CONTACTS AND ATTITUDES TOWARD THE UNITED STATES 1N A MEXICAN BORDER COMMUNITY by Julius Rivera A THESIS Submitted to the School for Advanced Graduate Studies Michigan State University of Agriculture and Applied Science in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Department of Sociology and Anthropology 1957 JULIUS RIVERA ABSTRACT This study is concerned with describing the place which Mexican migrants to the United States have in a small isolated Mexican community close to the border. The research was initiated to test two general hypotheses. The first is that there is a relationship between amount of exposure to American society and the attitudes toward the United States. The second hypothesis is that membership in different socio— economic groups in the community differentiate attitudes of people toward the United States. In order to test these hypotheses, it was necessary to construct two indices; one which measured relative amount of contact with the United States, and another which reflected the relative socio-economic status of residents on the community. Exposure to the United States was defined generally as including friendship and family ties in this country, length of time in the United States, as well as work contacts in the cities and farms. Three main groups were defined for their differential contacts with the United States; those whose only contact was indirect (through friends and relatives), those whose contact was in the nature of visiting and conducting business; and those who worked in the United States for extended periods (migrants). There appeared to be no statistically significant differences in attitudes among migrants, visitors, and non-contact groups. As a whole, the residents of the conmmmity were favorably disposed to the United States. People with a greater amount of exposure to American institutions had a tendency, diffused as it was, to define themselves either as favorable or unfavorable toward the United States, with a JULIUS RlVERA ABSTRACT leaning in favor of the United States. Among people with minimum con- tact with the United States, unfavorable orientations were zeadily recognizable. Socio-economic status was found to be inversely correlated with favorable attitudes toward the United States. There was a relatively sharp distinction in which upper and middle class people were rather unfavorable toward the United States, whereas lower socio-economic groups were favorably oriented. Thus a cleavage in the community was apparent, in which the upper group looked toward Mexico in favorable light, and the lower group looked toward the United States. Also, traditional values in.Mexican culture were more cherished by the local middle classes. Two generalizations may be suggested in reference to migration. First, in the initial phase of migration, membership in lower socio- economic strata is almost a condition for migration. Second, the place of the returning migrant in the social structure of the comp munity depends on his economic success while in the United States. His attitudes toward the United States after returning and after re- adjusting to the community tends to become similar to the socio- economic group of which he is a member. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I wish to express my gratitude to the people of Sonoyta for their cooperation during my field work phase of the study. I am especially indebted to Professor Charles P. Loomis for the financial assistance he provided for the undertaking, for his direction and advice in the field, and his constant encouragement throughout. Dr. William H. Form, my major professor, provided generous guidance, constructive criticism, and skillful help in making the best use of the limited infermation. Gratitude is also expressed to Drs. Joel Smith, J. Allen Beegle and ‘Archie Haller for their helpful suggestions. CHAPTER TABLE OF CONTENTS I. COMMUNITY SETTING OF THE RESEARCH SITE IntrOdUCtion e o e e e e 0 Geographical Setting . HistoricAl Background. Population . . . . Land Utilization . Government . . . . Commerce . . . . . Health . . . . . . Cultural Setting . II. General Purposes . Methodology. . . . The Population . . The Research Sit e. PURPOSE AND METHODOLOGY. Research Design and Techniques for Collecting Data PrOblemS Of Field Research in MOIiCO e o e e e e e CODBtPUCtion Of Indices. e e e e e e e e e e 0 Index of Contacts with the United States . . . Times in the United States 0 e e e e e e e e Years or Length of Time in the United States Occupation in the United States. . . . . . . Knowledge or English c o e e e e e e e o e 0 iv PAGE 03 0‘ O\ \m \n kn A) F‘ l“ 10 15 1'? 17 l9 19 B B 3.9 25 CHAPTER Index of Socio-Economic Status . . . . . . . . . Occupations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . weights for Educational Attainment . . . . . . Property................... Index of Attitudes Toward the United States. . . III. SOCIAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE POPULATION OF SONOYTA The Adult Male Population of Sonoyta . . . . . . Age. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Marital Status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Family Size. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Education. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Occupation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . House-Land Ownership . . . . . . . . . . . . . Socio-Economic Status. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Contacts with the United States. . . . . . . . . Use of English . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Orientations Toward the United States. . . . . . IV. SOCIAL ATTRIBUTES 0F MIGRANTS TO THE UNITED STATES General Migration Picture in Sonora. . . . . . . Seasonal Cotton Picking Migration. . . . . . . Population Flow Through Sonoyta. . . . . . . . Probability of Contacts with Americans in the Village.................... Social Correlates of Migrants. . . . . . . . . . Type of Contacts with the United States. . . . Birth and Previous Residence . . . . . . . . . V 30 31 35 39 Al 63 6h 65 66 CHAPTER Age . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . SizeoftheFamily................. Variables of the Index of Contacts. . . . . . . . . . Times and Years in the United States. . . . . . . . Family Bonds in the United States . . . . . . . . . Friendship Relations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . KnowledgeofEnglish................ Occupationinthe United States . . . . . . . . . . Reasons for Returning to Mexico and Plans for Returning to the United States. . . . . . . . . . . IndexofContacts................. Variables of the Index of Socio-Economic Status . . Education..................... Occupation..................... PropertyIndex................... Contact Groups and Their Socio-Economic Status. . . Summary....................... V. ATTITUDINAL ORIENTATIONS TOWARD THE UNITED SKATES . . . Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Contacts with the United States and Attitudes Toward theCountry..................... Socio-Economic Status and Attitudes Toward the United States. 0 e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e Spontaneous Expressions of Attitudes Toward the United States. 0 e e e e e e o e e e e e e e e e e e o o e e 0 vi PAGE 69 7o 70 7o 75 76 78 80 82 8A 91 95 101 CHAPTER VI. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS Summary . . . . . . . Conclusions . . . . . Literature Cited. . . Appendices. . . . . . vii PAGE 108 108 110 113 129 LIST OF TABLES TABLE PAGE 1. Major Diseases Resulting in Death as Percentages of Total Number of Deaths in Sonoyta, Sonora, Mexico: 1950 to 1955 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 2. Number and Nationality of Couples Married in Sonoyta, Sonora,Mexicofroml950to 1955 . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 3. Heights Corresponding to Extent of Friendship and Family Ties in the united States. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 h. Weights Assigned to Number of Times Adult Males of Sonoyta Reported They had been in the United States. . . . . . . 24 5. Weights Assigned to Number of Years Spent in the United States by Adult Male Population of Sonoyta . . . . . . . 25 6. Weights Assigned to Occupations of the Migrants When working in the United States . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 7. Relative Weights Given for Knowledge of the English Language of the Adult Male Population of Sonoyta. . . . . . . . . 27 8. Scores for the Index of Contact With the United States for the Adult Male Pepulation of Sonoyta . . . . . . . . . . 27 9. Weights Assigned to Occupations of Adult Males of Sonoyta. 29 IO. Weights Assigned to Years of Schooling of the Adult Male Population of Sonoyta. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 ll. Weights Assigned to Property Type Index for Adult Male PopulationofSonoyta.................. )2 viii TABLE 12. 15. 15. 16. 17. 18. 25. Socio-Economic Groups for Adult Males and Scores of Socio-Economic Status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Summary Table of Chi-squares, Their Confidence Levels and Corrected Contingency Coefficients among Indices used to Construct the Socio-Economic Index. . . . . . . Distribution of Answers Given to the Question "How’do You like the United States" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Birth Place and Previous Residence of Adult Males in Sonoyta . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Birth Place of Adult Males Residing in Sonoytadnot BorninSonora..................... Age Distribution of Adult Males of Sonoyta, Sonora, and State of Sonora in Percentages . . . . . . . . . . . . Age Composition of the Total Population of Sonoyta and the StateofSonora.................... Size of Families of Sonoyta and the State of Sonora . . . Total Educational Level of Adult Males of Sonoyta . . . . Percentages of Sonoyta Adult Males in Various Occupational Groupings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Educational Level of Three Occupational Groupings . . . . House-Land Ownership and Housing Characteristics for Sonoyta . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Socio-Economic Status of Adult Males of Sonoyta . . . . . Nationality of Close Friends and Acquaintances in the United StatesReported by Sonoyta Adult Males . . . . . ix PAGE 12 3h 16 19 #0 A3 55 A6 A9 h9-SO 52 56 TABLE 26. 27. 29. 50. )1. 52. 33. 3h- 35- 36. 37. 38. 39. Family Ties in the United States Reported by Adult MalesLivinginSonoyta................ Adult Males' Knowledge of English . . . . . . . . . . . . General Attitudinal Orientation of the Adult Males of Sonoyta Toward the United States. . . . . . . . . . . . Seasonal.Migration in the State of Sonora, Mexico . . . . Birth Place of the Adult Males Living in Sonoyta by Contact Groups. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Previous Residence of the Adult Males of Sonoyta by Contact Groups. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Number of Times Migrants and Visitors Entered the United States. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Number of Years Migrants Nbrked in the United States. . . Periods During which Migrants Living in Sonoyta werked in the United States. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Family Bonds in the United States of Migrants, Visitors, and Non-Contact Groups Among Adult Males from Sonoyta . Number of American Acquaintances in the United States Reported by Three Groups of Sonoytans . . . . . . . . . Number of Mexican Acquaintances in the United States Reported by Three Groups of Sonoytans . . . . . . . . . Knowledge of English of Three Contact Groups Living in Sonoyta . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sources of Learning the English Language for Two Contact GroupsLivinginSonoyta................ PAGE 57 58 59 62 67 68 71 72 73 75 76 77 79 79 TABLE LO. #1. h2. #3- AS. A6. A7. A9. 50. 51. 52. 53- 5h- 55. Occupations in the United States By Index of Contacts Index.of Contacts for Contact Groups. . . . . . . . . Educational Level of Contact Groups . . . . . . . . . Groups and Present Occupational Status of Contact Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Past and Present Occupations of Sonoytan Migrants . . Property levels of Three Contact Groups . . . . . . . Socio-Economic Levels of Contact Groups . . . . . . . Attitude Orientations Toward the United States for Three Contact Groups. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Educational Level of Groups Positively and Negatively Oriented Toward the United States. . . . . . . . . Orientation Toward the United States for Three Levels of Occupation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Attitude Orientation Toward the United States for APropertyGroups.................. Socio-Ebonomic Status of Groups having Different Orientations Toward the United States . . . . . . . Verbalized Attitudes Toward the United States for Contact Groups. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Verbalized Attitudes Toward the United States as Related to Socio-Economic Status. . . . . . . . . . Orientation Toward American Life Style as Affected by Socio-Economic Status of Respondents. . . . . . . . Sources for the Computation of the Tables in Chapter PAGE 80 82 81+ 86 86 88 89 9h 99 103 105 106 One......................AppendixB xi TABLE 56. 57. 58. 