The following comments from two leaders are typical: "(These) people say 'I'm well off--why should I get involved?‘ Just because they have gotten out of a bad neighborhood they think they don't have to be concerned about others." "I know some with $20,000 homes. They are 'out.' They'll socialize, but not help us organize. They stay in their nice, neat nests. These are definitely our problems. These are the ones who should be active-- they're on top." A number of leaders complained that the attitudes of'Mexican- Americans who have been at least moderately successful is: "If I can do it, anyone can do it, so why does anyone need my help?" 11Nugent, pp. 35-36. 32 Some leaders, including two leaders who can be considered middle class, lamented the tendency of moderately successful Mexican- Americans to "look down on" other members of the community.12 These leaders saw class differences as an increasingly divisive force in Mexican.American community life. Social Characteristics and Ethnicity: Religion, Language, Friendship Preferences, and Ties to Texas and Mexico Religion The Catholic religion and the Spanish language are usually regarded as strong unifying elements, binding the Mexican.American to other members of the ethnic community and to his Mexican social and cultural heritage. Sixteen of the seventeen leaders are Cath- olic. Three of these leaders added some variant of the response, "Not a very good one, though." Twelve of the sixteen, however, participate in either a religious society or a social-action organization sponsored by the Catholic Church or a Catholic com- munity center. The one non-Catholic member of the leadership group serves as a minister to a small Spanish-speaking Protestant church, in addition to his full-time job as a skilled plant worker. Language Preferences All seventeen of the leaders interviewed speak some English. Their proficiency in the language varies greatly, although fourteen out of the seventeen can communicate in English with a fair to ex- cellent degree of skill. The remaining three, all members of the 12See'W'atson and Samora for similar complaints against middle- class Mexican-Americans in Mountain Town. 33 sub-leadership group, have a greater amount of difficulty com- municating in English. One of these three must carry on any con- versation partly in Spanish. Although he has lived in Lansing for over thirty years, he began to learn English only three years ago. Most of the leaders interviewed mentioned proficiency in English as an essential prerequisite for Mexican.American leadership. The two leadership groups showed some differences in their language preferences when speaking to close friends, their marital partners, and their own children. (See Table 2) All nine of the sub-leaders and six out of the eight top leaders use both English and Spanish when speaking to close friends. Their choice of one language or the other depends on the language ability of the friend in question. Two members of the top leadership group, both of whom grew up in.Lansing, usually use only English when speaking to close friends. ‘When speaking with a husband or wife, five members of the sub- leadership group use either English or Spanish; two speak only in Spanish; and two speak only in English. In contrast, out of the seven.married members of the top leadership group, four speak only in English: two speak only in Spanish; and one leader uses Spanish and English equally; Two members of the top leadership group, it must be remembered, have married outside of the Mexican.American ethnic group. 'When speaking to their own children, the differences in the two groups are even.more striking. Five members of the sub-leadership group speak both English and Spanish in equal degrees with their children. These five are not necessarily the same five members who 34 use both languages in conversations with their spouses, however. In one case a man who speaks only Spanish with his wife, uses both languages with his children who have learned to speak English in the Lansing schools since moving from South Texas three years ago. In one case a man who uses both English and Spanish in conversa- tions with his wife will speak only in Spanish with his child in order to make sure the child will.maintain the ability to speak in both languages. Two members of the sub-leadership group use only Spanish when speaking with their children, and two almost always use English. In contrast, six members of the top leadership group use only English when speaking with their children and only one member of this group speaks primarily in Spanish. Several leaders in both groups expressed some concern with their children's lack of ability in speaking Spanish. Comments such as "It's a funny'thing, but my kids don't speak much Spanish," delivered in a surprised tone, were not unusual. Some leaders des- cribed the occasional attempts they had made to teach Spanish to their children. In one leader's words, "Sometimes we make up our minds to speak only Spanish at home so our son.will learn, but it never works out." Only two men, one sub—leader and one top leader, have made constant, continued efforts to teach Spanish to their children. One of these men described the philosophy of both: "we have a rule at home--all the children must speak only Spanish when they're at home. To be bi- lingual will be very helpful to my children.-you can go half way around the world and still use the Spanish language. If we parents stick to it, the children will not lose it." Table 2. Language preferences of leaders when speaking to close friends, marital partners, and own children. Top Leaders With ‘With ‘With close friends spouse own children Number who speak English only 2 4 6 Number who speak both languages 6 l 0 Number who speak Spanish only 0 2 l :8 Nz7 =7 Sub-leaders With With With close friends spouse own children Number who speak English only 0 2 2 Number who speak both languages ,9 ,5 ,5 Number who speakI Spanish only 0 2 2 N=9 N=9 N=9 35 36 The majority of leaders, however, who were concerned with this issue, accepted their children's lack of proficiency in the Spanish language as an inevitable consequence of living in the northern United States. Friendship Patterns The top leadership group and the group of sub-leaders also differ somewhat in the pattern of their close friendships. Four of the sub-leaders and five of the top leaders reported that they have very close Anglo friends as well as very close friends within the Mexican-American community. Five sub-leaders and only two top leaders reported that their closest friends are Mexicanquericans. One top leader and no members of the sub-leadership group reported that his closest friends are all Anglo. It is interesting that this member of the top leadership group is a concealed leader: he was chosen as a top leader by the Mexican.American sample, but not by the Anglo knowledgeables. The ethnic background of close friends does not seem to be related in a predictable way to an individual's position as a leader in the opinions of the Anglo or the Mexican- American communities. In other words, the ethnic background of a leader's close friends does not vary in a predictable way among sym- bolic, concealed, and visible leaders. Top leaders as a group, however, tend to number Anglos among their close friends more often than do the members of the sub-leadership group. Seventy.five per cent of the top leaders have close Anglo friends, in comparison to forty.four per cent of the sub-leadership group. 37 Ties to Texas and Mexico The amount of visiting friends and relatives in Texas and Mexico varies from the leader who has never been back to Texas or Mexico since he arrived in Lansing thirteen years ago, to the leader who reports, "I'd like to get down to Mexico twice a year, but I usually only manage to make it once a year." In the top leadership group two leaders visit both Texas and Mexico once a year with their families. Three leaders visit Texas every three years. Out of these three leaders one has been to Mexico only once and two visit Mexico less than every five years. Two top leaders go back to Texas and Mexico less than once every five years and one leader has not returned to Texas or Mexico since he arrived in Michigan. Visits to Texas and Mexico are not more frequent among the sub. leadership group. One sub-leader visits Mexico every two to four years. Three leaders visit Texas and Mexico less than once every five years. Two leaders have been to Mexico only once and one leader has been back to Texas only once since their arrivals in Michigan. In.most cases for both sub-leaders and top leaders, visits to Mexico are "just over the border," although several leaders in both groups have traveled extensively in Mexico during vacations. Frequency of visits to Texas and/or Mexico does not seem.to be related in any predictable way to number of leadership nominations, length of residence in Lansing, age, occupation, ethnic background of close friends, or any other factors which will be discussed in later chapters, such as leadership styles or attitudes toward as- similation. 38 Organizational and Political Participation Undoubtedly, the most important single difference between the tOp leadership and the sub-leadership groups in Lansing's Mexican.American community lies in the extent of the difference between the organizational and political participation of the members of the two groups. The number of organizational member- ships within the total varies from one to twelve. The mean number of organizational memberships is 5.25 for the top leadership group and 2.33 for the sub-leadership group. The difference between the two groups is even more striking when we consider the fact that seven of the eight top leaders, in comparison to three of the nine members of the sub-leadership group, belong to three organizations or more. The difference between the two groups is even greater with respect to political participation. All of the top leadership group and six of the nine sub-leaders are registered to vote. In the tap leadership group, seven leaders consider themselves Dem. ocrats and one leader considers himself an Independent. These fre- quencies are similar in the sub-leadership group with its six Demo. crats and one Independent.13 However, out of the seven t0p leaders who consider themselves Democrats, five hold positions of leadership in the Democratic party at the precinct level. There is no partici- pation in the political party structure among the sub-leaders. Or- ganizational and political participation will be discussed in detail in a later chapter. 13Two members of this group reported that they never thought about themselves in relation to politics. 39 Social, Economic and Cultural Differences Among Leaders: A Summary In summary, there seem to be three main areas in which the Mexican.American top leadership group differs from the group of sub-leaders, and we may hypothesize, from the majority of members of the Mexican-American community. First, top leaders are more likely to have jobs which are directly related to their leadership roles, especially to their leadership roles as perceived by the Anglo community. Secondly, top leaders are more likely than sub- leaders to be partially assimilated to dominant Anglo socio- cultural patterns with respect to choice of marital partner, language preference, and friendship patterns. This is not to sug- gest that leadership within the Mexican-American sub—community is directly correlated with assimilation to the dominant Anglo society. There are a number of factors involved in the relationship between Mexican.American ethnic leadership and assimilation. This topic will be discussed in a later chapter. Third, top leaders are more likely than sub-leaders, and we would hypothesize, more likely than other members of the Mexican. American community, to be involved in a large number of organiza- tions, including political organizations. IV. THE COMMUNITY CONTEXT: EXTERNAL AND INTERNAL CONSTRAINTS ON ETHNIC LEADERSHIP The Dominant Community: A Brief Profile of’Lansing Leadership within the Mexican-American sub-community is necessarily conditioned by factors external and internal to the sub—community. Constraints will operate on leadership not only from the ethnic community, but from the economic and political structure of the dominant community, which must, at least to some extent, determine the strategies, if not the goals, of ethnic leaders. This structure in Lansing will be examined briefly below. The main industries of Lansing, a middle-sized city and capi- tal of the state, are automobile manufacturing, metal manufacturing, and government services. Unlike most northern industrial cities, Lansing has maintained its overwhelmingly native white character in the last twenty years. Its percentage of Negroes and ethnic groups, the largest of which is Mexican.American, is well below the national average, although this percentage is increasing. Economi- cally, the area is better off than the national average: for example, seven out of ten workers own their own homes.1 According to several studies of community power in.Lansing,2 the historical picture of'Lansing's politics is domination by whom- ever dominated the business community. Ray, gt.gl., report that, 1Form and Sauer, p. 2. 2See Form and Sauer: Paul H. Ray,.gt.§l., "A Political Profile 1+0 41 "historically, Lansing has had (a) a homogeneous and concentrated power structure, (b) a lack of significant conflict or cleavage within the community, (c) little initiative from government agen- cies, in keeping with business domination, and (d) a consistent conservative bias to both electoral politics and political de- cisions."3 Form and Sauer have noted that, "The typical Lansing influ. ential is a businessman who has a great deal of contact and influ. ence, both in the business world and in the general community. He belongs to a wide range of local, state, and national business, civic, and welfare organizations where he initiates and executes major policy decisions."u As Form and Sauer, Clelland, and Ray, gt‘gl., have pointed out, most decisionamaking in Lansing never reaches the political arena: "The politician's role has little status compared to that of the business man, and no major policy decisions are made by political office holders. Consensus between (business) dominants and (political) officials tends to conceal power, and the absence of important community cleavages mgans that issues can be resolved by business consensus." Ray, gtugl., also emphasize that power in Lansing is most often "veto power." In other words, "most decisions by the Lansing (busi- ness) elite appear to be blocking changes that affect vested of Lansing,Michigan," Internal Report #11 of The Urban Regional Research Institute, Michigan State University, August 18, 1966: Donald A. Clelland, "Economic Dominance and Community Power in a Middle-Sized City," (unpublished Master's thesis, Dept. of Sociology ' and Anthropology, Michigan.State University, 1960). 