59. The Major Diseases Causing Mortality in Sonoyta, Sonora, Mexico from 1950 to 1955 . . . . . . . . . The Number of Legitimate and Illegitimate Births by Sex in Sonoyta, Sonora, Mexico from 1950 to 1955 ; The Number and Nationality of Couples Married in Sonoyta, Sonora, Mexico from 1950 to 1955. . . . . Occupational Distribution of Contact Groups xii PAGE Appendix B Appendix B Appendix B Appendix D CHAPTER I C(HMUNITY SETTING OF THE RESEARCH SITE Introduction With the closing of European sources of migration the United States has increasingly recruited workers from Meadco and other nearby areas to meet its expanding economic needs, especially in the field of industrial agriculture. Agricultural labor from Mexico has now become a stable source of labor for many American farmers. The social problems created by this ebb and flow of labor both in the United States and Mexico have stimulated special scientists to study the social and economic conditions of Mexican mig'ants in the United States. No studies, however have been done either of the impact of returning migrants on their native coununities, or of the socio-economic status of migrants previous to or after migration. This research attempts to study who the migrants to the United States are in a Mexican border community. It attempts to describe their position in the local conmmity structure, as well as the impact of their migration on attitudes toward the United States. The comunity selected for study is located just south of the United States border, relatively isolated from American and MeJdcan in- dustrial areas. Although its population is small, the comnunity members have had a great deal of migration experiences. The researcher lived in the commity from December 28, 1955, to April 19, 1956, making every effort to share in the social life of the people. Standard sociological techniques were planned, pre-te sted and used in an attempt to interview all of the men in the labor force of the village. Several research objectives were planned. The first was to compare migrants and other workers in the community for their demographic charac- teristics, the amount of exposure to American society, and their socio- economic status in the village. Contacts with the United States was defined as an independent variable which would presumably influence the orientations toward the United States. The second general purpose of the study was to measure the attitudes or orientations of the population toward the United States. An attempt was made to relate contacts with United States and position in the local comp munity structure with attitudes toward the United States. Throughout this analysis migrants were specific objects of attention. In Chapter II the specific hypotheses of this study and its methods are presented in detail. Before this, it is necessary to present a general picture of the community in which the research was launched. Geographical Setting The research site selected for this study is Sonoyta, Sonora, Mexico. The town'fls centrally located on the course of the Sonoyta River, a small desert stream which rises on the west side of the Baboquiviri Range, west of Tucson, Arizona, and evaporates on an inland delta east of the Plnacate Lava Flows; at latitude 31° 50' K.; longitude 112° 51' W.; altitude 1155’ above M S L, approximately."1 In the colonial times Sonoyta was, and still is, the last stop where water is available on the old trail (El Camino Del Diablo = Devil's lIves, Ronald L., "The Sonoyta Oasis," 1h; M 9_f_ , Vol. 49, January, 1950, p. 2. See: Tamayo, Jorge L., gaggggfig General g2 Mexico, Talleres Graficos de la Nacion, Mexico, l9h9, Vol 2, p. 270. See: Map of Sonoyta in Appendix.E. 2 \ DUEL \ 1:131: ‘3 bl UDDDDE} DD V“ [In F— DDDUDD D D :1- t: o D l__ : U DUE! D I] D E3 LEW fimflflmav flfléfljflf SONOYTA , SONORA E§i R RESTAURANT \f‘ c CANTINA T TiENDA MEXICO x’fu‘ Trail), which extends 160 miles in the desert to the Rio Colorado, and along the highway running from central Sonora to Baja (lower) California.‘ It is located at the foot of the last of a range of hills running south- west from Arizona. Its name seems to be derived from the Papago terms Kavortk—son-oitac .2 Sonoyta is a gateway to the desert. Its soil is poor and sandy, broken up by erosion. Erosion along the river bed caused the level of the stream.to fall so low that the town site had to be changed in 1890 to its present location (downstream). Vegetation (grass, cacti, and desert shrubs) is also scarce. Timber land is found 20 miles upstream.northeast of the village where energetic "colonias" are beginning to work. The mean annual temperature in the area is 71.60 F. and the mean annual precipitation is 6.57 inches. Humidity is low'and the climate is stable. Winters are relatively mild with occasional showers, while summers are hot but tempered by gentle breezes blowing from the northern canyons. Historical Background Archeologists have found cultural remains in the Sonoyta formation where deposition began approximately 2,000 years ago.3 Sonoyta, which had a permanent stream, was a favored site for the Papagos who had irrigation agriculture before the Spanish Conquest.h' Melchor Diaz and his party 2See: Ives, gp. git., Footnote, p. 2; Kavortk = rounded hill, son = at the foot of, oitac = fields. 3Ives, Ronald L., "The Origin of the Sonoyta Townsite, Sonora, 140x100," mar19g;m' V01. 7, J‘lly’ 19“, p. 2‘}. “Castetter, E. F., and Bell, W; H., Pima §gg_ggpggg Indian Culture, Albuquerque, University of New’Mexico Press, 19h2, pp. 7 and A8. visited the area when heading for Baja California in IMO-1.1.5 The Jesuit missionary Eusebio Francisco Kine made his first visit to this place in 1698 and four months later, in February 1699, "a new ranch was begun, with thirty-six head of cattle" according to Lt. Juan Mateo Manje, Kino's com- panion.6 Father Kino started a church and said the first mass on April 5, 1701, and a new mission was launched under the name San Marcelo Sonoydag. The population of the village consisted of eighty Indians at the time of Kino's last visit in 1706. The mission was subsequently abandoned until 171.3, when Jacobo Sedelmayr coming from Tubutama visited it again. (See Figure 1.)7 The Pima revolt against the Spaniards and Christianity started by a Christian Indian from Saric, Sonora, in 1751 brought death to the missionary and destruction to the San Marcelo Sonoydag mission on November 22 of the same year.8 After the visit of Juan Bautista de Anza in about 1776, Sonoyta is not mentioned until Henry A. Crabb's invasion of Sonora in 1857.9 By 1907 the population of Sonoyta consisted of about twenty families, according to Pedro Orozco, a pure blooded Papago who was born in Quitovaquita in 181.8, and still works in his milpa (garden plot) not too far from Sonoyta. There was neither school nor church at the time;Lo 5Hanmond, G. P0: and Hey. Agapito. more 9.: mo 9.22% do need.- tion 1%, Albuquerque, University of New Mexico Press, 1910, pp. 209- 212 and 231-232. 3, H. J., "Lu; 51g Tigrra Mtg," Tucson, University of Arizona Press, 195A. pp. 116 and 265, Manje's Diaries. ' 7Dunn, Peter M., Jacobo W. Tucson, University of Arizona Press, 1955, p. 68. 8Treutlein, T. E., Pfefferkorn's Deggriflion 9__f the Prgvince of Somra , Albuquerque, University of New Mexico Press, 1919, pp. 259-261. 9See: Forbes, R. H., Crabb's Filibuotgring We. Tucson, University of Arizona Press, 1952; Sutherland, Mason. , "Sonora is Jumping," mg National Geogaphig MM, Vol. 107, February, 1955, p. 216. 10Personal interview, March 26, 1955. I. Even twenty years ago Sonoyta was only a "rancheria."11 The village grew to its present size recently as a result of the large scale Mexican migra- tion to the united States. Population Total population of the Comisaria of Sonoyta is thirteen hundred including the small rural "neighborhoods" formed by the "colonies" and a few ranches. These neighborhoods are not self-sufficient. Their inhabitants live only temporarily on the land, and reside primarily in the village. As Wbrcester and Schaeffer put it: "Mexico is still primarily a nation of small villages rather than scattered farms and ranches."12 Land Utilization Cropland is limited by the scarcity of available water. There are only about h00 hectars nearby which are under cultivation. Agricultural products are mostly truck crops, some citrus fruits, grapes, beans, corn, squash, and chili. However these are raised in limited amounts that do not meet the local needs. Dairy products are also scarce. Grazing lands make possible a relatively abundant supply of beef even though it is of poor quality. The few gold mines in the area are closed. Cotton and wheat are the only products marketed out of the village. llPersonal interview, Sonoyta's Postmaster, March 26, 1955. ”Worcester, Donald E. and Schaeffer, Wendell G., 1n: Growth 99g Culture 9; Latin America, New York, Oxford University Press, 1953, p. 837. Government The administration of the village is in the hands of a comisgrio; which roughly corresponds to the sheriff in the United States. Under his authority is the comandante gg_pgligia, with three more policemen to main- tain order. Comisagios are elected by popular vote during gubernatorial elections. In practice, however, family ties and influence are decisive in the selection of the candidates. Sonoyta has a Jug; (similar to a justice of the peace), and a revenue office, post office, and a telegraph service, each with two employees. As a comisaria Sonoyta belongs to the Puerto Penasco municipio.13 The elementary public school with an enroll- ment of approximately 150 pupils is run by a "director" and four teachers. There is also a kindergarten. Both buildings are quite modern for the area 0 Commerce Business activities are almost exclusively geared to tourist trade. There are two small hotels, one motel, six.curio shops, seven restaurants, six bars and two pool rooms. These following serve local needs mostly; two markets, two general stores, three barber shops, one tailor shop, two drug stores, two butcher shops, three gas stations, two bakeries, one laundry, and one movie theatre. Electric power is now furnished by a Comisaria owned motor. water is sold from delivery tank trucks by a pri- vate concern, even though some wells are still in use. Among the tourist 'businesses, the most highly patronized seem to be the bars and the houses of prostitution.lh 13Municipio is the basic unit of government, similar to the town- ship in the United States. 1lvrhe red light district (La Zona Roja) is a 60 people neighborhood 6 Obviously these businesses do not cater exclusively to the thirteen hun— dred people of the comisaria. Sonoyta's commercial life is directed at the United States. Curios and liquors are almost the only Mexican com- modities marketed in the village. Closing the border at Lukeville, Arizona, would almost mean the extinction of Sonoyta. The ecological character'of Sonoyta is more a function of its location than of its relation to the surrounding habitat and resources. A remarkable contrast may be noted in the land use along the Lukeville- Puerto Péfiasco road on the one hand, and along the San Luis-Caborca highway, on the other (See Figure 1.). Since tourists travel the former route, shops and bars are located there almost exclusively. The two small restaurants on the San Luis-Caborca highway encounter little business success. That the ecological processes15 are tourist-oriented may be demon- strated by a striking phenomenon found also in several other border towns. The location of the red light district, following periodical attempts by the authorities to keep it far from town, tends to determine the nature of city growth and expansion. The red light district usually starts with a single house of prostitution. After a short time restaurants, laundries, and tailor shops begin moving nearby, and later many other businesses move in that direction. Sonoyta is already planning to transfer the red light district from its present location to the Puerto Pefiasco which includes several auxiliary or related services as bars, restaurants, tailor shop, laundries, and a beauty parlor. Even United States peddlers visit the district frequently. 15Hawley, Amos H., Human Ecology, New York, The Ronald Press 00., 1950, pgggim. See especially Chapter 13, p. 23h-263, and Chapter 20, p. ADS-531; Quinn, James A., figmag Ecology, New York, Prentice-Hall Inc., 1950, p. 62 and following, p. 82; Lundberg, George A., Schrag, Clarence C., and Larsen, Otto N., 30 1 lo , New York, Harper and Bros., 1954, p. 138 and ff. road (See Figure 1). Already some businesses are beginning to locate close to the area selected. Another passing ecological observation relates to the "false front" of the new'Mexican Spanish communities which seems to become the "dollar front" of the Mexican border towns. "'False front' is a line of stores, theatres, cafes and bars which provide the necessary alternative for the pgtggn group, who may control the business firms, occupy the few profes- sional roles, and keep a grip on local politics."16 Prosperous merchants (usually newcomers), not necessarily the 292293 group, control this line of stores, cafes, bars, or what is called here the "dollar front" of the Mexican border towns. Moreover, land is expensive along the dollar front so that amall merchants, who cannot select desired sites, have to look for locations in the opposite direction where real estate is cheaper. Thus there is also a dollar land market and a peso land market, located in opposite sides of the town. It may be recalled, in this connection, that merchants frequently reside at their place of business, as occurs in most rural communities. Health Food consumption and housing is relatively low by American standards. But rented living quarters and food are expensive by the same standards. Since the majority of the population is poor, health is also poor. Ac- cording to reports obtained from.the four physicians working in the village, people do not go to a physician unless they are seriously ill. Since there 16Mead, Margaret (ed.), Cultural Patterns gag Teghnigal ghgggg, UNESCO, Paris, 1953, p. 188; Halter Jr., Paul Alfred Francis, "A Study of Isolation and Social Changes in Three Spanish Speaking Villages of Nethexico," Thesis (M.S.), Stanford University, 1938. 8 is no subsidized health service in the comunity, many poor people go without medical attention. The infant mortality rate is still high. Infant deaths in the community from 1950 to 1955 made up 10.9 per cent of the total number of deaths. Two fifths of the births between 1950 and 1955 resulted in death within the first year.17 The most common disease among infants is enterocolitis, while tuberculosis is most com- mon among adults. Death resulting from automobile accidents is the next most common and then deaths from heart attack. These data can be seen in Table 1. TABLE 1 MAJOR DISEASES RESULTING IN DEATH AS PERCENTAGES OF TOTAL NUMBER OF DEATHS IN SONOYTA, SONORA, MEXICO: 1950 TO 1955 Causes of Death Year Entero- Tuber- Auto Heart Others Total colitus culosis Accident 1950 ' 32 12 s - as 100 1951 22 15 -- h 59 100 1952 17 17 - e 58 100 1953 17 , 17 12 a 50 100 l95h 23 6 19 13 39 100 1955 —- 26 16 -- 58 100 Total 18 15 10 5 52 100 Sonora* 25' 25 No data *Duran Ochoa, Julio, Poblacion, Fondo de Cultura Economics, Mexico, 1955, p.111}. 