3Ray,‘gtigl.. pp. “.5 4Formand Sauer, p. 3. 5Ray, 9:92;” p. 10. 42 interests. Power is far less often used to initiate actions."6 Since there is rarely any public controversy, other groups in the city are usually unaware of the decision.making process. The business elite often uses the civic association network "due to its respectability and superficially non.political aura."7 Ray,‘gt'gl. have pointed out that such a decision.making structure is neither visible nor accountable. The business elite relies heavily on "a system which ignores democratic processes in favor of in.group 'club' decisions and informal private nego- tiations."8 There are few challenges to this decision system in Lansing: "So long as the ecology of growth does not create wholly new problems, so long as the elite is reasonably efficient at preserving amenities, and so long as inde- pendent social movements do not mobilize the masses, the status quo is safely guarded. . . In.middle-sized cities such as Lansing, the elite has a far better chance of maintaining its grip on local politics, be- cause diseconomies of giant scale do not exist, and other problems of the ecology are seldom intolerable, because there is a conservative bias to the political tradition, and because the slums arg smaller--there are fewer of the deprived to organize." Lansing's political structure, which includes non-partisan ballots and at-large, instead of ward, representation, helps insure the carry over of business and upper middle class dominance into the city's politics. A number of social scientists have pointed out that, "non.partisanship allows community cleavages, based on racial, ethnic or economic discrimination, to be submerged because 6 Ibid. 7Ibid.. p. 11. 81mm. p. 15. 9Ibid.. pp. 15.6. 43 no focus for opposition is possible."10 Candidates run on personality appeals as individuals, not as representatives of blocs with special interests. Non-partisanship greatly increases the difficulty of building a party organization based upon lower class or ethnic solidarity at the local level. 'Ward elections usually allow special groupings within the population some representation, especially if a special grouping has a majority in a particular ward. For example, an estimated one-half of the Mexican.Americans in Lansing are concentrated in the northern area of the city. Under a ward election system, a candi- date from that ward, if he were not Mexican.American, would at least have to make some appeal to his Mexican.American constituents. However, in an at-large election, such as the system.used in.Lan- sing, candidates must finance a city.wide election campaign and appeal to the wide variety of interests represented by all the voters in the city's election. As Banfield and‘Wilson have ob- served, newspaper and civic associational support is crucial under these circumstances. A non-partisan, at-large election system.such as that used by Lansing, favors candidates endorsed by the city's economic dominants and discriminates against union, minority, and nonAWASP candidates. In short, politics in Lansing has been the politics of con. sensus. It must be remembered however, that Lansing's dominants 19;§;§.. p. 28: Also see Lee Sloan. "urban Government and the Politics of Race," A paper delivered at the 1967 Ohio Valley Socio- logical Association Meetings, April 27-9, 1967; Edward C. Banfield and James Q. Wilson, City Politics (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard Uni- versity Press and the M.I.T. Press, 1963), p. 307; James Q.'Wilson, Negro Politics: The Search ForgLeadership (New York: The Free Press, 1960), pp. #1-44. 44 have never been challenged in the political arena by an organized opposition group. For example, Form and Sauer found that Lan- sing's labor leaders did not perceive conflicts of interest be- tween them and other interest groups. "They thought there was a general unanimity in what needed to be done in the community. "11 Labor, therefore, is a minor force in Lansing's political life. As yet, there is no liberal politics in.Lansing. An External Constraint: The Lack of Power The Mexican-American community'in.Lansing is a small, mi- nority community with little or no social power. This lack of social power means that leaders within this community participate little, if at all, in the community decision.making that affects the lives of Mexican.Americans in.Lansing. It is leadership with- out power, and this inability to influence the course of public affairs, even within their own community, shapes the conduct of Mexican.American civic action. The inability to be powerful, as McKee and others have pointed out, has a disunifying effect on minority leadership in at least three ways. First, the development of leadership without a base of power creates uncertainty about the valid criteria for recognizing lead- ership. Leaders cannot be recognized by the goals they have ob- tained for the community, They cannot be recognized by their a- chievements. In the Mexican.American community in Lansing, and among some Anglo knowledgeables who work with Mexican.Americans, llReported in Ray, _e_t it” pp. 30-31. 45 there are often charges that most Mexican.American leaders are "self-appointed" leaders. One Anglo knowledgeable, for example, remarked: "The definition of leadership in the Mexican- American community doesn't follow through the way it should. Many become leaders by jumping out in front. They appoint themselves." As McKee noted in his study of Negro leadership in.Grand Rapids,12 the lack of criteria for recognizing the validity of leadership also places an emphasis among minority leaders on inter-personal rivalry, and produces competitiveness where there might be cooperation. This inter-personal rivalry, fostered by the lack of valid criteria for judging leadership, further increases the competi- tiveness among leaders for the intangible incentives, such as prestige, to civic action. James Q. Wilson, in his study of Negro leadership in Chicago, remarks that competition seems to be— come fiercer and more bitter when it is for intangible stakes. Tan- gible rewards, such as money, can be sought impersonally: intan. gible rewards, such as status and prestige, can be sought only in the realm of personalities}3 The amount of bitter personal competition among Mexican.Ameri- can leaders was often mentioned in interviews with Anglo knowledge— ables: 12James B. McKee, "Negro Leadership in Grand Rapids," Institute for Community Development, Michigan State University, May, 1962. (Mimeographed) 13SeeWilson, p. 286. 1+6 ". . . They personalize--even on issues. They say, 'You are either for me or against me.’ The process of cleavage and consensus they reduce to per- sonalities and loyalties." These two factors, the inter-personal rivalry generated by lack of power and the competition for the intangible rewards of participation in civic action, probably account for the factions created by personal antagonisms better than the explanations based on Mexican.American cultural traits which are usually advanced. It was mentioned in an earlier chapter that one criterion for recognizing minority leadership may be degree of access to in- fluentials in the dominant community. However, these individuals with access may not be recognized as leaders within the minority community, and other would-be leaders may challenge their right to represent the minority community. Several of the Anglo knowledge- ables interviewed who are responsible for selecting Mexican.American representatives to serve on Human.Relations. Civil Rights, and other committees for the city, complained about the difficulty of choosing individuals to represent the Mexican.American community. The following remark by a city official was heard many times throughout the study: "There are several splinter groups. Several times people have come to me after someone has been appointed to serve on a committee and have told me, “He doesn't speak for us.'" McKee has pointed out a third consequence of the lack of social power within a minority community, a consequence which was observed over and over again in this study. He notes that the 47 lack of social power within a minority community makes difficult the development of realistic community goals, which in turn pro- duces varying interpretations as to how the minority community might best pursue its own interests. This disagreement over how to proceed in the face of limited social power contributes to dis- unity'in.the minority'community, which.reduces even further the community's potentiality for social power.1n An Anglo knowledgeable, in commenting on leadership factions within the Mexican-American community in Lansing, expresses a sim- ilar idea, an idea which was a common theme among those interviewed in the greater Lansing community: "The absence of a common goal is what is disuni- fying. . . There gag clear-cut issues, but there is no solid view on them. There is a whole area of contra- diction. They don't understand democracy which is the right to disagree, but somewhere to reach a consen- sus-~a decision that the group will move with. They don't understand this--they personalize, even on is- sues. . . (They) spend most of their time fighting one another because they are unwilling to organize to fight the system which is so complex. . . No one has demonstrated all the necessary leadership quali- ties, (but) if these people would combine in a single effort, they would have an irresistible force." It is also important to note that in most instances, leaders in the Mexican.American community who try to influence civic af- fairs by their access to the dominant community are powerless in a double sense. Not only are these leaders remote from the centers of decision-making, but often the people they try to influence are powerless to affect the kinds of changes sought by the Mexican. 1“See McKee, p. 25. 48 American leaders. Often in the interviews, Mexican-American leaders mentioned the necessity of putting pressure on politi- cians in Lansing, on the "City Hall." No leader mentioned the economic structure in Lansing, or any pressures city politicians and other city officials in Lansing might be under to protect vested interests. Access to politicians and city officials in Lansing is not access to the circles of ultimate decisionpmaking. The strategy of "access" in contrast to the strategy of "protest" will be discussed in a later chapter. An External Constraint: The "Siphoningeoff Effect" Leadership within the MexicanpAmerican community is also threatened by the "siphoning-off" of leaders by the social system and the cooptation of leaders by the political system. ‘Watson and Samora have described a "siphoning-off effect" in their study of the MexicanpAmerican community of Mountain Town, an effect which seems to be operative in.Lansing: ". . . The ranks of the Anglo social structure are not completely closed to the exceptional Spanish individual who achieves appreciable mastery of Anglo culture. . . Anglo discrimination is paradoxically not rigid enough, in a sense, for the 'good' of the Spanish as a group. That is, those able to deal with Anglos on their own terms frequently have a chance to do so——as individuals. Hence, they are not completely frustrated, embittered, or thrust back into their own group where they'must either quit the struggle alto- gether or turn their energies and skills to leading their people in competition with the Anglos."15 The barriers of discrimination are not as high in the white, 15Watson and Samora, p. #20. 49 northern United States for successful Mexican.Americans as they are for some other groups. For example, it has been pointed out frequently that a Negro professional has trouble in most places in the United States in not becoming a professional Negro. He may be regarded as a leader or spokesman for the Negro group whether he desires this position or not. In the social structure of the northern United States, however, it is easier for the Mexican-Amer- ican to become invisible. It is possible, and in some places a frequent occurrence,16 for potential leadership to be "siphoned off" from the Mexican-American community through structural and cul- tural assimilation. For example, one of the sub-leaders inter- viewed, who is beginning to participate more in the Anglo community, remarked: "Here in Michigan you can't stay together like in Texas. In Texas there is a definite line between the Negroes, the Anglos, and the Mexicans. But here it's not like that. And Mexican.Americans' lives be- come more involved with other things. . . " 'What this sub-leader regards as a natural process is regarded as a problem by some of the other leaders interviewed. Eight of the seventeen leaders feel that the withdrawal of successful Mexi- can—Americans from the ethnic community, and the resulting loss of their potential leadership, is a definite problem in Lansing. They feel that this problem will become more critical as an increasing number of Mexican-Americans enter the middle class, leaving the Mexican.American majority to solve their social problems without 16See‘WOOds, p. #0. 50 the advantages of ability in English, education, occupational training, knowledge of the Anglo social, cultural, political and legal systems, or leaders with these abilities or knowledge. As Simmel observed, social mobility results in the loss of the mi- nority group's reservoir of talent and leadership.17 An equal danger awaits those talented individuals who elect to remain within the ethnic community and to involve themselves in its civic activities. Because a minority leader serves as a rep- resentative of the ethnic community to members of the dominant 18 of the ethnic society, in a sense, he leads "from the periphery " community, where he is in constant danger of cooptation by the domi- nant political system. Ray,.gt‘§l. note that there appears to be a trend in Lansing to coopt leaders of lower class or minority groups in the civic associations. They describe the incorporation of a Mexican-American leader into a highway project which was being protested by Mexican- Americans whose neighborhood was about to be destroyed by the project.19 or course, the addition of this leader did not give the Mexican-Americans a voice in the decision, but it helped legitimize this decision in the eyes of the dominant community. The Mexican.American Sub-community In the late 1920's Mexican agricultural workers began to travel through Michigan in large numbers as part of the migrant farm labor stream. The initial Mexican settlers in the Lansing area were l7Quoted in.Leventman, p. 610. 18Ibid, 19See Ray, 9.13.21." p. 30. 51 drop-outs from this stream. By the end of Werld war II, two hundred Mexican families had settled in and around Lansing. Since that time the number of MexicanpAmerican.families in the area has more than tripled. This number is still increasing as migrant workers, usually Mexican.Americans from Texas, continue to settle out of the migrant stream, or as individuals and families migrate to the North in search of higher paying jobs. The Lansing Mexican.American population is now estimated to be between 4000 and 4500, or about 800 families. The population is con- centrated in four main areas of Lansing, although it is slowly be- coming more dispersed. 'WOrkers in the MexicanpAmerican community are mostly unskilled and semi-skilled. The average educational attainment for a man is estimated to be the fifth grade. The majority are at least nominal Catholics, although the Protestant sector is growing. Lansing now has four Spanish-speaking Protes- tant churches. It is, of course, a feeling of unity, a "we" feeling, that de- fines the boundaries of an ethnic community, This is especially true if the community is not ecologically distinct. In other words, a community, rather than an aggregate, exists if Mexican-Americans in Lansing are conscious of being members of an ethnic community, Fourteen of the seventeen Mexican-American leaders interviewed feel that the Mexican.Americans in Lansing form a "real community." Six of these leaders feel there exists "a real feeling of unityz-a desire to stay together." Five leaders maintain that a "social community" exists. These leaders feel that members of the community are bound together by their desire to participate together in social activi- 52 ties such as MexicanpAmerican dances and sports events. Two leaders feel that members of the community are united primarily ‘by a common religion, and two feel they are united primarily by a common cultural heritage. In contrast, three of the leaders interviewed, all members of the top leadership group, feel that it is misleading to speak in terms of a Mexican-American community in Lansing. One feels that there is too small a number to constitute a real community and two feel that there is too much.diversity and not enough co- hesiveness among Mexican.Americans to constitute a community. It is interesting to note that attitudes toward the reality of a Mexican-American community in Lansing are related to the differing goals of Mexican-American leaders. This relationship will be dis- cussed in a later chapter. Internal Constraints on Mexicanzémerican Civicégeadership Ethnic leadership is conditioned not only by constraining factors from the dominant community, but also by factors from within the ethnic community. Several constraining factors were mentioned frequently by the MexicanpAmerican leaders who were inter- viewed. Some of these factors have been discussed by researchers in other minority sub-communities. The MexicanpAmerican leader in.Lansing is faced with a dilemp ma common to many ethnic leaders. The MexicannAmerican community is relatively powerless. It is necessary to present a united front, a show of solidarity, to the greater community in order to attain any goals at all. Yet the MexicanpAmerican community is fragmented into 53 many small groups with many interests. Again and again in the interviews, leaders mentioned the heterogeneity of the Mexican- American community, the consequent differences in interests and differences in desired goals, and the problems of trying to get a heterogeneous group to work together to solve what the leaders feel are common problems. One leader expressed a common senti- ment when he lamented, "The most important problem is unity. I don't know what it is, but trying to get the MexicanpAmerican people together is like trying to get a tiger by the tail." There were a number of reasons advanced to explain the elup siveness of the unity many leaders desire. Many of these reasons emphasized the heterogeneity of the population. One leader stressed the differences in the different groups of Mexican-Ameri- cans who have migrated from different regions of Texas, with their different customs: "There's always been the problem of unity of the SpanishpAmericans in Lansing. Very'few’people stop to think, 'Why?‘ The answer is in.Lansing:'We have people from the south of Texas in the Rio Grande Valley, from the Larado area of Mexico, the San Antonio area, the Dallas area, the Crystal City area. These people were brought up in their own communities with different ideas of living, acting, and thinking." One leader mentioned the increasing heterogeneity in religion among the Mexican-Americans: "You can't ignore the problem of religion. It always comes in. There are some of us who aren't Catholic and it's like they have the plague or some- thing. It doesn't seem to matter if a noanexican- American isn't Catholic, but for a Mexican not to be Catholic seems horrible to a lot of people." 54 Two factors which have already been discussed can be ex- pected to produce an increasing amount of heterogeneity in the community: increasing differences in social class and increasing differences in degrees of acculturation. Many leaders feel that the greatest problems which Mexican- American leaders face spring from the cultural heritage of the community. There were three commonly mentioned cultural con- straints on ethnic leadership. Four leaders feel that a great problem for leadership is created by the emphasis placed by the Mexican culture on the importance of individual independence: "The main problem is that we're loners. We don't unite. We want to do things to get ahead in our own way. For example, when I was in college, the Cubans, the Puerto Ricans, all seemed to stay together within their own groups, but the Mexican girls never seemed to stay together. It's the same way here." "Anglos help people 'above them' to help them. But the Spanish-speaking person says, 'I'll help myself.‘ He's proud and he won't tm'n to anyone, especially those above him." Several leaders feel that the cultural value of loyalty to the extended family and a concommitant withholding of loyalty from groups outside the extended family also pose ' a problem for lead- er ship : ". . . PeOple have so many personal, social, and economic problems in their own home-u-they don't realize that by raising their voices they can help others. This isn't really apathy. It's just that everyone is involved with his own family. The Mexican-Americans don't break away from the family structure as other minorities do." 55 Over one third of the leaders in the sample feel that one of the greatest problems of leadership is the jealousy and suspici— ousness of the Mexican-American people. Some view this jealousy as a cultural trait: "One problem with us--we are suspicious of our own race. 'We are so jealous--we divide ourselves. As soon as one of us gets up there so even the grin- gos admire him, the people start talking. They will say, 'I wonder how much he's getting under the table.'" Other leaders view this tendency, not as a cultural trait, but as a result of the condition of minority groups everywhere: "You get a community with a certain level of ed- ucation, and they have a tendency to mistrust. Once a leader gets to a certain height they say he's working for himself. That's why we don't have many leaders. They get so discouraged." "There is mistrust, jealousy. . . Because every- one is poor, as soon as one of us gets a little higher-- people say, 'Don't expect me to help you get an even better position.‘ And they shun that one." "There is a tendency in minority groups to drag a man down if he gets too high. There is always a tendency among lower groups to do this. ‘we have this thing among our people." It is interesting to note that these characteristics of mis- trust and jealousy are attributed not only to the majority of mem- bers of the Mexican-American community, the potential followers of these leaders, but also to other leaders of the community. ‘When the leaders in the sample were asked if they felt that Mexican- American leadership seemed capable of working together, nine of the leaders, or over half the sample, answered in the negative. 56 The reasons most frequently given for this inability to work in concert were mistrust and jealousy on the part of other leaders. Once again, it is probably'more fruitful not to regard this phe- nomenon as an ethnic trait, but as we discussed above, as a con. sequence of the intangible rewards of civic action which.must be pursued in the realm of personalities, and as a consequence of the relative powerlessness of the leaders. It is interesting to note that only one leader saw this division into factions, not as a result of personality traits, but as a result of differing be- liefs concerning the means to use in the pursuit of commonly a- greed upon goals. Many leaders, especially those in the top leadership group, saw a number of other important constraints on Mexican-American ethnic leadership. Problems seen as inherent in the role of the ethnic leader will be discussed in the next section. Constraints imposed by the necessity to work within a formal organizational framework will be discussed in a later chapter. The Minority Ethnigiégader: A PrOblem in Definition A study of leadership cannot proceed for long without some working conception of leadership. There must be criteria for se- lecting those individuals to be studied as leaders. This study did not begin with a definition of leadership, a list of criteria for selection of the population to be studied. Rather, one of the goals of the study was to discover who are considered leaders and what constitutes leadership in the MexicanpAmerican community, It was recognized that there would be no complete agreement on these two 57 questions either within the MexicanpAmerican community, or be- tween the Mexican-Americans and the Anglos concerned with lead- ership in the Mexican.American community. A definition of minority leadership presents special prob— lems. Usually definitions of leadership contain an influence or power component. But leaders within the minority community are leaders without power in the usual sense. Sometimes leaders are described in terms of outstanding personal achievement. But if this criterion is used in the Mexican-American community in Lan- sing, even the individuals who are described as leaders by knowl- edgeable persons in the community would not qualify. As one man remarked: "One criterion for leadership has always been ed- ucation. But you can't look for this in the Mexican- American community because there isn't enough." A third definition often used to designate a leader is a positional definition. A leader holds a position of honor or authority in a formal organization. It is conceivable, however, that positions within formal organizations are not the only basis for leadership. It is possible that organizations are created by leaders as often as leaders are created by organizations, especially in a community where many organizations are short-lived or greatly fluctuate in membership and activity from time to time. In the first phase of the study leadership was given an db- stensive definition. Knowledgeables were not asked to define lead- ership, rather they were asked to point out people whom they con- sidered leaders. Later both Anglo knowledgeables and individuals who 58 had been selected as leaders were asked to describe a leader in the Mexican-American community. The overwhelming majority of Anglo knowledgeables described a Mexican-American leader in terms of his activities, his functional roles, within the community, Leaders were described as "individu- als who are working for the community" or "men who are trying to better the situation of the Spanish-speaking." Occasionally, lead- ers were defined as organizational leaders within the community, Even less often were leaders described in terms of personal quali- ties, such as charisma or a feeling of empathy for the Mexican. American people. Only one Anglo knowledgeable described a leader in terms of his relationship to the dominant community: "Leaders are those who have been here and have learned to get along with people like you and me. They are residents who live here and who have developed a certain type of leadership. They have learned either to live with it or how to get around it. They face the barriers of language, jobs, housing, and atti- tudes. He has become a leader if he adapts and is ac- cepted with respect, even though sometimes he is not recognized as a leader." This type of definition eliminates, of course, the protest type of leadership which refuses to accept or adapt to the status quo. Although this definition of the "good" leader was not en- countered often among the Anglo knowledgeables, the knowledgeable ‘who did think in these terms was more influential in the community' than.most of the individuals interviewed. His attitude toward Mexican.American leadership is probably representative of many de- cisionemaking circles within the community. Definitions of leadership among the Mexican.American leadership 59 sample, like those definitions given by Anglos, rarely included references to tangible achievements, either of a personal nature, or on behalf of the community, Few individuals described a leader as "someone who has really done something for the people," or "some- one who has really produced." Rather, a leader was usually des- cribed as someone who is trying to do something. Even more rare was a definition including the criteria of financial success or ed- ucational achievement.20 The only type of achievement mentioned consistently throughout the interviews was the achievement of the respect of the people in the community. Usually this respect was regarded as a result of personal qualities of the leader. Far more often than the Anglo knowledgeables, the Mexican- American sample described a leader in terms of his personal quali- ties, especially his motives for desiring leadership. Over half of the sample described a leader as "someone who thinks of the group and not of himself." .A leader "is reliable," "is dedicated," and most importantly, is willing to give of his time to help the group: "To be a leader you have to be a little of a nut, because a leader gives the best of himself, not his possessions. And you have to be willing to put a lot of time in trying to help other people." It is important to note here that motives, unlike tangible achievements or positions in organizations, are inferred or imputed by the observer, and therefore a much less stable base on which to build a reputation for leadership. If a reputation for leadership 20The one exception to this generalization is that a number of MexicanpAmerican leaders felt that a leader in their community should have at least some high school education. 