17Data for this and the following section were obtained from the files of El Juzgado de la Comisaria, Seccion de Estadisticas, in Sonoyta. Tabulation of the data was made by the researcher with the help of e1 9 Unfortunately comparable data for Mexico are unavailable. The number of births has increased but not significantly during 1950—1955. The difference between deaths and births is 253 during the same five year period. Female births out-number males in contrast with the state of Sonora where the op- posite takes place.18 Cultural Setting Sonoyta is an interesting melting pot of three different cultures: Mexican, Indian and American.19 There is some reinforcement of Papago cul- ture in Sonoyta, for some local people identify themselves with the Papago groups of southern Arizona. There is some interaction among these groups. There are no Americans living in Sonoyta. Lukeville, on the United States side, is not really a village. It is a settlement of Americans working for the Immigration Service and the Post Office. There is only one businessman living there who is married to a Mexican girl. However, the impact of American culture is felt mostly through trade and tourism. While material goods are rapidly assimilated in Sonoyta, the adoption of American cultural traits is otherwise rather limited. Needless to say, Mexican culture is dominant locally. Although three cultures meet in Sonoyta, they tend to remain remark- ably distinct. The process of aculturation seems to be too slow to support what Ives said in 1950: Juez (Justice of the Peace), who has charge of the local vital statistics. leSee: Table 57 in Appendix B. 19A good synthetic view of Mexican culture can be found in Beals, Ralph, and others, "Mexican Student Project," Los Angeles, UCLA, Social Science Research Council, Committee on Cross-Cultural Education, Unpublished, undated manuscript. 10 Although three languages are spoken in the area, and three cultures merge there, the similarities in the cultures are more numerous than the differences, so that friendly contacts and sound business rela- tions are, and can continue to be, maintained. Language differences vanish when almost the entire population is bilingual as is the case in most of the Arizona-Sonora borderland.20 The experiences of the writer suggest that although products of American industry are found everywhere in the village, very few'people speak English.21 The value systems of the three cultures are remarkably distinct. While they meet they do not readily mix, even though it is possible to trace cultural similarities and differences, this is beyond the scope of this study. The traditional Latin American family system accounts for many fea— tures of the social life of Sonoyta. The patriarchal family type is still predominant in Mexican Sonoyta. WOmen are subservient to men. The chaperon institution is still well rooted in the culture. Girls are strictly super— vised, and deviants from this norm are bitterly criticized. This does not seem to be true for girls from neighboring American towns. To be sure, the existence of contrasting patterns of supervision has resulted in a certain amount of concern over which pattern of courtship behavior should be folr lowed. Unmarried men indicate they prefer "Americanized" girls as dates, but insist they prefer "real Mexican" women as wives. This seems to be true even for marriages contracted between people from both sides of the border. Data on international marriages which took place in Sonoyta may be found in Table 2. About half of the marriages were international. While many of these were non-residents of Sonora, it is important to stress 20Ives, gp. £13., p. 1h. 21See: Table 27, p. 56. that brides were exclusively Mexican. What probably happens is that Spanish speaking American males tend to marry Mexican girls across the border. TABLE 2 NUMBER AND NATIONALITY OF COUPLES MARRIED IN SONOYTA, SDNORA, MEXICO FROM 1950 TO 1955* Mexican Marriages International Marriages“? Total Year Number Per cent Number Per cent Number Per cent 1950 ll 39 17 61 28 100 1951 17 68 8 32 25 100 1952 16 1.6 19 51. 35 100 1953 17 53 15 h? 32 100 1951. 19 1+3 25*” 57 1.1. 100 1955 23 #8 25 52 1.8 100 Total 103 119 109 51 212 100 * No comparable data from Mexican Census. *3 Exclusively American men and Mexican women. ‘. Two of the couples married in 1951. were American. The machismo22 trait has not lost its status. One of its require- ments (that men may find sexual outlet before or outside marriage) has the ultiunate effect of buttressing the highly institutionalized prostitution 8Yatem, which in turn seems to buttress the stability of the traditional family pattern. ‘ 2214aghismo is an exaggerated stress on masculinity. Beale and Others, gp. 93.3., p. 29, translate it as "manliness." 12 Kinship and family ties pervade other aspects of life. Thus politi- cal administration in Sonoyta is an extension of the kinship group which, in turn, extends its influence into the economic structure. That is, the political and economic systems are tied together by kinship bonds. Deal- ings within and between these systems are particularistic, depending on personal and family roles rather than on official status roles. Without building particularistic relationships a person would risk failure in his purposive behavior. Marrying the "right" girl is still a token of success. Yet status in the community is not completely detemined by birth, and a degee of social mobility is still possible. Religious participation is status qualifying for girls, important for married women, and absolutely necessary for widows. Dress and other paraphernalia for religious life also reflects class position of the bearers. Since there is no resident priest in Sonoyta,,women conduct religious ser- vices in the chapel through two very active associations, one for unmarried and another for married women. Masonry is the only active local associa- tion for influential men with high status. This association draws compara- tiVely few members from the village. The lodge was established by Mexican infinigration officials who make up the majority of its members. These men do not really participate in comunity affairs. There is ecological as Well as social distance between them and other lower status men in the community. Contacts across the border between Sonoyta and Lukeville people are eKtoremely limited, except during border crossings. Lukeville residents Come to Sonoyta sporadically to do errands, and Sonoytans tend to interact With relatives who live in Ajo, Arizona. 1 13 The peculiar characteristics of the village provided an advantageous research site for the problems of this study. This matter is considered in detail in Chapter II. CHAPTER II PURPOSE AND METHODOLOGY General Purposes The general problem of this study is to ascertain whether, all other things being equal, longer and more frequent contacts of Mexican nationals with the United States institutional structures result in more definite at- titudes either in favor of or against the United States. Contacts are ' linked to only those having taken place within the United States. There is no intention to study all of the social situations in which contacts oc- curred. Nor will any attempt be made to establish any causal relationship between experiences in the United States and attitudes toward the country. It is almost impossible, short of a more intensive study, to consider all of the intervening variables that might influence attitudes toward various American socio—cultural patterns taking place within.Mexico itself. A series of more specific statements can characterize the general research problem in form of null hypotheses and research questions as follows: The first general hypothesis is that there is an association between the amount of contact with the United States and favorable or unfavorable attitudes toward the country. The hypothesis may be posed by such questions as: Is there any significant difference between the attitudes of migrants, visitors, and non-vis1tors toward the United States? If so, what is the direction of that difference? What social factors are associated with given attitudes? Is there any relationship between attitudes of migrants and the type of occupation they had during the time they worked in the United States as legal or non-legal migrants? Do number of'times migrants have been in 15 the United States or their knowledge of English affect their attitudes? How‘do friendship and family ties in the United States influence their attitudes toward the country? In sum, is there any relationship between the attitudes toward the United States and the amount and type of expos- ure to the country's institutions and inhabitants? The hypothesis here is that, due to the greater amount of contacts with the United States, migrants would tend to have fixed attitudes toward the country, either positive or negative. Visitors, having been less exposed to the United States, would have a tendency to have more general- ized attitudes, probably verging on the antagonistic side. The non- contact group occupied a very different position as a result of their extremely limited relations to the United States. The hypothesis about them would then be that their general orientations toward the United States would be noticeably unfavorable. The second subsidiary hypothesis is that the higher the socio- economic status of an individual in Mexico the greater the probability that he will evidence unfavorable attitudes toward the United States. The reasoning behind this statement is the observation that the upper classes in Mexico have traditionally attempted to consolidate their position within the community not only by in-group cohesion, but also by out-group conflict. This is the historical pattern of anti-American attitudes within the class structure of Mexico. This hypothesis may be converted into this research question: Is there any association between the socio-economic status of.Mexicans in their home communities and their attitudes toward the United States? 16 Methodology The population. Because the small size of the village did not permit the use of sampling techniques, every effort was made to interview the total adult male population of Sonoyta. Formal interviewing began during the second week of January, 1956. Despite the spreading of false rumors about the purpose of the research, it was still possible to devise an approach that would obtain the required data. A physician planned to vaccinate all the children in the village. The researcher obtained per— mission from him to help with the vaccination campaign, and at the same time to collect those data which were essential to the study. This tech— nique, of course, did not eliminate all problems of getting valid and reliable data. However, it was the only channel available and it is hoped that the data have an acceptable degree of validity. Up to the sixth of April, 1957 there were in the roster of homes, six heads of families who refused to be interviewed. By the eighteenth of the same month, seven merchants had acted in such a way that any con- tact with them was practically impossible. Their behavior could be in- terpreted as a concealed refusal to be interviewed. There were four more heads of families who were always out of town, and two instances where schedules could not be completed. Thus nineteen interviews out of a possible total of 150 or over 12 per cent of the universe were not obtained. Thg researgh sitg. The research area selected was the central village of Sonoyta, Sonora. The surrounding farming areas were omitted from the study. Also omitted were the Mexican Customs and Immigration employees who lived in the community. They constituted so tight an in group as to be virtually isolated from the social life of the village community. 17 Sonoyta was selected as the research site for several reasons. In the first place, the community is strategically located to study the im- pact of recent migration in the United States and Mexico. Sonoyta, though previously isolated, is now’in the stream of Mexican agricultural develop- ment and highway improvement. The closest American town is Ajo, Arizona, forty miles away with a population of 8,000 people. The closest Mexican town is Puerto Pefiasco (called Rocky Point by Americans and Sonoytans as well), a commercial and resort fishing port on the Gulf of Baja California, sixty miles away with 2,000 people. Caborca, in Mexico too, is 100 miles away and San Luis, 160 miles away. (See Figure 1) Sonoyta is strategically located at the crossroads of two main highways. One highway, running south-west to north-east, connects Puerto Pefiasco on the Gulf of Baja California with A30 in Arizona. The other highway running south-east to north-west connects San Luis with Hermosillo (the capital of Sonora). Thus Sonoyta is at the cross roads of the migra- tion currents of northern Sonora. The second reason for selecting the community is that although it is located on the border, it is not a typical "border town," for it is relatively isolated from.American communities. However, it appears to be getting ready for a rising tide of population movement. In addition, Sonoyta was thought to be a little more "cosmopolitan" in outlook and possessing a more heterogeneous population than other isolated villages near the border. This proved to be a misconception, as will be shown below. 18cc Problems, p. 19. 