60 depends on the inferred or imputed motives of the leader, then criticisms of a leader are likely to be criticisms of his per- sonal character rather than criticisms of his ability to obtain desired results for the Mexican-American community. The emphasis placed by the MexicanpAmericanson the motivation of a leader probably can be regarded as one more factor stimulating conflict on the personal level among the leadership. Leadershiproles in the Mexican.American Community Excluding the personal qualities necessary for leadership, a leader was described most often.by the Mexican-American leadership sample in terms of his activities within the community. Three lead- ership roles were mentioned frequently: the "social activist," the "exemplar" and the "repre sentative. " In addition to describing a leader in the community in one of these three ways, each leader us- ually placed himself in one or more of these roles. The problems perceived by an individual in being a leader within the Mexican- American community were always related to the leadership role an individual saw himself playing. Thirteen out of the seventeen leaders included in their des- cription of a leader, activities such as "finding out problems, seeking solutions, and helping a group attain goals." This type of leader, whom we have called the "social activist," is goal-oriented. All of the top leaders and a few of the sub-leaders perceive them. selves, at least to some extent, in this role. These leaders can be differentiated further according to the nature of the goals they seek for the community and the means they espouse in order to reach these goals. This type of leadership will be discussed in detail 61 in a later chapter. It is consistent with this conception of lead- ership that the greatest problems this type of leader sees for the leadership within the community are the diversity of the community and the difficulty of getting the people to work together. Five out of the seventeen leaders included in their descrip- tion of a leader "someone who is a good example in his behavior." Included in this idea is not only serving as a model for other Mexican-Americans to emulate, but also presenting the best possible example of a Mexican-American individual to the community at large. Five leaders, including four sub-leaders and one top leader saw them- selves in this role. They perceived the criticisms and jealous gossip of’members of the Mexican-American community as some of the greatest problems faced by'MexicanpAmerican leadership: "People in the Spanish-speaking community define a leader as someone who sets a good example, mostly by the way he lives. They would consider someone a leader if he was respected--if he had bad habits, they wouldn't consider him a leader." "A good leader always has to remember that he is representing the whole community. He has to be on guard twentybfour hours a day like a priest. He is representing the Mexican.American community to the whole community. The biggest downfall is to let that go to your head. You always have to be the same. Even if you are among friends, you have to be careful. If you drink, if you use bad language, if one day you lose your temper, three years of work can go down the drain. The word gets around and you lose respect." The role of "representative" of the Mexican-American community in a more formal sense than that implied above was mentioned by five leaders in their description of leadership. This type of leader "speaks for the people" to members of the Anglo community. Only 62 one leader clearly saw himself in this role, and he mentioned constraints on the ethnic leader which were not perceived by other leaders in their roles of "exemplars" or "social activists:" "You must have a dual thing. You have to be ac- tive in the Mexican—American community and liked and respected by the Mexican-Americans and you have to be respected by your Anglo counterpart. I've been criti- cized for not mixing with MexicanpAmericans. But it's harder for a Mexican leader. You have to be active in both communities. I've found myself going to meetings four or five nights a week. . . Sometimes I feel I'm spreading myself too thin." It is interesting that the individual named as‘thg top leader by both the Anglo knowledgeables and the MexicanpAmerican leaders included all three of these roles in his description of a leader and perceived himself playing all three. He was also mentioned in each of these roles by other individuals. Two important constraints on ethnic leadership cut across all of these roles and were mentioned again and again in the interviews: the problem of time and the importance of the support offered by a leader's spouse. The most important resource of a leader in the Mexican- American community is his time and energy, Unlike more powerful community leaders in the dominant community who may contribute their reputation, their prestige, their powerful influence or monetary or other resources to a project, the Mexican.American leader can only contribute his activity. Consequently, one of the most important factors for Mexican.American leadership is the availa- bility of time. "Not enough time" was usually named as the most important problem of the Mexican.American leader. 63 A second problem mentioned by a majority of the leaders, and one related to the problem of time, is heavy home responsibilities, allowing time for little activity outside the home. A surprising finding of the study was the heavy emphasis most leaders placed on the importance of the spouse's support for leadership activi- ties. A few leaders went so far as to maintain that a man couldn't be a leader unless his wife was a leader too. ‘When these individuals were asked to name leaders in the community, they in- variably chose couples who are both active in civic activities. Other individuals merely emphasized the importance of support from the marital partner. Several comments were made similar to: "He 'would be a leader, and a good leader, but he doesn't have his wife behind him." A number of leaders paid glowing tribute to their own wives during the interview: "Behind every good man you've got to have a real good wife. 'we have meetings most of the night-~if it's not one thing, it's another. And all this work, all these meetings, take a lot of time. A few years ago our five year old asked my wife if her father was still living with them. That slowed me down for awhile! But so often you're away from your family. You've got to have a good understanding wife. My wife will say, 'Well--as long as you're doing something good for the people.‘ ‘we understand each other." V. MAJOR CONCERNS OF MEXICAN-AMERICAN LEADERS One of the major purposes of this study was to ascertain the important areas of concern of leaders in the MexicanpAmerican com- munity. Leaders were asked, "What do you think are the greatest problems of the Spanishpspeaking people in Lansing?" Community problems mentioned most frequently are shown in Table 3 along with the percentage of leaders mentioning each problem. Nugent also asked this question in his study of Mexican.American leadership in Lansing in 1964. The percentages of leaders mentioning each community problem in his study are shown in column 4 of the table.1 A comparison of these percentages is somewhat misleading, however. Many leaders emphasized the interrelations among these problems, and it is likely that the same problems are included under different headings in the two studies. For example, eightybthree per cent of the leaders in Nugent's study were concerned about the problems of youth in the community. The specific problem troubling most of the leaders, however, was school drop-outs. This problem is in- cluded under education in this study. Also, it is likely that more leaders than are indicated by the frequencies in the table, are con- cerned about social conditions in the community such as poor housing and lack of job opportunities. Some of these leaders see the basic problem underlying poor conditions as lack of education, and this JNugent, p. 56. Table 3. Concerns of Mexican-American Leaders. Social Problem Number fiLeaders %Leaders Times Concerned Concerned Mentioned 1262 1264 Education 14 82% 100% Housing 5 29% 40% Political action 5 29% 27% Lack of job Opportunities 5 29% 90% Culture and language 4 24% 0% differences Lack of unity 3 18% oil. Apathy 3 18% 0% Spiritual problems 2 12% 0% Discrimination 2 12% 20% Youth problems 0 0% 83% 65 66 was the only problem they mentioned which was important to them. Education: The Major Problem Fourteen out of the seventeen leaders, or eightyetwo per cent of the sample, regard lack of education as one of the most imp portant problems in the MexicanpAmerican community. To many of these leaders, education is not only the most important problem facing the community, it is the root of all other problems as well: "There is one big problem and I wish I could put my finger on it. It's got to go down to lack of ed- ucation." "It's all through educationp-I don't see any other way. Programs start and it's always the educated people who are heads of these things. Jobs demand education. The Mexican-American will always be working in a shop if something isn't done." Most of these leaders who are concerned with lack of education, and see this lack as the cause of other problems, are especially concerned about the Mexican-American school drop-out. A few leaders see this problem as one brought on by the Mexican-American students themselves: "Another big problem is education. But a lot of times peOple bring problems on themselves. Only a small amount of Mexican.Americans even finish high school. A lot of people blame the problem on the schools, but dropping—out depends on the boy, A lot of times he wants to make money." Some leaders feel the responsibility for this problem resides with the families of the children involved: 67 "Some of us are failing to keep our children in school. Sometimes we have to push our pride a little to one side--the only way we're going to get something is by education. It embarrasses a father when he can't help his children with their school work, and it becomes hard to remember how important education is. It is hard to remember to encourage our children." Some leaders feel the biggest cause of drop-outs is the drawing power of the large factories in Lansing where a high school education is not required. They feel a Mexican.American boy will quit school as soon as he is able in order to start working full time. Often the money he earns is needed to help support a very large family. However, the majority of leaders concerned with the drOp-out problem place the blame on the school system, especially on its unwillingness to deal with the language problem and on the lack of adequate counselling: "Not enough has been done in the schools. The cur- riculum is in English--it doesn't take the bilingual youngsters into account. They are asked to perform as well as the Anglos." "Not enough attention is paid to the Mexican- American students. For example, there are scholar- ships for lowbincome students, but none of the Mexi- can-Americans were informed about the tests for these scholarships." The Problem of Adequate Housing Five of the seventeen leaders interviewed mentioned housing as an important problem in Lansing. For three of these leaders it 13.222 important prOblem. All of these leaders noted that discrim- ination is not a concern here. Rather, it is a lack of adequate 68 low cost housing for large families: "The first problem is housing. The landlords know that the people don't have any other place to live. Rent is terrible. The landlords don't do any- thing to fix up the house-~they will move people in with just a roof and running water. The people have no choice-—there aren't enough houses being rented, yet they are blamed by the community for 'living that way.‘ Another problem is finding housing for the size of most families. And another problem--whenever they put a new highway through, they move people around as if they were cattle." The Problems of Lack of Unity and Lack of Organization Five leaders out of the seventeen, all members of the tOp leadership group, feel the greatest single problem in the Mexican- American community is lack of a united organization. These lead- - ers trace the social problems in the community to a lack of power. Because this concern is also regarded as the most important goal for Mexican.American leadership by these leaders, it will be treated in detail in a later chapter. Three sub—leaders are also deeply concerned with the problem of uniting the people for a common effort to replace the fragmented individual efforts which they feel are a part of the Mexican-American cultural tradition. However, they view the problem, not in terms of lack of a formal organization for the creation of a power base, but rather in terms of a lack of unity. The real difficulty, these leaders say, is that peOple don't care about helping others. This problem is related to the concern of some sub-leaders with the prob- lem of apathy: "There's quite a few struggling to get out of the rut. Some have not succeeded and a lot don't care 69 any more. They've given up on themselves. These prob- lems are so big, so frustrating. At one time they struggled to better themselves and couldn't do it be- cause of lack of education or discrimination. Now they just don't care. I guess you call it apathy. . . If the whole community would get together--if we could get two hundred people interested in helping their fel- low man-~and if they could prove they really cared. . ." The problem, then, for these leaders is not lack of a socio- political organization, but lack of religio-ethnic unity. This concern will also be discussed in detail in the next chapter. The Problem of Lack of Job Opportunities Five leaders are concerned with the lack of job opportuni- ties in.Lansing. Four of these leaders feel the basic problems 'which result in a lack of job opportunities are lack of basic edu- cation, lack of job training, or the language barrier. Only one leader feels that this problem is a result of discrimination. The Problem of Discrimination The great majority of the leaders interviewed feel that dis- crimination is not a major problem for the Mexican-Americans in Lansing, at least not at this time. Most agree with the leader who stated: "we are about fifty years behind everyone else in everything. 