18 Research design and teghnigues for collecting data. A long tenta- tive schedule was prepared well in advance of going to the border and pre- tested in.Marshall, Michigan, with a group of braggrgg who came mostly from the central states in Mexico. This schedule was entirely revised after retesting it in Tubutama, Sonora. Further substantial changes were ‘made after its initial trials in Sonoyta. Some questions in the interview were designed to ascertain the degree of mobility which migrants experi- enced within the community social structure, their participation in come mmnity affairs, as well as their friendship ties within the community. However, it was found in the early stages of interviewing, that respondents resented all of these questions as invading their conceptions of privacy.2 Interviewing took place under widely varying circumstances. The original intent was to interview'respondents in their homes. Often howh ever, it had to be done in a bar or restaurant or even in the milpa.3 It was very seldom possible to complete the interviews in one sitting. This increased the tendency for people to become suspicious. However, the re- searcher was able to reduce suspicion by participating in almost every activity of the community with a few obvious exceptions. Observations were written down at the earliest possible convenience when recollections were still fresh. Full sharing of village life is really icebreaking, for Mexicans are very sensitive to anything that resembles census taking. Problems of field research in Mexico. Local residents were familiar with only three types of strangers; the archeologist, the miner, and the tourist. Sociologists were entirely unknown to them. The researcher 2See schedule in Appendix E. 3Milpa is a small garden plot where diversified products are raised mostly for'home consumption. 19 decided early to be completely honest about the general purpose of the Carnegie Corporation-Michigan State University Border Project and the specific targets of the migration research. People responded in various ways from town to tom along the border visited. However, one type of attitude was almost universal. People invariably wanted to know how the study was related to the activities of the central govemnent, the state government, and with the University of Sonora. Questions like this were not uncommon: "Why doesn't our government or university do what you are doing?" The researcher did contact the University of Sonora in Hermosillo, but did not obtain letters of recommendation from any institution because he did not realize at the time the inmortance of getting clearance from governmental authorities. Several factors militated against the use of standard sociological techniques in research. For one, research is a difficult role for an m- married man to play in a anall Mexican village. Single girls hope to marry am! "suitable" outsider, and the whole comnunity tries to help them achieve this goal. A married researcher with his family living at the research site would, no doubt, have an easier time building local rapport. A second factor inhibiting the building of rapport was the use of a schedule and the use of the term "investigacion." Meadcans do not re- spond positively to people who want to fill out interviews. Even giving information to the Mexican Census is often simply avoided by deserting the village. Further, the term "investigacion" (research) is also most com- monly used in connection with criminal behavior. A man who once crossed the border illegally will not be at ease facing a stranger who comes from the United States to conduct an "investigacion." 20 The researcher, despite obstacles, was able to build good rapport in the comnunity until someone spread the rumor that a spy for the United States government was investigating all workingmen. A socio—psychological "test" which the researcher administered in the public school (grades four, five, and six) was used as evidence that the researcher was a "fifth columist" who was advising Mexicans to become Americans. Unfortunately this occurred at a time when a senator from California was urging the American government to buy Baja California and Northern Sonora from.Mexico.4 These rumors were slowly dissipated with the aid of an old and influential man who was by this time a good friend of the researcher. At the time of the study the upper stratum of the community was bitterly divided by the rivalry between two physicians. One of them, a newcomer, was challenging the popularity of the other. Every effort was made to maintain good relations with both parties, but one of them.attempted to convince others that the researcher agreed with his position. The re- luctance of some merchants to be interviewed might be attributed to their apprehension that the researcher was informed about the moral issues behind this rivalry. For long periods of time the researcher was intellectually isolated. Heady consultation with experienced investigators might well have reduced the kinds of problems which he encountered. Construction of Indices Hypotheses should be tested by appropriate instruments. For the hypotheses mentioned above it was necessary to construct three indices: We, Vol. 65, April 11., 1956, p. 10. 21 an index of contacts with the United States, an index of socio-economic status in the local community, and an index of attitudes toward the United States. The construction of an index involves a number of sometimes ar- bitrary decisions. The very act of combining categories is a concession to inaccuracy, and weighting is, in itself, a very arbitrary task. How- ever, in order to make explicit any possibilities of bias in constructing the indices, the steps involved will be described in detail. The data obtained fran the use of the indices will be elaborated in the subsequent substantive chapters. Index of Contacts with the United States In order to have an overall view of the specific contacts and the Amotmt of contacts which the adult male population of Sonoyta had with the United States an index was devised by putting together information on: (8) mg; tigg in the Unites; Stateg, (b) number of tyre; ang year; spent _in the fltgq States, (c) oggmtion in the mteg States, and (d) mowb W- a) Social ties in the United States. Having friends in a place is a'aaumed to be a factor affecting people's attitudes and ties with that place. Such ties may presume to influence decisions about where to migrate. The questions were asked: "Do you have close friends in the United States?" &“(1 "Do you have acquaintances in the United States?".5 The researcher was careful to note whether friends were American or Mexican. Respondents were 5Acquaintances is not a proper translation of the Spanish expres- sion "simples amigos" but it is the closest term that can be used to convey the original meaning. 22 y‘- also questioned about having distant or close relatives in the United States. The residence of both friends and relatives was also noted. There appeared to be no differences in the proportions reporting many or few relatives or many or few friends in the United States. There- fore, no differential weights were assigned to “new" as opposed to "few" friends or relatives. The same logic was applied to having Mexican or American close friends. Although there seemed to be some distributional differences among acquaintances, no different weights were assigned to having many or few acquaintances. Weights for friendship relations and relatives are given in Table 3. Although analysis of these data will be made in substantive sections of this study, it may be noticed that about three-quarters of the respondents answered the questions in the same way, that they had no glggg American or Mexican frigdg in the United States. They reported, on the other hand, a greater proportion of Mexican than American "acquaintances" in the United States. TABLE 3 WEIGHTS CORRESPONDING TO EXTENT OF FRIENDSHIP AND FAMILY TIES IN THE [NITEU STATES W Friendship Weights Family Weights \ Close friends 2 Close relatives* it A"KPJJ-ain‘tances 1 Other relatives 3 “one 0 None 0 § *"Close relatives" were defined as manbers of the respondent's te family, such as children, parents or siblings. 2.3 Times in the United States, There is no evidence to evaluate the amount of hardship or other elements involved in crossing the border only once as against many times. However, differential weights were correspond- ingly assigned as in Table 1. under the assunption that there are compelling forces operating at either or both ends of the migration stream. TABLE h WEIGI‘ITS ASSIGNED TO NUMBER OF TIMES ADULT MALES 0F SONOY‘I‘A REPORTED THEY HAD BEEN IN THE UNITED STATES Times Weights Never 0 Once or twice 1 Three or four times 3 Five or more times i. If people repeatedly try living in a foreign land, one may impute a strong compulsion to migrate as a means of achieving an easier adjustment abroad. The small number of legal migrants embasizes this compulsive 81..living to come to the United States. Respondents who worked in the United States made frequent references to the increasing difficulties they encountered in trying to enter the United States either with or without legal entry papers. Years or length of time in the United States. No information is a1Kellyzed concerning the length of time visitors spent in the United States. This information is presented only for those who had worked in the United States, even though the question was asked of everyone. It is well known, 21, however, that American immigration laws tend to limit length of time and number of times a person may enter the country as a visitor under certain circumstances.6 Weights, for the length of time in the United States are found in Table 5. The assumption underlying these weights is obvious. Length of time is supposed to be positively correlated with the amount of contacts an individual may have with a culture and with the number of opportunities he has to deal with a complex of social systems. Weights in Table 5 are given to equal time intervals, even though some unequal time intervals are presented. TABLE 5 WEIGHTS ASSIGNED TO NUMBER OF YEARS SPENT IN THE UNITED STATES BY ADULT MALE POPULATION OF SONOYTA Number of Years Weights None 0 One year or less 1 1.1 to 2.0 years 1 2.1 to h.0 years 2 [+01 to 600 years 3 6.1 to 8.0 years A 8.1 or more 5 Ogggpation in the United States. If the respondent had worked in the United States he was asked what type of occupation he had engaged in. The occupations actually comprised a rather small range as seen in Table 6. "Transient" is a designation used for those who experienced much 6Information on thiS'was obtained from the local Head-Immigration Office, Lukeville, Arizona, March 1956. 25 occupational mobility and took any job which was available. Even though occupations other than agriculture have the same weight they are kept separ- ate for descriptive purposes in later parts of this study. TABLE 6 WEIGHTS ASSlCNED TO OCCUPATlONS OF THE MORANTS OF SONOYTA WHEN WORKING IN THE UNITED STATES Occupations Weights Agricultural labor Transient H. . g Factory worker Mechanic NOAO NNNNNH Different occupations probably provide a varying range of opportuni- ties for people to interact in different social environments.7 It seems reasonable to presuppose that in farming occupations the chances to contact American society are more limited compared with the possibilities for urban occupations. For this reason those employed exclusively in agriculture were ”Signed lower weights than others. Since this assumption is somewhat pro— blematic the weights were kept at the lowest levels. Knowledge of Engl_i sh. Ability to use language is probably the best single index of contacts made. Categories as shown in Table 7 were those used by the University of California at Los Angeles Studies.8 Only a little more than one-third of the adult males in the Sonoyta study had at 7 Miller, Delbert C., and Form, William H., lndggtrifl Sociology, New York, Harper and Bros., 1951, Chapter V, especially pages 111. and following. 33mg: 9; Foreim Stgents at UgLA (Interview Guide), Social Science Research Council, Committee on Cross—Cultural Education, Undated unpublished manuscript. 26 least some acquaintance with the English language. Weights were distributed in such a way as to take the differential ability to speak English into con- sideration. TABLE 7 RELATIVE WEIGHTS GIVEN FOR KNOWLEDGE OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE OF THE ADULT MALE POPULATION OF SONOYTA Knowledge of English Weight None at all 0 A little . l Enough to get along 3 A lot 5 The over-all index.of contacts with the United States, as shown in Table 8, was made up by adding up the weights of the variables Just described TABLE 8 SCORES FOR THE INDEX OF CONTACT WITH THE UNITED STATES FOR THE ADULT MALE POPULATION OF SONOYTA Contact Contact Index.Scores None { 0 Little 1-5 Some 6-9 Much lO-t for each individual to make his score. The lowest score may be zero and the highest 22, running from no contact at all to a great deal of contact; from no exposure to a great exposure to American culture. The index.shows that one-fifth of the adult males of Sonoyta had no contact with the United States. Somewhat over two-fifths had "little" contact (Scores 1-5), and 27 the remaining (somewhat over one-third) had contact scores of 6 or more. Contacts, by means of the index just presented, will be contrasted with attitudes in Chapter V. Index of Socio-Economic Status An index of socio-economic status was necessary to test the hypothesis regarding the influence of stratification on attitudes toward the United States. The variables used in constructing the socio-economic status index Were: (a) Occupations in the village; (b) General educational level; and (c) House-land ownership. An eammination of each variable is in order. Occupations Present occupational distribution of the adult male population of Sonoyta was found in response to the question: "he que/ trabaja usted?", which in Mexico has the same meaning as, "How do you make a living?" Answers were roughly categorized according to the classification of the United States Census, even though some variations were introduced in order to fit the peculiar Mexican situation.9 Table 9 gives weights necessary for constructing the index. 