'You name it and we're behind. Take the colored people--they already have many professionals. If I complain to the mayor about discrimination, he ‘would ask for our qualifications. ‘we can't cry dis- crimination yet: we don't have the qualifications." Only one leader feels that discrimination in the sense in which the term is usually used, is a definite problem in Lansing. A few 70 other leaders, however, believe that discrimination is a problem in a somewhat more subtle way. The concerns of these leaders were expressed most clearly by a Mexican.American knowledgeable who was interviewed, but who was not among the sample of leaders: "The problem.is discrimination, although maybe this isn't the right word. But people also discrim- inate who don't realize that Mexicans should be excused for some things. These people aren't sensi- tive to the Mexican-American and his problems. They don't realize the need. For example, in the schools they won't motivate the kids. There is little effort to keep the children in school. Some people in.Lanp sing are greatly affected by this kind of discrimina- tion." In summary, there is some consensus among the leadership in regard to the most important problems of the Mexican-American com- munity, The great majority of leaders see lack of education as the greatest problem facing the community. A lack of adequate housing and a lack of job opportunities are also commonly'per- ceived as important problems, but usually as problems related to the general lack of education. The concern for the need of united political action in the form of a strong Mexican.American organiza- tion is also shared by a number of leaders. This concern, as opposed to a desire for greater religio-cultural unity, differentiates most of the top leadership group from most of the sub-leadership group. These two concerns are the topics of the next two chapters. VI. GOALS AND MEANS ADVOCATED BY MEXICAN-AMERICAN LEADERS: A TYPOLOGY OF LEADERSHIP A number of researchers in the area of minority racial and ethnic leadership have used typologies of civic leadership styles based upon such criteria as goals pursued, means employed, and rhetoric used.l Such typologies have been used either to repre- sent actual empirical clusterings of leaders, or simply as heur- istic devices. In order to enhance the possibility of comparability of the findings of this study with other studies of'minority leadership, a typology of leadership styles among Mexican-American leaders in Lansing was constructed. This typology is based on one used by James Q. Wilson in his study of Negro civic leadership in Chicago.2 In his analysis of leadership styles he constructed two "artificiallya polarized ideal types" in order to facilitate the description of Negro civic action styles. It should be pointed out immediately that these polarized types "fit" the empirical data of this study less well. However, the use of this typology has two particular ad- vantages: it facilitates the comparison of findings regarding lead- ership styles; and this typology depicts the possible courses Open to MexicanpAmerican leadership in Lansing, and thus aids both in the lFor example, see Gunnar Myrdal, An American Dilemma (New York: Harper and Brothers, Publishers, 1944): Daniel C. Thompson, 1119. Negro Leadership Class (Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1963); Woods, p. 118. 2Wilson, pp. 214—254. 71 72 analysis of recent changes in leadership styles and in the pre- diction of future changes. It should be noted here that the typology we have used in this study does not use the same criteria in its construction as Nugent used to type the leaders in his study in 1964. Nugent, in con- structing his typology, "considered leader and organization in functional roles based upon either a direct, socio-political action philosophy for community development; or upon a traditional religio- ethnic centered philosophy for maintenance of socio-cultural stasis. The former, progressive type was designated pragmatist; the latter, traditional type was termed perennialist. Leaders were designated pragmatist, perennialist. or moderate according to the extent of their activity in each of these types of leadership. A little over half of the leaders were moderates; one-fifth were pragmatists: and slightly more than one-fourth were perennialists."3 An important change has occurred in the MexicanpAmerican com. munity since Nugent's study: There has been a marked decline in the organizations and leadership styles which Nugent termed "perennial- ist" and a sharp increase in "pragmatist" and "moderate" organiza- tions and leaders. Only two leaders out of the seventeen studied 'would be considered "perennialists" according to Nugent's typology. This study, then, was almost exclusively concerned with "pragmatist" leaders and organizations, or those advocating a "direct, socio- political action philosophy for community develOpment." The typolo- gy with which we will be concerned is a heuristic device which we hope will facilitate the analysis of leadership styles of those 3Nugent, p. 2. 73 leaders concerned with socio—political action, or the majority of leadership within the Mexican-American community today. Ideal Types: The "Militant" and the "Moderate" Wilson has described his two types of leadership styles along four dimensions. These dimensions are how the leader perceives and describes: "(1) the nature of the issues confronting him and the values he brings to bear on them; (2) the ends or goals he deems it appropriate to seek in the realm of civic action: (3) the means he employs in seeking these ends; and (4) the motives, goals, and attributes of the other actors, whihe and Negro, whom he sees in the world about him." According to Wilson's typology of leadership styles, the "mil- itant" or "protest" leader sees the main issues confronting the race and the community in simplified form. "In those cases where infor- mation is shared on an approximately equal basis, the protester will see simplicities where the moderate sees complexities."5 The mili- tant leader sees "the world as it should be": he is very conscious of shortcomings and obstacles to progress. 'Wilsonds militant leader is commited to goals of a general, morally rationalized character, which often leads him to adopt a flexible attitude toward both means and the roles of voluntary as- sociations. The militant seeks "status" ends which may be defined as those ends "which seek the integration of the Negro into all phases of the community on the principle of equality; all Negroes will be granted the Opportunity to obtain the services, positions, “Wilson, pp. 214-215. 51bid. 74 or material benefits of the community on the basis of principles other than race."6 Integration, then, is his general goal, and although he "is aware that these measures often do not touch the masses of Negroes as closely or as surely as do many welfare is- sues. . . he is confident that the more subtle issues are the more important in the long run."7 The means favored by the militant leader for the attainment of these goals are of a politico—legal nature: ". . . He has a great confidence in politico- legal solutions (the passing of a law, the enforce- ment of a regulation or rule) and virtually no confi- dence in pgliticians (those who might pass or enforce the law)." The militant leader has a preference for mass or "grass roots" action which "is reinforced by, or is perhaps a reflection of, the distaste of the militant for the constraints which seem.to control the behavior of those who elect to deal with civic problems through access to 'the t0p' or by working within the organization whose policies are being challenged. The militant leader values protest over access." ‘Wilson notes that empirically it is often the case that the militant leader is farther away in terms of social distance than the moderate leader from the influential whites who affect the course of events in the community. Probably because of this situation, the militant sees an undifferentiated "power structure." The 6Ibid., p. 185. 7Ibid.. p. 218. 81bid.. p. 221. 9Ibid., p. 224. 75 militant has a tendency to see ideas as the motivating forces of men, and he tends to define leadership in terms of posture: "A leader is not one who has achieved something in other areas of life, nor is he one who merely has a generally favorable civic reputation; a leader is only one who is outspokenly militant, who assumes a posture of protest and agitation, regardless of whether any tangible results accrue to such activity . . . Since fBW'Of (his) race ends are attained anyway, the ques- tion of accomplishment is of secoigary importance in imputing reputation to a person." ‘Wilson points out that the militant is concerned with a realm of civic action in which his goals are largely unattainable, and so means become all-important for the evaluation of reputation and programs. "Politics ceases to be pragmatic, and becomes instead rhetorical or even ideological. The rhetoric itself has value."11 The moderate or "bargainer" leadership style can be contrasted to the militant style along these same four axes. First, the moderate leader tends to perceive race and community issues as is- sues to which there are no easy solutions. He has a tendency to see complexities, and speaks more frequently about how the "other fellow" will feel about a proposed solution. He speaks most often in terms of specific, concrete problems, rather than long-range, inclusive issues with many facets. On the other hand, unlike the militant, he sees time as a necessary element of progress. He is more likely than the militant to feel that "things will work themselves out over time." The moderate tends to see the world, not as it should be, but lo 11 Ibid., p. 229. Ibid., p. 230. 76 as it is. He accepts existing constraints on action, and is more predisposed to "move in customary ways--to avoid the unusual." Wilson notes that the moderate will have "a clear image of what constitutes apprOpriate means and roles of different organizations and he will be less likely to sacrifice these for some general goals."12 The moderate seeks welfare, as opposed to status, ends. In other words, he is concerned with "the tangible improvement of the community or some individuals in it through the provision of better services, living conditions, or positions."13 He has strongly held convictions about self-improvement, the value of progressing through one's own efforts, and a preoccupation with the economic, as Opposed to the political, axis. He, unlike his militant coun- terpart, seeks tangible goals. The moderate displays less confidence than the militant in the efficacy of legislative solutions. He prefers the negotiated settlement in which one deals with people 'at the top.‘ He does not believe so much in the value of mass tactics. He places more confidence in the value of persuasion and education. He is con- cerned with the value of access to white influentials and he is re- luctant to sacrifice his access to these influentials for the tac- tics of protest. The moderate values results over effort. He is more prepared than the militant "to yield symbolic ground for tan- gible results."ll+ He wishes to avoid opposition and reduce con- flicts. l4 lzlbidn p. 234. lBIbid” p. 185. Ibid., p. 243. 77 In imputing motives to other actors, the moderate tends to see causes other than bias for what appears to be anti-Negro action. "He describes the larger community, not in terms of a battle or an attack, but in terms of dealings, relationships, and negotiations . . . Other people are not 'adversaries' but 'counterparts," and they 15 The moderate is are 'counterparts' who work under constraints." more likely to define leadership in terms of accomplishments, rather than in terms of a militant posture. It is significant that "the importance attached to achievement by the moderate in evaluating men carries over into a more general approval of the worth of self- improvement and individual effort in areas where a protest leader might call for collective action."16 The moderate leader is con, cerned about self-reliance, and has a tendency to criticize the short- comings of the lower class. Conditioners ofgpggdership Style The type of leadership which emerges in a particular place at a particular time will depend on a number of factors. For example, Gunnar Myrdal noted that of major importance for the emergence of a particular style are the constraints imposed by the social struc- ture onminority'leadershijp.l7 For example, Negro protest leader- ship could emerge only where the social situation allowed it. His- torically, protest has been more characteristic of the North and of the urban South than of rural areas, for the anonymity and the de- personalization of social control characteristic of urban life made 151:bid.. p. 247. 16Ibid., p. 248. 17Myrdal, p. 723. 78 the emergence of a protest style possible. One top leader in the sample provided an example of the im- portance of structural constraints on leadership style by comparing his home community in Texas to the Lansing community: "Anglos in Texas don't leave themselves open like Anglos do here. In Texas, politics are run completely by the Anglos, (even though Mexican-Americans comprise a large proportion of the population.) They don't give a Mexican-American a chance to get started. They have 'papacitosfwho protect Anglo interests. These 'papa- citos' have material possessions-~they are more or less in charge of the MexicanpAmerican community--and they are expected by the Anglos to come up with their quota of votes. But Anglos in Texas fear young peOple who ask questions. They watch these people, but it is harder to put pressure on younger people because they have no debts. 