9See: Bureau of the Census, Alphabetigd Index g Occupations and W, Washington, D.C., 1950, p. vi; Warner, W. Lloyd, Meeder, Marchia and Eels, Kenneth, Social Class _i_r_1 America, Chicago, Science Research Associates, Inc., 1949, p. 13241.2; Gillen, Paul Bates, The Distribgion if: Ogcgtions as _a_ City Yardstigk, New York, King's Crown Press, 1951, o 23. TABLE 9 WEIGHTS ASSIGJED TO OCCUPATIONS OF ADULT MALES OF SONOYTA _— ‘ _l— Occupational Groupings Weights Professional Ranchers, proprietors, merchants, public officials A Small proprietors, clerks, skilled, semi—skilled, farmers 3 Service workers 2 Common laborers (unskilled) 1 Definitions for understanding the Table are as follows: "Ranchers" are those individuals who own large pieces of land used either in industrial agriculture (as cotton) or in cattle raising. "Proprietors" includes owners of business other than agriculture who have profits as the main source of income. "Merchants" are the owners of dry-goods stores and markets. "Public officials" includes chiefs of government agencies, as judge 01‘ messia- "Ventero," which means a sales-clerk in a store, was placed under "clerical" in contrast to bartender which is placed under "service" be- cause of the differential prestige of these two occupations. "Small proprietors" are the independent owners of very small busi- ness. There is, thus, only a difference of size between this and "proprietors" above. "Farmers" are small land owners, tenants, lessees or golgnos engaged in producing diversified crops mainly for home consumption but who sell small surpluses in the village. Truck drivers are included under the "semi-skilled" category as well as taxi. drivers, assuming that their skill is less than that of a machine operator who goes under "skilled." The former only operate the machine whereas the latter can repair it as well. 29 Even though a farm laborerhas greater security of employment than a jornalero, who is practically in a constant search for a Job, they are put together under "common laborers." The remaining categories need no explanation since the United States Census was followed. Table 9 and the preceding descriptions explain the weights given occupations for the socio-economic status index. Weights for educational attainment. Even though nmnber of years of school completed is not as important in socio-economic status for rural as for urban societies .10 it was used as part of the index under the assump- tion that the proximity of the village to industrial areas demands it. The two cases of self—educated men in the community are survivals. Young people complain more and more about the lack of educational opportunities. The educational composition of the respondents and the weights assigned to various educational levels are provided in Table 10. TABLE 10 WEIGHTS ASSIGNED TO YEARS OF SCHOOLING OF THE ADULT MALE POPULATION OF SONOYTA Years of School Weights None 0 1-3 1 1.4: 2 7-9 ' 3 10 or more A 10See: Leonard, Olen E. and Loomis, C. P. (eds.), We, _in Latin American Social Orga_n_i_zation a_n_d Institutions, E. Lansing, Michigan State College Press, 1953, Chapter on States and Stratification by Leonie, 93. gal”, especially p. 200. 30 It may be noted in passing that over two-fifths of the respondents had no formal education and three-tenths had less than three years of school- ing. Only one-eighth remained in school after the sixth grade. The further significance of these data will be made clearer later. Property What is called here the property gm index was obtained through a somewhat more canplicated process than that used for the other indices. This was necessary because no data were available on value of property or income. Residents in Mexican villages often own property or rent property Q9133 in town and in the surrounding farm area. An index had to take this into consideration. Ownership of property in town and in the country was given the highest weight, followed by renting in one place and owning in another, etc. After a crude classification was made, the categories were internally emmined. Thus owning a house with six rooms was given more weight than owning a smaller house. Further adjustments were made by taking into consideration the number of people per room, to get an index of crowd- ing. Although arbitrary decisions were unavoidable in this process, pre- cautions were taken to reduce the margin of error. Table 11 provides the summary data for the property-type index. It may be noted that the upper fifteen per cent may be thought of as a property elite, in the sense that they either own both a house and land, or own one and rent the other. The remaining were classified as upper middle, lower middle, and lower, re- spectively, for use in substantive analysis at the end of Chapter IV. )1 TABLE 1.1 WEIGHTS ASSIGNED TO PROPERTY TYPE INDEX FOR ADULT MALE POPULATION OF SONOYTA Property Categories Weights Own house - Om land 5 Own house - Rent land or Rent house - Own land high 4 Rent house - Rent land Upper Middle 3 Own house - No land Lower Middle 2 Rent house - No land Lower l The index of socio-economic status was obtained by adding up scores for occupation, education, and property for every individual as shown in Table 12. The distribution of socio-economic index scores was expected to TABLE 12 SOCIO—ECONOMIC GROUPS FOR ADULT MALES AND SCORES OF SES* 4 T __-_ ‘f—_ M Socio-Economic Socio-Economic Number of Per cent Groups lndex People Upper 12-15 A 3 Upper - Middle 9-11 35 27 Lower - Middle 6-8 63 AB Lower 3-5 28 22 Total 130 100 *ln interpreting this table, it should be kept in mind that seven out of nineteen adult males who "refused" to be interviewed, were presumably mem- bers of the upper group. 32 take the form of a pyramid. However, the technique used showed the upper group to be small (3 per cent); the two middle groups to comprise three quarters of the total, and the lowest group about one-fifth. 1f the groups are dichotomized, three-tenths are in the upper half and seven-tenths in the lower half. This latter division seems, at first glance, to be real- istic situation of social-class groupings in Mexican border communities. However, closer observations are presented in Chapter III, p. 38. The intercorrelations for the index of socio-economic status are Given in Table 1), so that its internal consistency may more readily be examined. Some observations on the internal consistency of the index are in Order as an interpretation of Table l). The socio-economic status index was made up from occupation, education and property. Land and house owner- ififip as well as type of housing were used, in turn, to make up the property index. It may be seen from Table 13 that occupation is positively and tHighly associated with education and property. Education, however, is sOmewhat negatively associated with property. This anomaly may be ex- Plained by the fact that economic power in rural communities is not so much a function of education but of gradual extension of land holdings. Therefore, older people may be expected to have more property than younger P00p1e who may be more highly educated. In fact, Table 1) shows this high Positive association between age and property index. While age is positively associated with all other variables except education, education is negatively associated with all other variables except occupation. Education is, then, important in the occupational Structure of the village and will become increasingly so as Mexico moves gradually toward an occupationally proliferated industrial society. 33 TABLE 13 SUMMARY TABLE OF CHI-SQUARES, THEIR CONFIDENCE LEVELS AND COHHECTEU CONTINGENCY COEFFICIENTS AMONG INUlCES USE-1 TO CONSTRUCT THE SOCIO-ECONOMIC INDEX Occu- Educa— Property Land House Number Index of pation tion Index Owner- Owner— of Crowding Age ship ship Rooms OCCU- 18.909 13 .451 13.877 2.224 8.378 7.750 2.032 pation 001 005 .001 0 50 002 005 0 50 + 0147 +059 +0145 +019 *026 ‘035 ”.017 Educa- 18 .909 7.109 2.964 10.631 .222 1 .548 9.253 tion 001 0 7O 0 50 002 070 070 001 "04.7 “'02? “02.1 ‘037 001+ '014. -0“ Index 001 0 30 0 001 0 001 0 001 0 001 0 01 43145 -055 4‘097 1588 *0 58 -058 +047 land 17.307 5.224 109.597 5.059 .997 3.730 4.697 Omar- .001 020 0001 010 050 020 005 ship 4’.50 -.26 +.91 4328 ‘305 -.25 4328 House 2.224 10.631 90.258 7.257 2.711 2. 563 15 .184 M81“ 0 50 002 0001 005 010 020 0001 Ship +.19 -.37 +. 88 1555 +.22 * . 22 + . 50 Number 8.378 .222 21..077 2.121. 2.711 15 .241. 7.354 or .02 .70 .001 . 50 .10 .001 .01 Rooms +036 {00‘} +058 +019 +022 -052 +036 Index of 7.750 1.348 24.306 5.395 2.563 15.244 .143 Crowding 005 .70 .001 010 020 .001 080 “035 ‘01h '0)8 -029 +022 “”052 +015 Age 2.032 9.253 15 .191 4.697 15 .184 7 .351. .145 . 560 .01 .01 .05 .001 .01 .80 + 017 ‘0“ +0“? +528 {’0 50 +036 {~15 Formally educated people in the village are, for the most part, young. Higher education is highly respected and considered as a privilege of rich peeple. However, some highly educated people are comparatively 34 propertyless. iThis was the case, for example, for the medical doctors who received relatively low’incomes and rented small apartments. Thus the as- sociation between house ownership and education was negative, but the association between education and occupation was relatively high. Educa- tion then appears to have some prestige dimension which may later have positive economic consequences. While visiting Mexico the researcher frequently observed a common practice of house building. The young rural Mexican couple usually starts out in a small house which expands, as it were, with the growing size of the family. This pattern reverses itself when the adult children start, in turn, to raise their own families. The old house starts to fall apart as a result of the inability of the old folks to meet the expenses of keep- ing up the unused rooms. Perhaps this may partly explain the anomalous associations among occupation, education and the housing variables. The house building cycle may also explain other relations. Thus, while the association between age and house ownership, and age and number of rooms is positive and highly significant, the association between age and the index.af crowding is scarcely positive and non-significant. In summary: Amount of property seems to be relatively more important than education in placing people socio-economically in this type of com- munity. Occupation also appears to be more important than education. Yet education cannot be ignored for its prestige value and possible future economic dividends. Socio-economic status index as related to attitudes will be substantively treated in Chapter V. Index of attitudes toward the United States. The interviewing situation was seldom favorable to a full inquiry on attitudes toward the 35 united States. Yet an attempt was made to obtain a quantitative representa- tion of those attitudes. Two questions were asked. (1) "How do you like the United States?" and (2) "WOuld you.give me some reasons for your feeling?" Answers to the second question were copied verbatim, and analyzed for content. Responses to the first question are shown in Table 14.11 Although the response categories are crude, it is apparent that three-fifths of the respondents had positive attitudes toward the United States. Responses to the second question were analyzed for their evaluation of work conditions and life styles in the united States. These will be more explicitly emmined in Chapter V on attitudes. TABLE 11. DISTRIBUTION OF ANSWERS GIVEN TO THE QUESTION "HOW DO YOU LIKE THE UNITED STATES" MW Categories of Answers Number Per cent very much 52 40 Somewhat 26 20 Not much 13 10 Not at all 28 21 No answer 11 9 Total 130 100 The scope of this chapter has been to raise questions and set up the instruments needed to answer those questions. The following chapter 11The listing of verbalized attitudes is given in Appendix B. 36 will attempt to study the peOple belonging to identifiable groups in order to answer the research questions. 37 CHAPTER III SOCIAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE POPULATION OF SONOYTA Three types of data will be used to describe the population of Sonoyta. First, a description of the population characteristics enumerated in “the preceding chapter will be presented. This will be followed by a study of the general migrations currents of Sonora, as viewed against the background of larger migration currents in Mexico. The final part will be concerned with an analysis of the migrants to the United States. They, in turn, will be compared with two other groups: (a) People who had visited (not. worked in) the United States and (b) People who ddver 99d visited the uni-ted 315813830 Much of the migration into the United States from Mexico is from mil communities along the border and deeper in the interior of Mexico. ReLatively few studies have described the population of these communities and the segment of the population which migrates. This chapter will at- tempt to describe the population of Sonoyta, and the segnents which migrate to the United States. Generalizations from this study should be tempered by the fact that twelve per cent of adult males in the village were not available for interviewing. Testing the reliability of the data was not possible because the Mexican Census does not provide data for units smaller than munidipiog in which information for a danisaria such as Sonoyta is submerged. 38 The Adult Male Population of Sonoyta Generally speaking the population of the village is highly Caucasian. There are only a few Papago families, and a small number of people of mixed races; either Spanish and Indian or Spanish and Oriental. The Orientals in Sonora are remnants of the Chinese population which was in the area during the late thirties and early forties, before the state enforcement of the expulsion laws. Central in a migration study is knowledge concerning the origin of the population of a community. It may be recalled from the historical sketch presented in Chapter I that the growth of the village to its pre- sent size is of recent date. As is seen in Table 15, only one-tenth of the adult males were born in Sonoyta but almost three-fifths were born in Sonora, excluding Sonoyta. The remaining quarter was born in other states TABLE 15 BIRTH PLACE AND PREVIOUS RESIDENCE OF ADULT MALES 0F SONOYTA Places Birth Previous Residence Number Per cent Number Per cent Sonoyta 14 ll 16 12 Sonora 75 58 67 51 Mexico (other than Sonora) 33 25 32 25 United States 4 5 13 10* N.A. 4 3 2 2 Total 130 100 130 100 *Does not include migratory labor in the United States 39 in Mexico, and only three per cent in the United States. One—third of those born in Sonora come from Caborca, Sonora, a town 100 miles distant. The closest town, Quitovac, which has always been a small community, con- tributed forteen per cent of those born in Sonora. The contribution of population from other states is shown in Table 16. It should be noted that Jalisco and Sinaloa, which border Sonora, each contributed one-fifth of the non-Sonora born. TABLE 16 BIRTH PLACE OF ADULT MALES RESIUING IN SONOYTA-NOT BORN IN SONORA Place Birth Previous Residence Number Per cent Number Per cent Jalisco 8 23 7 21 Sinaloa 7 20 A 12 Hidalgo 3 8 1 J Guanajuato j 8 z 6 Zacatecas 3 8 l J L'ucvo Lech 4 b l J Mich 03:: I Z 6 0 - Chihuahua. I j .5 9 Curango l 3 l 5 Quintana Rho l 3 O - Baja California 0 - ll 33 No Information A ll 2 6 Total 35 99 33 99 1+0 It appears that Sonoyta has become a destination point rather than a transient point of migration for most of the resident population. This probably can be explained by the economic growth of border regions of Mexico and by the central government's irrigation projects which now provide the onhy alternative for the future economic development of the border. Baja Caltflornia's tremendous growth along the border during the last ten years isrumw in process of waning. Sonoyta is experiencing some of the effects ofiflris reverse displacement of population southward. This phenomenon can be confirmed from data in Table 16, which indicate that, although none of the present residents were born in Baja California, one third of those born outside of Sonora previously resided in Baja California. A consideration of Tables 15 and 16 suggest that there was rela- tiveLy'little migration outside of the states of birth, other than moving to Sonoyta. It seems that the same percentage of people (approximately one quarter of the total) reported both birth and previous residence in the same states in Mexico. This suggests that they came from their states of origin directly to Sonoyta. It should be recalled that Sonoyta was a very small village twenty years ago. It may be added also that the depression of'the thirties brought old Mexicans back home from the United States since the cost of living has always been lower in Mexico. Age. The total population of Sonoyta is 1300. However, this study, as was explained before, did not cover the whole comisaria (county). Rather it focused on the peOple living in the central village, as shown in Figure 2 (See Appendix E). Two different distributions for age are presented for Sonoyta and contrasted with corresponding percentages for the state of Sonora in Al Table 17, which reports the age distribution of the adult males interviewed and their families when they were married. about nonrdependent relatives of unmarried respondents. TABLE 17 No information was obtained AGE DISTRIBUTION OF ADULT MALES or SONOYTA, SONORA, ANu STATE OF SONORA IN PERCENTAGES W Age Intervals Adult Males ___ Sonoyta Sonora 20-24 9 18 25-29 15 17 JO-JL 2} 15 35-59 11 l) AO-LL 9 10 45-h? l} 8 50-5h 5 7 55-59 9 h 60-6h j A 65+' A o N.I. -- -- Total 99 100 Numbers of Adult Males 130 1L9,306* ¥ —_ 12 20, Sonora e Secretaria de Economic, Mexico, Direccion General ce Estadistica, 1953, P. 2’40 A glance at the respective tables point to some significant differ- ences between the age composition of the village and the state. As may be h2 Age Pyramid of The Population of ' Sonoyta As Belated Tb The Adult Male Population Under Stulz 3‘: Tabs r MALE FEMALE Chart 3.1 discerned from Table 18 the largest group of adult Sonoyta males (approxi— mately one fifth) are concentrated in the five year span of )0 and 1h years. ‘Huaten year age span of 25 to 1A years contains the largest proportion, 56 per cent of the total. These data seem to be representative of adult TABLE 18 AGE COMPOSITION OF THE TOTAL POPULATIQJ OF SONOYTA AND THE STATE OF SONOHA 4—?— Age Interval Village Population State Population Per cent Per cent 0 - h 18 15 5 - 9 18 11+ 10 - ll. 13 12 15 - l9 7 10 20 - 2A A 9 25 - 29 8 8 50 - 5t. 8 b 39 - )9 > b LO - AA A 5 AS - A9 7 A 50 - 5h 1 5 55 - 59 5 2 60 - oz. 1 2 55+ 1 5 Total 100 99 Numbers 5,51. 510,607+:- *S_gptimo genso, 9_p_. gi_t_., p. 2h. A") male pepulations from.communities of similar economic and social deveIOp- ment. However, the number of teenagers is extremely small (see Appendix C), and the males of this age group are far outnumbered by females. 0n the other hand, men over 10 years of age outnumber females, especially at the age span between )0 and 5A years. Several factors may explain these anomalies. In the first place, some of the men refused to be interviewed, and this tended to underrepre- sent the adult males in some "mature" age levels. In the second place, it is very possible that parents omitted reporting all of the absent teen- agers in their families, even though the researcher always requested the full listing of all living members of the family wherever they happened to be at the time. The foregoing considerations notwithstanding, it was ob- served in several villages in the area that girls generally outnumbered boys. This probably was due to the common occurrence of young men leaving their homes to seek jobs in other parts of Mexico or in the United States. This is often the case where surplus of labor is confronted with shortages of occupational opportunities. Also, the recent arrival in the village of young married population may help to explain the smallness of the teenage group. Marital status. The great majority of the adult males were married: eighty-three per cent again fourteen per cent single. There were only four single people over thirty-five years of age and only four out of the 130 were widowed, and none was divorced. Family size. Family is defined here as the economic unit comprised of those who play parental roles and their dependent children. In rare occurrances other dependent persons were listed as members of the family. hh The Mexican Census definition is broader than this, for it implies the extended family, the economic unit tied up to the head of the household by parentage and custom.1 Under these circumstances, when Sonoyta data are compared with those representing other Mexican units, Sonoyta will have relatively smaller families. Indeed Table 19 shows that 62 per cent of the Sonoyta families have two to five members, rather small in size TABLE 19 SIZE OF FAMILIES OF SONOYTA AND THE STATE OF SONORA Size Sonoyta Sonora* Per cent Per cent 2-3 27 30 h-S 35 30 6-7 2A 22 8-9 11 12 10 3 6 Total 100 100 Total Families 107 94,651 _— *Septimo Qengo,‘gp. git., p. 25. for Mexico. However, the mean family size for Sonoyta is 5.0, and the Radian is A.5.2 The mean for Sonora is 5.4 and for Mexico, 5.1. Since 1See: §gptimo Cengo General 22 Poblacion é,ggyjunio fig 1250, Resumen General, Secretaria de Economia, Uireccion General 0e Estadistica, 1953, p. 2A and Uuran Ochoa, Julio, Poblacion, Mexico, Fondo de Cultura Fbonomica, l955,~pp. 23-25. 21t should be noticed that the average as here computed takes into consideration all women bearing children at the time of the research, with- out concern for the childbearing period and the dead children. See: landis, Paul H., and Matt, Paul K., Population Problems, New York, American BOOK COO, 1951;, Appendix p. m. A5 the definition of the family used for Sonoyta is narrower, Sonoyta families probably are representative in size for Sonora, but smaller when compared to Mexico as a whole. On the other hand, Sonoyta families are larger than families in the United States. The median family size for Sonoyta is n.5, and 5.7 for the United States. The definition of family size used here is about the same as the one used by the United States Census.3 Education. The hypothesis entertained in this study is that migra- tion is affected by the socio—economic status of a person. Indices of socio-economic status used are education, occupation, and property. Educa- tion is computed by years of school completed. Certain arbitrary approxi- mations to a full year were made for those who had more than five months of school per year. The most striking fact of Table 20 is that half of the TABLE 20 TOTAL EDUCATIONAL LEVEL OF AUULT MALES OF SONOYTA Years of School Completed Number Per cent None 29 22 l - 3 38 29 4-6 45 35 7 - 9 13 10 10+- 5 A Total 130 100 sample had three or less years of education, and one fifth had no formal education. About one third had four to six years of schooling. Only five individuals got through high school, three of which were physicians 5Bureau of the Census, General Characteristics 2; Families, 1950, Whghington, D.C., Uniteu States Government Printing Office, 1955, pp. 2A-7 an 2A—lO. 46 recently'arrived in the village. The mean education reported was 3.8 years. One reason for the relatively low educational level was the ab- sence of a secondary school in Sonoyta. The nearest one is in Caborca, 100 miles away, over a very rough gravel road. Occupation. Since there were no available data on the amount of income derived from each occupation and some occupations are seasonal, it was impossible to determine which was the main occupation as far as making I a living was concerned. In classifying workers, the first occupation they reported was used. The occupational structure of Sonoyta tends to represent the pecul— iar economy of a Mexican border town and trade center community. In the first place, the town had over ten per cent of its male labor force as proprietors, managers, and officials. Sixteen per cent were employed in agricultural occupations. The absence of industry was reflected in the relatively large proportion of unskilled workers (thirty-three per cent) representing services and common labor. Yet the emergence of a technologi- cally complex.society is reflected in the relatively large proportion of skilled workers (twenty two per cent) present. Education does not run parallel with occupational levels as reported in Table 21. There seems to be relatively little differentiation of occu- pation by education. However, Table 21 omits some significant Oata. Thus, thirty five per cent of the common laborers had no formal education, and one half of the farmers haO no schooling either. Yet Oespite this there was a significant association between occupational position and education in Sonoyta. “ata in Table 22 show'that, on the whole, a greater propor- tion of the lower occupational groups were concentrate“ in lower e°ucational A7 levels, whereas the Opposite was true for the higher occupations. These differences are significant statistically because the probability of the Chi-square is at the .001 level. TAth 21 macaw-Ices or whom ADULT mas IN VARIOUS OCCUPATION csourmce ‘ %”.—.—* Occupational Groupings ~Percentages Professional 2 Ranchers 2 I’mprietors, merchants, public officers 8 Small propri store 2 Clerical 3 Skilled 22 Semi-skilled 14 Farmers 14 Service 7 Common laborers 26 Total 100 Number of Cases 130 “.- Mm— v— v vwv—v‘w—w—‘vvvv‘V-m- House-land ownership. Adobe house construction generally prevailed in the village. There were very few cement block houses. Except for the main business area described in Chapter I, the village was not highly dif- ferentiated ecologically. Even the residences of the rich people were scattered in no apparent pattern. Of course very poor people tended to live in the peripheral sections of the village. TABLE 22 EDUCATIONAL LEVEL OF THREE OCCUPATIONAL GROUPINGS Education Occupations High* Middle Low Total 0-3 years 1 A0 26 67 A years or more 15 3O 18 63 Total 16 70 AA 130 = 14.893 p < .001 6 Z 016 *High, middle, and low refer to position in the occupational structure shown in Table 21. Table 23 presents data on housing and land ownership. From it two TABLE 23 HOUSE-LAND OWNERSHIP AND HOUSING CHARACTERISTICS FOR SONOYTA f r Categories No. of People Per cent 1. Rouge Ownerghip Own house 78 60 Rent house 31 23 Borrow house 17 13 Boomers A 3 Total 130 99 2. Typg of Housing One family house 106 81 Two hamily house 16 12 N.A. 8 6 Total 130 99 A9 Table 23 Continued. Categories No of People Per Cent 3. N9. of Beep; Pg; pre One room 19 15 Two rooms 50 33 Three rooms 38 29 Four to six rooms 17 13 N.A. 6 5 Total 130 100 in. No. of Pepsong Per Household One person 21 16 Two persons 11 8 Three persons 20' 15 Four persons 18 14 Five persons 16 12 Six persons 1A 11 Seven persons 1A 11 Eight to ten persons 1A 11 Eleven or more 2 2 Total 130 100 5. ‘No, of Pergons Pgr Room More than A to 7 9 7 3.1 - A.O 16 12 201 ' 300 19 15 1.1 - 2.0 36 28 Less than 1 A3 33 N.A. 7 5 Total 130 100 6. Land Qppergpip Own land 13 10 Rent land 2 l Lease land 1 1 Colono* 7 5 None 107 83 Total 130 100 -—_ h.— *"Colono" refers to a person who rents land from the government on a long term basis. Schulman uses it to indicate a feudal landlord-tenant relationship. See: Schulman, Sam., "The Colono System in Latin American," Rppgl §ppiology, Vol. 20, March, 1955, p. 3A-AO. 50 important conclusions may be drawn. The majority of the peeple (sixty per l‘ and ten per cent owned land. More than four- cent) owned their houses fifths of the people lived in one family houses, and slightly over half of them had one or two rooms. Under these conditions, a rather high degree of crowding in houses was inevitable. Thus, only one-third reported living in houses with a density of less than one person per room. Yet the majority did own their homes and lived in them as separate family units. It may well be that housing which is available to Mexican.migrants in the United States may not come to these standards. Some respondents indicated that it was more difficult to own a house in the United States, in contrast to Mexico, where "Uno puede hacer su casa poco a poquito" (One can build his own house little by little). It should also be noted that over one-eighth of the men "borrowed" a house without paying a rent or having any equivalent financial responsibility. Although Table 23 reports only five per cent as colonos (long term renters of government land), their number was larger and on the increase. They were necessarily omitted from the study if they lived outside the central community of the village. The same qualification would not apply for land ownership because homesteading was not the common pattern of land tenure in the area.5 Generally the farmers' homes were located in the village, and the farms somewhat distant from the village. The relatively small percentage of land owners and tenants is typical of villages in semi- arid regions where feudal land use practices survive. hThis is about the same percentage for Sonora which is 61.6. Compared with the border states, Sonoyta ranks higher. Per cent of houses occupied by owners in the border states is 55.2. For houses not occupied by owners, Sonora 38.A, Sonoyta 36.6, and border states AA.8. 5See: Footnote 12, Chapter I, p. 5. 