'What I call a leader is called a trouble- maker in Texas by the Anglos." Leventman has noted that, "Protest leadership is possible and effective mainly under conditions of flux in the power structure regulating minority-majority relations."18 This insight is il- lustrated well by the remark of one of the top leaders in the sam- ple, who espoused the militant style: "When we had riots here last summer the poverty program set up several nerve centers in the city. They appointed a Negro in the Spanishpspeaking nerve center. 'we approached (the head of the Lansing program) and demanded a Mexican-American in that area. 'we accused him of discriminating. ‘we went right to the bargaining table with him. He'd appointed all Negroes to these positions. I called N and N and some others together and we went right in. And he did finally ap- point a MexicanpAmerican." Wilson has noted that the nature of the audience to which a par- ticular leader plays, as well as the character of the formal l8Leventman, p. 609. 79 organization within which civic action occurs, are important conditioners of leadership style and type. It is important to remember that leaders play to different audiences. For a Mexican- American leader one possible audience might be influentials in the dominant community. Another might be the mass following in the Mexican.American community which the leader is trying to build. But there are a number of possible audiences both within and without the Mexican.American community, and leaders may be differ- entiated both by the audience to which they habitually address them- selves, and by the number of audiences to which they play at differ- ent times. 'We gain insight into the moderate leader's style by remembering that he must maintain access, and into the militant's style by remembering that he either must maintain, or is seeking to build, a mass-based following. The character of the formal organizations within which civic action occurs also conditions leadership style. Formal organizations within the Mexican-American community will be treated in a following chapter. Moderate and Militant Leadership Styles within the Lansing Mexican.American community;_ Twelve of the seventeen leaders included in this study can be described as oriented exclusively to social action activities. The remaining five leaders usually confine their interests to religious or ethnic activities. Of the twelve social action oriented leaders, six can be described as moderates and six as militants, using Wil- son's general descriptions of these categories. Although these cate- gories are useful in understanding leadership styles within Lansing's 80 Mexican-American community, certain modifications of this typolo- gy would improve its value both as a summary of the actual findings on leadership styles and in describing recent changes in these styles. First, the more general militant and moderate leadership styles as they are found in Lansing's Mexican.American community will be discussed. Then a modification of this typology will be introduced, along with an explanation of its utility in studying Mexican-American leadership. As in Wilson's leadership typology, the six MexicanpAmerican militants and the six moderates can be distinguished by the manner in which they view the nature of the issues facing the community. The moderate is likely to see complexities in social problems and to see the same problem from a number of perspectives: "If I knew how to overcome apathy, I'd be doing it right now. If only I knew a ways-sometimes I stay awake at night thinking about it. People have been in a rut for so long-it's a vicious circle. Something has to be done, but I can't put my finger on what." "There are always many sides to the problem: the school, the home, the community . . . " The militant, on the other hand, is likely to view issues facing the community as more clear-cut, and is more likely to have in mind a definite plan of attack on these problems: "First, we have to get organized. Then we have to choose a leader. Third, we have to decide what our mo- tives are, what we want to accomplish, and how we are going to go about getting it--what are the needs we want to find solutions to." 81 The militant leader is also distinguishable from the moderate by the nature of the goals which are advocated by each. The mili- tant generally favors status goals: respect, recognition, repre- sentation, power: "we see what the Negroes have done, and we say, let's get recognized-~let's get a little news in the paper. People don't realize we're here." "I feel what they want and need is recognition. I feel the Spanish-speaking community has been trying to come up with something like the NAACP." "We're supposedly white, and this has hurt us more because we're considered equal, yet we're just not looked at at all. 'we haven't got any power." "Politics--there's a racket there, and it hasn't come our way, ‘we haven't made news like the Negro. 'We're the quiet ones. 'we should play a larger role." "A lot of the peOple who represent the Spanish- speaking are Anglos. 'we should represent ourselves." "Discrimination in housing isn't really a problem. But in all other areas, I'd say we are in the same position (as the Negroes) are. 'We have been neglected by the civil rights people and the Negro has been em- phasized. The Negro is making more noise in a violent way than anyone else. 'We don't believe in that--but it's reaching that point." The complaint of the militant leader is not so much that the Mexican-American community is discriminated against, as that it is iggored. Most of these leaders are very aware of the visibility of the Negro in his social protest, and many feel that the Mexican- American, whose social problems are as great, is being shoved aside in the civil rights arena. Most of them blame the Mexican.American 82 group which has not demanded recognition and aid: "If you want something from the government, or something like that, you have to make a lot of noise before you can be heard nowadays." "Success" for many of the militant leaders is measured in terms of eventually getting a MexicanpAmerican in an elected political office. Meanwhile "success" is measured in terms of having Mexican- American representation on various significant committees and com. missions on the state and local level, and in administrative posi- tions in organizations such as the poverty program centers, which are charged with working with the Mexican-American community. Many leaders feel that until a Mexican-American representative can be elected to the legislature, one goal should be a paid, full-time Mexican-American legislative lobbyist. The militant leader usually sees organization of the Mexican- American community for political action as both a goal and as a means. It was frequently mentioned in both ways. These leaders tend to see organization in much the same way that moderates view education: as the underlying solution to all problems affecting the Mexican- American community. As Wilson found in his study of Negro militants, there is usually among this group a belief in politico-legal solu- tions, a distrust of politicians, and a tendency to view "the power structure" in undifferentiated terms and as the "opposition": "we need to organize for the integrity of the Mexican people, for their self-respect and for them to gain opportunity." 83 "I want to concentrate on the power structure-— you can get more done that way. For example, you have to try to get legislation, to elect candidates, so you don't have to strike. This is the key: organizing and trying to get gains through the power structure." "Anglos think that we are very unorganized. For example, take voting. Ask a politician, ”What are you going to do for us?‘ and he'll say, 'How many votes do you have?' “we lack political power. You can do all the crying and demonstrating you want, but if you aren't an organized group, it won't get you anywhere." "Political action—-that's what needs to be done. We have to try to get all the Mexican-Americans togeth- er in Michigan. Once you can organize these people, you can command about 20,000 votes. Then you have power." The militant leader tends to discuss broad issues in long— range terms. Comments such as, "I'm thinking in terms of one hun- dred years from now," are not infrequent. As one leader remarked, "You've got to use foresight. You've got to solve future as well as present problems." The most frequent criticisms of welfare programs are that, "They are only concentrating on dayeto-day prob- lems; not on the prevention of problems." The militant leader, as his name implies, is also likely to ad- vocate the use of a militant posture--a militant rhetoric, not only for the achievement of goals, but as a value in its own right--to give the MexicanpAmericans a sense of self—respect: "I feel we should be more militant--not so compro- mising. I feel (a Mexican-American organization) has been too pleading. Their speeches are too soft--they walk back- wards. They say, 'Please, Governor.’ That makes me sick. But people don't agree with me." 84 A militant posture is not advocated by all of the militant leaders, however. Some of these leaders, as well as all of the moderate leaders, would agree with the following comment: "Militancy isn't our way of doing things. This is hereditary, ‘we aren't a violent people even though we've been kept down. The Latin Americans respect others' rights. I don't think there are any Latin American leaders who want more drastic action. You will have a feW'militant types around--but they'll be outnumbered." It is interesting that by far the most militant leader in terms of rhetoric and posture is a concealed leader: he was chosen as a tOp leader by the Mexican-American sample, but not by the Anglo knowledgeables. It is also interesting that he was usu- ally chosen by the MexicanpAmericans for his posture. Comments such as, "He isn't afraid of anyone," "He's a real fighter," and "He speaks out no matter what," were frequent, as well as the com- ment, usually an afterthought, "But he is very Angloized." The concealed position of this militant leader with regard to the Anglo knowledgeables is an excellent illustration of Wilson's point that the militant leader is often the farthest away in terms of social distance from Anglo influentials. The moderate leader, unlike the militant, is not interested in recognition per se for the Mexican-American community. He tends to see the militant leaders who regard recognition as important, as "publicity seekers": "The SpanishpAmerican people don't like publicity hounds. I don't like them either. All they do is have meetings and want publicity." 85 The moderate leader is more likely to advocate welfare, as opposed to status, goals. His efforts are usually spent in pro- grams to obtain better education, better lowacost housing, job training, and other welfare goals. He sees a greater unity among Mexican-Americans as both an end in itself and as a means to ob- taining welfare goals: "One thing that is needed is some type of commit- tee here in the community. It should be made up of men and women who know their community, If they get to- gether they can do more than apart." "If the whole community would get together--if we could get two hundred people interested in helping their fellow man . . . and if they could prove they really cared . . . Federal grants aren't going to work. Money doesn't work. It must come from the heart. You have to convince peOple that you care." "we will solve our problems only through education, and through people helping each other--people getting involved and caring about each other." It is important to emphasize that these moderate leaders are not advocating a formal organization to obtain political goals. In their view, the solution to the Mexican-American community's prob- lems lies within the community, The problem is a moral one: peOple do not care about each other. It is not a problem of lack of power in the political arena. Four out of the six.moderates, all members of the sub-leadership group, see no need at all for organization: "When you get a lot of Mexican-Americans together they say, 'Colored people are so much ahead of us because they're united.‘ There are a lot of men who want to get organized. But organized for what? 'We don't real— ly have the same problems the Negroes do." 86 The moderate leader is more likely to place great emphasis on the importance of individual effort for the advancement of the Mexican-American community: "Some people say you have to be organized--but this really doesn't help. It depends on the individ- ual. Like a political candidate--he can only do so much. An individual family has got to try to raise their standards-~that's the only way. The people themselves have to try to better themselves." Some leaders see the role of the Mexican-American leader as an example, a teacher, who tries to inspire this individual effort: "I don't like to see the Mexican-American leaders feel that they worked hard and now everybody should do the same. The only way others will work hard is if we teach them." The moderate is opposed to the militant posture. He will not sacrifice access to the Anglo community for the tactics of protest: "You can have good intentions, but if you have the wrong approach . . . For example, sometimes there is not really discrimination when the Mexican-American claims there is, and it makes it worse when you jump on someone about it. ‘When you 'mouth off', you lose respect." "If you sit down with the right people and are able to communicate with them about the problems--then that is a much better way. I just don't approve of the way the Negroes are doing things." Perhaps the best example of the philosophy of the use of access for welfare ends is given in the following statement by a moderate top leader: "I have a good relationship with the City Hall, with welfare agencies, the hospital, the police, the 87 Michigan Employment Security Commission and different employers in Lansing. I have a good relationship with them--I have helped them and they have helped me. I find good people who will work for them. ‘When a man comes here looking for a job, I ask him all kinds of questions. I try to see where he can fit in—-where he can get a job and do good work. Then I go to an em- ployer and try to find a place where he can work." The moderate leader, unlike most militant leaders, does not see discrimination as a dominant motive in the Anglo community. He usually sees the main problem as lack of qualifications for opportunities which are already open to those Mexican-Americans who could take advantage of them. A Modification of the Moderate-MilitantATypology Wilson notes in his study of Negro leadership that many leaders partake of both leadership styles, depending on the ends sought and on the