51 Socio-Economic Status The index of socio-economic status was made up from the three categories of education, occupation, and house-land ownership. This index may be used as a rough approximation of social class. Upon first coming into the village one tends to see a two-class system in existence. Howe ever, on closer inspection a three-class system seems to be emerging in the community. The arbitrary divisions of the socio-economic index into three groups as in Table 2A, seems to be close to the actual situation. The high group represents three tenths of the population, the middle, about one half, and the low, two tenths. TABLE 2h SOCIO-ECONOMIC STATUS OF ADULT MALES 0F SONOYTA w j m: ‘f Groups No. of People Per cent High 39 30 Middle 63 #8 Low 28 21 Total 130 99 There are no people who can be considered as belonging to an upper class of aristocrats, as found in more established societies. Even by ignoring the humble past of the few'well-to-do families, it would still not be possible to have such a group. There is, however, a remarkable tendency, especially among teenage girls of the high group, to be extremely selective in their friendship and mating relationships. On the other hand, it would not be difficult, to locate a lower class group at the 52 bottom of the social ladder. They are poor renters with large families, whose breadwinners are illiterate and. in constant search of work. The problem in Sonoyta is whether there is an emerging upper middle class. This question becomes in part one of determining whether class consciousness is developing with attendant social distance between the nfiddle group and those above and below it. Evidence of this is apparent from the increasing division of labor, the growth of population, a growth in the volume of business, a widening of the social distance among the old units of the village, and greater differentiation of associational membership. Probably the social class system of Sonoyta was similar a few years ago to the present case at Tubutama.6 In the latter community almost every- body believes in social equality. Thus the expression is often given, "Aqui todos somos iguales." The present differences between the two vil- lages points to the emerging class consciousness in Sonoyta. A brief account of the most relevant characteristics of the three classes or groups in Sonoyta is necessary for understanding the relationship of position in the class structure to attitude toward the United States. Property type, education, and occupation have already been dis- cussed as basic to status differences. However, the researcher noticed several other characteristics which differentiated the residents; for example, flower gardening practices around the house; type and quality of furniture used; type of car owned; dressing habits; and patterns of inter- action not only in day-to-day activities but also in other activities oriented to community welfare. Social sorting was also noticeable among 6Tubutama, Sonora, is a relatively isolated village located 120 miles East of Sonoyta. See Figure l. 53 men in their selection of companions for card and drinking parties. In addition knowledge of etiquette and manners constituted the real mark of distinction at least among young women of a small number of families. As might be expected this group recruited its members from among those who had traveled, who had an out-of-town education, and who had developed proper manners. The latter was absolutely essential for middle class people to be accepted into the emerging upper group. Although members of the middle group did not necessarily have to have property as a source of income, they did need to have a clean job and enough leisure time for a certain amount of community participation. Since leading positions in the community were not readily available to them, their opportunities to interact with people in higher social strata were limited. As for inter—class interaction on a friendship level, it tended to be rather infrequent. Strangely enough, the middle status group did not emphasize manners, even though manners seemed prerequisite to in- teract with those of higher status. There was a final important difference between the middle and upper groups in respect to political power and its organizational setting. Holders of positions of power were always either members of the highest group or its satellites. Members of the highest group were involved in the entire process which precedes a political appointment, as well as in the legitimation of appointments and community decisions. Although members of the middle group were sometimes critical of this process, they usually were content to be acquiescent spectators. Middle status people did become important administrators but never community leaders. This situation was fermenting a restlessness among middle class youth which disposed them to migrate to the United States, given the opportunity. 5h The low class was the easiest to identify. Its members were mostly ones, and jornaleros, the jobless and propertyless people who did not feel attached to any group, except perhaps to the family. They had little education and inherited a position within a rigid system that could be broken only by migration. Contacts with the United States Ordinarily contacts with a foreign country would not be considered a standard social attribute of a population. However, the town of Sonoyta in on the border, and the economic life of the community is in part tied to the economy of the United States. Further, since this is a study of international contacts of migrants from the community, it is necessary to blow, for comparative reasons, the amount and nature of contacts which members of the community had with the United States. Friendship and family relations of the adult males of Sonoyta with people in the United States were discussed in connection with the index of contacts in the preceding chapter. From the data in Table 25, it is apparent that only one tenth of the adult males had either American or Mexican close friends in the United States and that seven tenths had neither. It may be assumed that the relatively large proportion not re- sponding (twenty per cent) had no close friends. On the other hand, the respondents named a large proportion of acquaintances. As might be expected, the respondents reported larger proportion of Mexican than American acquaintances in the United States, forty-seven per cent as opposed to twenty-five per cent. These Mexican friends may have been developed through family ties in the United States, through visits, or when working in the United States. 55 TABLE 25 NATIONALITY OF'CLOSE FRIENDS AND ACQUAINTANCES IN THE UNITED STATES REPORTED BY SONOYTA ADULT MALES Close riends Friends American Friends Mexican Friends . Number Per cent Number Per cent None 91 70 9h 72 Some 11 8 14 ll N.A. * 28 22 22 17 Total 130 100 130 100 Acquaintances None 67 51 38 29 A few' 18 14 35 27 Many 15 12 27 21 N.A. * 30 23 30 23 Total 130 100 130 100 W *No answer given to the question, "Do you have any close American or Mexican friends or acquaintances in the United States?" Almost four—tenths of the adult males reported having close rela- tives in the United States, and three-fourths of these lived in Arizona. The researcher very often head that some people in Sonoyta were literally being supported by relatives living in Ajo, Arizona. This was not only true for old people who could not work, but for others; e.g., a man who might work in Ajo would have his wife or a "second wife" living in Sonoyta, where the cost of living was lower. Although this probably happens in any border town, it is more striking here because of the great distance between the two communities. 56 TABLE 26 FAMILX TIES IN THE UNITED STATES REPORTED BY ADULT MALES LIVING IN SONOYTA Relationship No. of People Per Cent Close relatives * 37 28 Other relatives 6 A None 83 6h N.A. A A Total 130 100 —-‘“__‘ *Includes parents, children and siblings. Use of English. In the process of attitude formation, language always plays a highly significant role, so that certain correlation may be assumed between the amount of knowledge of a language and the under- standing of the culture and institutions of the society in which the language is used. In Sonoyta, English is often spoken in stores which American tourists frequent. Many terms of either technical or non-technical character have never been translated into Spanish. On the other hand, common terms are used even if the corresponding Spanish ones are well known. The use of English is sometimes a symbol of prestige; sometimes it is used in humor, but some English expressions are just a part of the daily vocabularies. Lacking comparative data from other Mexican border towns makes it difficult to estimate the meaning of the precentages given in Table 27. It seems, however, that relatively few people were well acquainted with the English language. It should be remembered that much of the Southwest 57 TABLE 27 ADULT MAIES' KNOWLEDGE OF ENGLISH Knowledge of English No. of People Per cent None at all 83 61., A little 22 11. Enough to get along 18 17 A lot 7 5 Total 130 100 of the United States is bilingual, so that Mexicans migrating to the United States may have relatively little difficulty conducting businesses. The index of contacts as shown in Table 8 was based on friendship and family bonds, timesand years spent in this country, knowledge of the English language, and kind of occupation in which migrants engaged while in United States. The final scoring of the respondents lended itself *0 a fourfold grouping. People with no contact made up one-fifth of the “m. while somewhat over two-fifths had "little" contact, over twenty- one Per cent had considerable contact, and only about fifteen per Cent had great deal of contact. This research was not concerned with scritiniz- ing the nature of the situations in which contacts occurred. However, it was hytpothisized that contacts in the United States influenced the direc- tion of orientation or attitudes toward the country. Orientations toward the United States The United States is constantly on the minds of Sonoytans, probably as much as Mexico itself. In the many conversations which the researcher 58 k prOVed had, it became readily apparent that attitudes toward the United States were complex and varied. That is, people evaluated some aspects of Meri- can society positively, other aspects negatively. Their evaluations also seemed to have a variable quality, depending on their most recent emeri- ences. Yet through all of this, a dominant feeling toward the United States was present. It came out in response to the question, "How do you like the United States?" Data for this are found in Table 28. 7 TABLE 28 CENERAL ATTITUDINAL ORIENTATION OF THE ADULT MALES OF SONOYTA TOWARD THE UNITED STATES —-‘ Like the United States No. of People Per cent Very much 52 1.0 Somewhat 26 20 Not much 13 10 Not at all 28 21 N.A. ll 9 Total , 130 100 Apparently about forty per cent of the respondents had predominantly P081tiv3 attitudes toward the United States, thirty per cent mildly ap- or disapproved of the country, and slightly over one-fifth had ext'reflnely negative attitudes. When given the opportunity to elaborate 9“ their feelings toward the United States more than one-half were un- “u‘lh'lg to do so. Of those who did, only a little more than half had femQI‘able attitudes toward the United States. The analysis of these at- tub‘ldinal data by groups which had different amounts of contact with the United States will be considered at length later. 59 CHAPTER IV SOCIAL ATTRIBUTES OF MIGRANTS TO 'I'HE UNITED STATES General Migration Picture in Sonora Individual migration and group migration tends to be differentiated according to the geographical origin of migrants in Mexico. Thus, the people along the border tend to migrate to the United States as individuals, whereas group migration (braceros) begins farther south in Mexico, in the Bajiol and adjacent states, such as Jalisco, Nayarit, Zacatecas, Durango The researcher met young men in every town along the and Gimiajuato. border in Sonora who were trying to obtain resident visas to the United States. Other youths go "alambristas" when they give up trying to make a legal entry. This researcher also gave a ride to an "alambrista" who had been taken from Caleadco to Brownsville, and deported by boat from there to Veracruz, along with 800 other "alambristas." He was returning ’50 San Luis, Sonora, by hitching rides and by surreptitiously entering trains, with the intentions of trying again to make a non-legal entry into the United States. He had made more than a 1,000 mile journey mostly on foot. But he could see no other solution, given the economic situation °f his native state, but to try to re-enter the United States. Seasonal cotton picking migation. Mass migration occurs in Sonora but is not from Sonora in origin. As a matter of fact Sonora experiences a Shot"AT-age of manpower especially when harvesting its main crop, ¢°tt°n° _\ lBajio means "dip" and refers to the basin where the slopes of the S. 11:33 Madre and the Central Mountains meet. See: James, Preston E., \ln Arneri a, New York, the Odyssey Press, 1950, p. 591. 33. 6O The cotton picking season attracts many workingmen, married and unmarried, with or without families, to the following areas in Sonora from south to north in a cyclical process around the dates given in Table 29. Figure 1 graphically depicts this cycle. Obviously not all of these out-of-state workers move successively from one area to another. Many of them may anticipate the season in one area by going to it directly from their homes, without making the intermediate harvesting stops. On the other hand, there is certain overlapping of picking periods, as may be seen from Table 29 , which does not allow all workers to move along successively. The state of Sonora has established a contracting office (Oficina de Contratacion) in Hermosillo where 1.5,000 workers signed in 1955 to undergo three weeks training in the central and northern cotton areas to be eligible 1‘0 80 afterwards to the United States as braceros. This training period was, 2 Of course, a pretext devised by the Asociacion Algodonera de Sonora to Secure the badly needed labor to pick the state's cotton crop. WW. An understanding of the mass Migration from the south helps one to understand the pattern of the local individual migration from the northern border areas. The strategic posi- tion Of Sonoyta offers daily opportunities to observe the constant movement of pe01333 going northwest toward Baja California which is the "west" of Mexico - And the reverse movement can be observed, of workers who have not fOlind the opportunities they dreamed of and are forced to return home with eInpty hands. How many do not find work or fail to return home may be Weed from the high death toll of Mexicali, especially during the 119’“ Season. The Sonoyta agent of the bus company which serves 11°11?th Sonora calculated, after several weeks of close observation at the request 61 TABLE 29 SEASONAL MIGRATION IN THE STATE OF SONORA, MEXICO"? if 1 Harvesting Area No. of Proportion by Period Workers Place of Origin July 1 to Mayo Valley 25,000 33% from the area October 31. Novojoa, 33% from elsewhere Huatabampo in Sonora 33% from Sinaloa“- July 10 to Yaqui Valley 100,000 25% from the area November 10 Ciudad Obregon 2555 from elsewhere in Sonora 50% from the Bajio States September 1 to Hermosillo 30,000 35% from the area December 31. 