circumstances. This is also true in Lansing among Mexican- American leaders, for the two reasons Wilson mentions, but also for a third: styles of socio—political leadership are just be- ginning to emerge in the MexicanpAmerican community because socio- political leadership, as Opposed to religio-ethnic leadership, has deve10ped only within the last few years. There is evidence that some leaders who have been engaged in socio-political action for the last few years are beginning to shift from a moderate to a militant style, at least for some occasions. There is also some evidence that a number of individuals who have become concerned with civic action only recently are adopting the militant style in preference to the moderate. But it is also important to emphasize that leadership styles among the Mexican-American leadership in Lansing have not crystalized 88 to the extent that Negro leadership styles have crystalized in many places. Any interest in socio-political action is a rela- tively recent development in the Lansing Mexican-American commun- ity. This stage in socio-political leadership development must be regarded as a period of eXperimentation in which many leaders are searching for a style. Therefore, in order to reflect this less crystalized state of Mexican-American, as opposed to Negro, civic leadership styles, and to discuss recent changes in these styles, it may be fruitful to modify somewhat the militant-moderate typology which has just been used to describe in general terms, leadership styles in Lan- sing's MexicanpAmerican community. Figure 4 is a visual representation of Wilson's leadership typology. It is constructed on two of the dimensions on which ‘Wilson's typology is based: the goals advocated by the leader and the means espoused to obtain these goals. The cell representing the combination of the means of access, or solutions by negotia- tion, and welfare goals, is labeled "moderate" by Wilson. The cell representing protest as a means, or the emphasis on politico- legal solutions, and status goals has been labeled "militant." In Figure 5, the cells representing all combinations of goals and means advocated are used to form a four-fold typology: political moderate, favoring status goals and the means of access; political militant, favoring status goals and the means of protest; social moderate, favoring welfare goals and the means of access; and social militant, favoring welfare goals and the means of protest. Figure 4. Wilson's typology: Leadership styles. Status welfare Access Moderate Means Protest Militant Figure 5. Leadership styles in Lansing's Mexican-American community Goals Status welfare Political moderate Social moderate Maria Rodriguez Carlos Perez Jose Flores Access Benito Perez Ed Lepez Tomas Gonzalez Chuck Juarez Means Juan Caldron Protest John Garcia Manuel Delacruz Tom Cortazar Carlos Alvarez Political militant Social militant 89 90 Leaders have been placed in each cell according to their statements and the nature of their civic activities. It can be seen from Figure 5 that "social moderate" and "political mili- tant", or the equivalents of'Wilson's moderate and militant styles, are the most important categories in terms of the numbers of lead- ers which they include. However, the inclusion of the other two categories, "political moderate" and "social militant," is im- portant for two reasons. First, as mentioned above, some leaders participate in more than one style, depending on the circumstances. For example, Carlos Perez, who in terms of the number of leadership nominations received, is the most important leader in the study, has used each of the four different styles in the past few years, although according to most of his statements and activities he can be classified as a po- litical moderate. None of the other leaders vary in their style to this extreme, but about half of them have experimented with at least one other style in the past few years. Part of the "fuzziness" in this classification of leadership styles is related to the second reason why this four-fold typolo- gy is helpful: leadership styles have undergone a dramatic change within the past three years in Lansing's Mexican-American community. The most visible change is a shift from the political moderate to the political militant style on the part of some leaders and the emergence of new leaders who immediately have adopted this style. One political organization which has favored the tactics of access has recently begun to assume more of a protest posture. In addition, 91 a new political organization has emerged within the Mexican- American community within the last year—~the first with a de- cidedly militant style. This new militancy also has influenced to some extent those leaders who are interested primarily in wel- fare goals. One leader in this group has adOpted a protest style, and several other leaders, although they usually favor a moderate, access, approach, have adopted a more militant style over centain issues. For example, protest marches have been staged to drama- tize such tangible welfare goals as higher wages for migrant field workers. In summary, the political militant style is a new approach for Lansing's Mexican.American leadership. As a result, most leaders are likely at times to swing back to a moderate style in their pursuit of "status" goals, or to use this new militant style in pursuing welfare objectives. For these reasons, an elaboration of 'Wilson's militant-moderate schema is useful. VII. ETHNIC VALUES OF THE MEXICAN-AMERICAN LEADER: THE ASSIMILATION-SEGREGATION DILEMMA The Dilemma: Ethnic Values vs. Civic Equality In any ethnic community there are built-in tensions between two simultaneously desired values: the value of ethnic identity and solidarity and the value of equal participation in the benefits of the dominant society. The question is, to what degree is it de- sirable and possible to maintain an ethnic cultural identity while participating in the political and economic "opportunity structure" of the dominant society? Leaders within the Mexican-American com- munity differ in their opinions regarding both the desirability and the feasibility of maintaining a separate and distinct cul- tural identity. In this study a strong difference seems to exist between the positions on this issue of those in the top leadership group and those in the sub-leadership group. Attitudes Toward Assimilation In the top leadership group, five out of the eight leaders be- lieve that the MexicanpAmericans in Lansing will not lose their cultural identity, will not, in other words, be assimilated into the culture of the dominant community. The remaining three lead- ers are less sure that assimilation will never occur, but feel that Mexican-Americans should try not to be assimilated into the dominant culture. 92 93 Leaders who are sure that cultural assimilation will not occur usually base this belief on a faith in the strength of the Mexican cultural heritage or in the strength of cultural tradi- tions: "Assimilation could never happen. You should know better. It will never happen because they will never forget their culture. Even fifty years from now the little ones will hear stories and will pass them on . . . People will never forget that they are La Raza--you can't change from black to white even if you change your name from LOpez to Smith." "My family has been in the U.S. for three genera- tions, but still something calls me back--it is in my children, too. I think it is born inside of you . . . Most of the people here have never been to Mexico, or they came to the U.S. when they were very young. They don't know anything about Mexican culture like its his- tory and things like that. But they will never lose cer- tain traditions, like the wedding ceremony . . . and there will always be Spanish dances in Lansing." Out of the five leaders who feel that the Mexican-American community will maintain its cultural identity, two feel that the language will be preserved, two feel that the religion will always remain a strong binding force, and four feel that certain traditions like the fiestas and the wedding and baptism ceremonies with their long celebration parties, will always remain an integral part of the community. Several leaders mentioned that the family patterns. such as the respect between parents and children, will remain un- changed. Out of the three top leaders who feel that the Mexican-American cultural identity should be preserved but are less sure than the group above that it will be preserved, one feels that the Mexican- 9h American community should strive to combine the best of both cultures: "To lose the things we brought, the things our fathers have given us would be the worst thing we could do. ‘We can keep our heritage and still be part of society." The remaining two tOp leaders who feel that the Mexican- American community should remain culturally distinct, favor what we have termed "strategic segregation." They advocate the avoidance of cultural assimilation for reasons other than the inherent worth of maintaining the Mexican cultural heritage. The principle of strategic segregation will be discussed in a later section. In the sub-leadership group, three of the nine leaders feel either that the Mexican-American community will not become cul- turally assimilated, or that it should not become culturally assimp ilated. Reasons given are similar to those given by the top leaders who feel the community will not assimilate: the strength of the cul- tural heritage, the religion, the language, and certain cultural traditions. Six of the sub-leaders feel that the Mexican-Americans in Lan- sing will become culturally assimilated into the dominant community. Three leaders feel this complete assimilation will take place within the next generation: "Absolutely this (assimilation) will happen. They will become like everyone else. Our boy understands Spanish, but I just know he'll marry an Anglo girl and there will be no Spanish in that household. It has happened already and within ten years . . . Some people say the younger generation wouldn't understand a fiesta 95 if we had one. They didn't have a fiesta this spring here. . . I think everything will go in the next twenty years. Of course, even in Mexico, times are changing." "In ten to fifteen years they won't stick so much together. A lot are marrying Anglo—Americans. They stick together now since a lot of them have just come up from Texas. In Texas you stick together--but here you don't. It's not a small town. we are losing the language and customs. Most of the children hardly speak Spanish at all. My children don't--and many of the others don't. The only custom they observe is that the young girls aren't as free to go out as other girls. But even that is disappearing now. That's about the only difference I can see." Three sub-leaders feel that although complete assimilation will not take place within the next generation, it will occur even- tually. Some leaders feel, not only that the Mexican-Americans -—.1 tion: "We should be like others because we live in the U.S. and we are supposed to get along with each other-— to love each other. “we are neighbors and this is the only way we can stay in the U.S. I love the U.S. but I still like to look back. There is good in every place. I will tell my children about Mexico because every kid likes to know something about his father. But I don't want him to be a fanatic about Mexico." Some leaders feel that a fusion is possible--combining elements from both cultures. One sub-leader, a member of the middle class, remarked: "Complete integration of Latin Americans into the opportunity structure of American life is desirable. But the complete assimilation at the expense of ethnic identity is both impractical and undesirable." 96 On the other hand, one sub-leader sees, not a fusion of cul- tures, but a cultural void: "Another problem is the ability to be accepted by the rest of the community. 'we have a tendency to segregate--to think of ourselves in separate terms. But we really aren't anything. we aren't Mexican, we're not Texan . . . we aren't anything. This is a great problem." A similar feeling is eXpressed in the antedote of another sub- leader who is deeply involved in patriotic activities within the Mexican-American community: "EVery year I take my whole family down to Mex- ico. 'we have a lot of relatives down there and we've been all over. we really enjoy it. ‘we do a lot of sight-seeing. But they can tell right away that we're from up here--we're just tourists. As a matter of fact, in Mexico City whenever I wanted to buy something I would always have my cousin go and buy it because he would get the lower price. I would get the tourist prices!" It is interesting that of the five leaders who lived originally in Mexico, only two feel that Mexican-Americans should try to preserve their cultural heritage. The tendency among these men is to see the culture as one already beyond recognition: "The people from Texas are not really the same as the people in.Mexico. Their customs and language aren't pure. Most of the people here are from Texas." Segregation as a Political Strategy Two t0p leaders in the sample advocate the avoidance of cul- tural assimilation, not for the inherent worth of maintaining Mexican-American ethnic identity, but as a strategy needed to gain 97 admittance to the political structure: "A lot of peOple feel that problems will not be solved by segregating. They feel there should be more integration, and if you segregate, you're not going to get this. But recognition is what is needed now. Dis- crimination is still a problem. Some people feel we should not be singled out as a minority group, but we must. I wouldn't want a barrio, but to be heard, you've got to be united and organized." These two leaders advocating what we will call strategic segre- gation, are the most active political leaders in the Mexican-American community. They are the arch-types of the top leader in this sample who is searching for a means of uniting the Mexican-American popu. lation, either as an end to be desired in itself, or in order to obtain political or social-action goals. It is important to note that in the political arena, ethnic unity becomes, not only a way of life to be desired, but a slogan-~a rallying cry. The Mexican- American civic leader, as he begins to enter the political arena of the larger community or the state, may bring with him those symbols generally used by the civic leader in patriotic activities. The important difference in the calls for a united ethnic community is- sued by these two types of leaders is, of course, that in one case ethnic unity is regarded as a goal in itself, while in the other case it is considered primarily as a political strategyA-a means for an accelerated integration into the opportunity structure of the polit- ical and economic life of the dominant community. VIII. RECENT CHANGES IN ORGANIZATIONS WITHIN THE MEXICAN-AMERICAN COMMUNITY Formal organizations provide the most important basis for leadership within the Mexican-American community. Organizations make possible the mobilization of resources, the creation of a corporate identity which can be used to influence others, and the maintenance of an identifiable constituency for leadership. 0r- ganizations of course also constrain leadership by limiting the possible range of leadership activities and styles. Changes in lead- ership activity and style and changes in the nature of formal or- ganizations form a reciprocal causal pattern. In other words, many of the recent changes in the activities and styles of leaders in the Mexican-American community have been.made possible by the crea- tion and maintenance of new organizations which provide a constitu- ency and resources for this new type of leadership. On the other hand, the emergence of new styles of leadership makes possible the creation of new types of organizations, and hastens the decline of old types. Part of the change which has occurred in types of Mexican- American leaders since Nugent's study can be traced to the changes in organizations within the last three years. In his study of MexicanpAmerican leaders in 1964, Nugent clas— sified leaders according to whether they participated in socio- political action organizations, religio-ethnic organizations, or a combination of both. The first type of leader he called "pragmatist," 98 99 the second "perennialist." and the third, "moderate." Twenty per cent of the sample of leaders Nugent studied were pragmatists; fifty-three per cent were moderates; and twentyaseven per cent were perennialists. Using Nugent's typology, fiftyenine per cent of the leaders studied in the present sample, as opposed to twenty per cent of Nugent's sample, are pragmatists, or participate in socio-political organizations; thirty per cent in this study as Opposed to fifty per cent of Nugent's sample are moderates, or par- ticipate in both types of organizations; and twelve per cent, or only two out of the seventeen leaders, participate solely in re- ligious or ethnic organizations, as opposed to twenty-seven per cent of Nugent's sample. In other words, there has been a decrease in participation in religio-ethnic organizations and a great increase in participation in socio—political organizations since Nugent's study in 196%. In some cases the leaders included in the two studies are the same and they have shifted the orientation of their organizational partici- pation. Probably eight out of the seventeen leaders could be placed in this category. Nine of the leaders, however, including five tOp leaders and four sub-leaders, have been involved in civic affairs within the Mexican-American community for only four years or less. We are studying, then,a new group of leaders which has emerged within the last four years, as well as changes in styles among the same civic leaders over a four year period. Perhaps the most important factor contributing to this change in leadership type is that the bases of leadership, or the formal organizations themselves, have changed. There are perhaps three 100 major changes in the organizational structure of the Mexican- American community since Nugent's study. First, there has been a decline in patriotic and religious organizations. The patriotic committee has been much less active during the last few years, ,so much so that the annual Spring fiesta was not held this year. In addition, the men's religious organization which was very active and included a membership of at least fifty men during the time of Nugent's study, is no longer active. A second major change is in direct contrast to the first: there has been an increase in social-action organizations, two of which have been made possible by funds from the Economic Opportunity Act. Eight of the seventeen leaders are active in these social-action organizations which have come into existence only during the last two years. In addition to these social-action organizations created to attack social problems, a neighborhood Catholic-affiliated cen- ter for the Mexican-American community in Lansing has been created and has grown in membership and organizational activity since Nu- gent's study. This community center, with which the social-action programs mentioned above are affiliated, has, since its inception, stressed the importance of an organized effort on the part of the Mexican-American community to meet common social problems. It is important to note that four of the tOp leaders and three of the sub- leaders became involved in civic activities in the Mexican-American community through their participation in this community center. The philosophy of community action of this center--"a united community working together to help those most in need"--has had an important impact on the philosophies of community action and leadership styles 101 of these leaders in the sample who stress organizing and those who stress the importance of community unity. In addition to the community center and two social-action programs, communityawide programs under the direction of the Office of Economic Opportunity have been created since 1964. Three top leaders participate in full-time employment and one top leader in part-time work with various poverty programs. Although reaction to the activities of the poverty programs varies widely among the lead- ers, two results of the programs are widely acknowledged: (1) Re- gardless of the many criticisms advanced against the programs by Mexican-American leaders, such as the criticisms that there is too much emphasis placed by the programs on helping Negroes and too lit- tle emphasis placed on the development of local leadership, it is generally recognized that the poverty programs have stimulated among both their supporters and opponents alike, a greater interest in prOgrams for the improvement of social conditions. (2) The poverty programs have been responsible for involving in their programs, es- pecially in the Head Start programs, a number of’Mexican-American ‘women, many of whom have become involved in other community affairs as a result of their participation in these programs. A third major change in the organizational structure of the Mexican.American community has been the recent emergence of a polit- ical action organization which would be classified in the typology created in Chapter 6, as a militant political organization. Although one political organization has existed in the Mexican.American com- munity for the past four years, and has been responsible for stimu. lating an interest in political affairs among members of the Mexican- 102 American community, this more recently established organization is the first organization to emerge in Michigan.with a political protest, rather than an access, orientation. The differences be- tween the Older and the more recent organizations are described by an Anglo knowledgeable: "(The older organization) would rather work with the Establishment than work against it. The Board of Directors saw a distinction between being agitators and going behind the scenes, talking to legislators. They didn't realize that they needed a power base, and so they had been pretty ineffective. This group didn't want to be involved in activities like marching. They didn't want to be considered as following the Negroes." Along with this emerging strategy of political protest as Opposed to the political strategy of access, there is beginning to develop within the politically-oriented leadership an awareness of the importance of coalitions within the political arena. During the past four years in which political activity has developed with- in the Mexican-American community, civic leaders have stressed the necessity of remaining nonpartisan in the political affilia- tion of their organizations. Many leaders have come to regard this policy as a misguided one: "We've got to take a stand. You can't play two ends against the middle. The poor try to do this, and organizations know this. You've got to have respect." "At first I thought (we) should be nonpartisan, but I've had second thoughts. As long as the Repub- lican party is controlled by big business, unless they get programs for the poor in order to stay in power, the Democratic party has more to Offer us." 103 A number Of leaders, especially in regard to state-wide Mexican-American political activities, are advocating the building of a coalition which would include in addition to elements of the Democratic party, religious liberal organizations, labor organiza- tions, and civil rights groups. The Role of Anglo Leaders in the Mexican-American Community In addition to the resource bases provided by formal organiza- tions in the Mexican-American community and the resources provided by poverty programs in which some Mexican-American leaders partici- pate, a third resource base has developed for sociO-political activity within the last few years. These resource bases are supplied by various Protestant and Catholic church-affiliated or- ganizations. These bases are controlled by Anglos who serve as leaders within the MexicanpAmerican community. Their access to influentials in the dominant community is usually superior to the access of Mexican-American leaders, and often these peOple may be regarded as thg spokesmen of the Mexican-American community by Anglo knowledgeables. In this study nonpmexican-Americans were chosen as leaders in the Mexican-American community far more Often by Anglo knowledgeables than by the Mexican-American leaders themselves. Al- though this study is concerned with MexicanpAmerican leaders, it is important to remember that these Anglo leaders within the Mexican- American community may provide an important link to influentials in the dominant community for at least some members of the Mexican- American leadership. IX. CONCLUSIONS In summary, there is an identifiable group of leaders within the Mexican-American community in Lansing. Among these leaders, there are nine who constitute a "top leadership" group. There are five individuals who are considered "top leaders" by knowl- edgeables both within the dominant community and the Mexican- American sub-community. There are three ways in which the top leadership group differs from the sub-leaders, and, we may hy- pothesize, from the majority of the members of the Mexican-American community. First, top leaders are more likely than sub-leaders to have jobs which are directly related to their leadership roles. Secondly, top leaders are more likely than sub-leaders to be partially assimilated to dominant Anglo socio-cultural patterns with respect to choice of marital partner, language preferences, and friendship patterns. Third, tOp leaders are more likely than sub-leaders, and we may hypothesize, more likely than other members Of the Mexican.American community, to be involved in a large number Of organizations and to occupy leadership positions within a politi- cal party. MexicanpAmerican leadership is subject to constraints from the dominant community and from within the sub-community. It must oper- ate under the external constraints of powerlessness and the tendency of the dominant community to "siphon off" those individuals with 10# 105 leadership potential. Leadership also Operates under the internal constraints imposed by the heterogeneity of the ethnic community, making a unified effort difficult. Mexican-American leadership is usually defined by the Anglo knowledgeables in terms of activities engaged in and by the Mexican- American leaders in terms of the motives prompting leadership activ- ities. Leaders see themselves and other leaders playing three dis- tinct roles: "social activist," "exemplar," and "representative." The major concerns of the leaders in the Mexican-American community in Lansing are education, lack of adequate lowhcost housing, the need for political action, the lack of job Opportunities, the problem of cultural and language differences, a lack of ethnic unity, apathy, spiritual problems, and discrimination. Leaders within the Mexican-American community who are involved in socio-political action can be differentiated, among other ways, according to the goals they seek for the community and the means they advocate in the pursuit of these goals. A moderate leader seeks welfare goals and uses the means Of access, or "negotiation at the top." The militant leader seeks status goals and uses the means of protest. Leaders in the sample were evenly divided between these two types, although the militant style has emerged only recently. Leadership styles are less crystalized in the Mexican-American com- munity than in some other ethnic and racial sub-communities, because socio-political activity is a recent development and leaders are experimenting with leadership styles. Therefore, militant and moder- ate leaders within the Mexican-American community may be further 106 subdivided into social and political moderates and social and political militants. Leaders will adOpt different styles de- pending on differing circumstances. Leaders in the Mexican.American community may be differentiated in terms of their attitudes toward assimilation. Top leaders, all of whom desire either stronger ethnic unity within the community, or a united organization for political purposes, feel that the Mexican-American community will, or at least should try, to remain culturally distinct. Sub-leaders are more likely to feel that the Mexican-American community will become assimilated, either within the next generation, or eventually, to the dominant community. Leadership in the MexicanpAmerican community is exercised primarily through formal organizations. There have been three major changes in the organizational structure of the MexicanaAmerican community within the last three years: religious and ethnic organi- zations have declined in membership and activity: social-action organizations have increased in number, membership, and activity; and a political action organization has recently emerged which, un- like the political action organization which has existed for the last four years, is adopting a militant, protest style. 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