15% from the Sonora River area 6075 from the Yaqui Valley September 15 Caborca Area, 22,000 2024 from the area to January 15. Pitiquito, 25% from Mexicali Altar, Atil and San Luis 55% from Hermosillo area \ September 15 San Luis, 30,000 10% from the area ° January 15. Rio Colorado 15% from the south area 75% from Baja California :'§¥ cio me data were furnished to the researcher by the Gerente de la Asocia— Octn Algodonera de Sonora in an interview that took place on the third of 324 at at Ober, 1955, in Hermosillo, capital of Sonora. ’z‘sinaloa, here, does not necessarily mean state of origin but mostly e of entry to Sonora. °£ the researcher, that an average of eighty workers a week head north- West, against forty five who go in the opposite direction. The writer had 62 ~\ ESTADOS UNIDOS 2M Opozmscol \ ' ------- I ‘ - , ,,:::::: V -;) I ‘S 9% .0 O CHIHUAHUA 0 <2; “a v ‘7 ORA - MEXiCO $5M AREA *‘ AYS -——-- SINALOA 1M many opportunities to talk with some of these migrants because he was boarding in the building where the bus station office was located. Probability of contacts.0f migrants with Americans in the village. As reported above, Sonoyta is located in the desert, at the crossroads of two sub-cultural streams; the leisure-seeking American stream and the amciety-laden Mexican one. Sonoytans are in a daily contact with both types 01' people; the American resort seeker and the Mexican restless job seeker. Interesting as it may be to pursue these contrasts, this study is concerned mainly with contacts made by the adult males of Sonoyta with American institutions and culture in the United States. Unfortunately it was not Possible to ascertain in detail the nature or the extent of these con- tacts. As stated elsewhere this study does not intend to establish casual relations between contacts in the United States and differential attitudes. One I'i-‘Bason why this problem is difficult to study is because such contacts cannot; be differentiated from contact with American culture experienced in MeXico itself. However, some of the opportunities for contacts with Americans in the village may be described. Residents of Sonoyta may, first of all, get acquainted with Mexican- Amerieams who come to the village either in small numbers every day or in large numbers on week-ends. If they do not become directly acquainted With these people, they at least have to share many social situations with then“ For example, mine workers in Ajo get both their pay checks and a free forty-eight hour period every other week-end. At these times they go t0 Sonoyta to celebrate by dancing and drinking. l'any American tourists often stop in the village to buy curios and t0 camp in the nearby desert, along the Puerto Pe’n'asco highway. Groups 63 of American Negroes are frequently seen turning cantinas into dance halls surrounded by astonished colorful mariachiszwhom they hire as an orchestra. The prospective migrant cannot help but see the magic of the dollar. He cannot afford the good time of the Americans. When his girl turns him down for an American Negro he realizes he must cross the border to make money. Social Correlates of Migrants While discussing the characteristics of adult males of Sonoyta above, an attempt was made to estimate the amount or type of contacts they had with American culture or social situations within the United States. The question arises whether they know Americans from their own Personal experiences or from experiences which others report to them, and Whether there is a relationship between contacts and attitudes. The u“del‘lying assumption of this study obviously is that migration, over and above any other type of relationships, elicits definite and identifi- able attitudes toward the United States. The purpose of this chapter is to Cletermine whether migrants in the community can be socially identified- The migrant is operationally defined as the person who moves to a foreign land to make a living. This definition does not include the in- tErnst-13. migrant who is not considered in this study-3 It places Primary emphasis upon work experiences. The assumption is that a workingman's \ t zrdariachis are a strolling group of colorfully garbed singers rather timml musicians, who are paid to sing songs usually by people having a good Stae. To hire mariachis to sing around you is one of the most outstanding 13°,tua symbols; and if it is done for one's girl friend it reaches the int of a bewitching love gesture. t 3It should be stressed that a more detailed analysis of the rela- 101'1 between contacts and attitudes toward the United States was the emphasis of the original design that had to be changed. 61+ reaction to America is different e.g., from a visitor’s reaction, not in respect to being more or less favorable toward the United States (attitude intensity), but perhaps in the area of coverage of the attitude or at- titude universe.“ Visitors are presumably bound to have a more limited amount of exposure to the United States. Do the people who worked in the United States have identifiable characteristics that may differentiate them from those who only visited or never entered the country? The following section scrutinizes charac- teristic differences among these groups. Type of contacts with the United States. The possibilities for crossing the border A brief observation may be made before proceeding. from Sonoyta are very different than for other border towns known to the writer. It may be recalled that although Sonoyta is geographically a border town, it is not one in the cultural and social sense. There is no PUblic transportation between Sonoyta and the mining village of A30 locadied forty miles north in the middle of the Arizona desert. There is nothing in Ajo to attract crowds from Mexico. Mexicans, generally, are not interested in _t_qy_n_§_; they are interested in gi_t_i_e__. It is not surprising under these conditions to find that a large number of people never crossed the border. Added to this is the cost of transportation t 0 A30 which makes the trip prohibitive for the poor. Three major groups of adult males are used in this study: Those wh O hayre worked in the United States for any length of time; pe0ple who tr aveled or visited (not worked in) the United States; and people who \ hSee: Guttman, L., "The Problem of Attitude and Opinion Measure— 3921M" In Stouffer S.A., gt. al., W and Prediction, Princeton, Myersity Press, 1950, pp. lib-:59. 65 have never done either. The first group will be identified as "migrant" group, the second as "traveling" group, and the third as the "no-contact" group. People in the first group may be sometimes referred to as "alambristas," while those in the second group may be called "visitors." Whenever people visited and worked in the United States they were classi- fied as migrants . Migrants from Mexico are often referred to as "alambristas" or "braceros." Alambre is the Spanish term for wire. Alambrista refers to a person who has jumped the wire fence to cross into the United States illegally. The "alambristas" of the southwest correspond to the wetbacks 0f the Rio Grande Valley. "Braceros" refer to seasonal migrant workers in the United States under contract with private American companies, wOl‘king in accord with previous agreements between the United States and Mexico. Hereafter the analysis will contrast the migrant group with the Visitors and the non-contact group, emphasizing the migrants who are the primary concern of the study. Members of these groups were identified by their answers to the question, "Have you ever been in the United States?" They will be compared for demographic characteristics, socio-economic Stat-us , and other variables. Birth and Jrevious residence. One would be inclined to believe that; people born and reared in border communities would work in the United States and visit it more than people living in more distant localities. Local residents, moreover, are more likely to know ways and directions of migration, and to have the facilities to apply for permanent residence 66 in the United States. The null hypothesis here is that there is no signifi— cant difference between people by contacts with the United States and their places or origin or residence. As far as birth place is concerned, the above hypothesis holds true. The observed variation seems to be explainable by chance. The Chi-square test of significance, as shown in Table 30, points to this TABLE 30 BIRTH PLACE OF THE ADULT MALES LIVING IN SONOYTA BY CONTACT GROUPS _— __ Birth Place Contact Groups Total Worked in Visited Non- __ the U.S. the U.S. contact Sonoyta 7 5 2 11+ Sonora 2L, 2]. 30 75 Haitico other than Sonora 11 10 12 33 “file? A2 36 u. 122 7i": 3.809 p < .50 'c' = .71. N ——_.....r_ IL *The "No information" were dropped for Chi—square computation. conclusion, since no statistically significant association was found betwen birth place and amount of contact with the United States. This is not so, however, for previous residence, as seen in Table 31. Migrants tended to come from areas other than Sonoyta. Thus a positive correla- tion can be seen between the distance of place of previous residence from the border and amount of contact with the United States. Specifically, the farther the respondent lived from the border: previously to coming to Sonoyta, the greater the probability that he would have work experience 67 TABLE 31 PREVIOUS RESIDENCE OF THE ADULT MALES OF SONOYTA BY CONTACT GROUPS Previous Residence Contact Groups Total Worked in Visited Non- the U.S. the U.S. contact Sonoyta 5 8 3 16 Sonora 15 19 33 67 Mexico other than Sonora 21. 12 9 1.5 Total-*- 1.1+ 39 1+5 123 1’: 35.600 p < 0001 E 2 058 *Two "No Answers" were dropped for Chi-square computation. in the United States. However, visitors to the United States were likely 1;0 have previous residence closer to the border. The Chi-square test or Significance shows that these tendencies are not due to chance since the Probability is less than .001. The correlation between previous residence place and type of contact is moderately high: G 3 .53. The data seem to corroborate the hypothesis advanced elsewhere, that inter- national migration for work starts farther south rather than along the border . They also corroborate those of Gamio and Saunders which report t . hat, the bulk of international migrants come from the central states of M 932190} Gamio's sample was made up of Mexicans sending money orders to \ I Uni 5Gamio, Manuel, W mm? 19 the United States, Chicago, Le Versity of Chicago Press, 1930, pp. 1 -19; and Saunders, Lyle 5., and onlard, Olen E., The Wetback in the Lower Rio Grande Valley 9; Texas, 68 Mexico in January, 1927. Saunders' sample was 151. wetbacks deported from Texas in 1950. The states of origin in Mexico most commonly mentioned in the three samples are Jalisco, Guanajuato, Michoacan, Zacatecas and Durango. It seems then that migrants who worked in the United States more likely come from the central parts of Mexico where economic condi- tions are low and population pressure is high. .48.. Much has been said about the differential selectivity of Irligra.t:l.on.7 Migrants from Sonoyta were for the most part young men: Half of the group were between twenty and twenty-nine years of age when they first migrated, and forty per cent were still younger. Only ten per cent were older than thirty years of age. As expected, the great majority or ninety per cent of the migrants were single at the time when they first migrated. This tendency of young single men to come to the United States has not changed for almost the last fifty years. Close to half of the group can be called "late" migrants since they migrated ’50 the United States after World War II. The early migrants in the sample went, to the United States during the early years of the Mexican Revolution. The land reform policies of the Revolution brought only temporary relief to the people in rural Mexico because migration to the United States in- creased rather than decreased. Every town the researcher visited was X\ 11313111, the University of Texas, July 1951, p. 313 The migration from Eintral Mexico to Sonoyta is as follows: Jalisco-22.8, Sinaloa-20.0, 5.7Lalgo-8.6, Guanajuato-8.6, Zacatecas—8.6, Nuevo Leon-5.7, Michoacan- ’ Chihllahua"2o9, Durang0-2.9, QUintana ROG-209, and NoIo‘llol-Lo Pr 6Thompson, W., and Whelpton, P. K., "Levels of Living and Population 30%?311re," _T_h_e_ Annals 9; American Association 9_f_‘ Political gignce and clology, July, 1933, Vol. 198, pp. 93-100. Gist, Noel p. , Pihlbald, C. T., Gregory, Cecil L. , "Selective 7See: watts of Rural Migration," Rural Sociolo , March, 191.1, Vol. 6, pp. 3-15; ms, Dorothy Swaine, gt. _a_]_.., Research Memorandum 9;; Miggation Differen- QéLé, New York, Social Science Research Council, 1938. 69 constantly being drained of young manpower because of limited local job opportunities. If life in the United States turns out to be too hard, perhaps some of them will return either when the head of the family re- tires or when enough savings are accumulated to start a little business. Curiously enough the present age distribution of the migrant, visiting, and the non-contact groups were rather similar. A Chi-square test showed little or no association between general contacts with United States and age distribution, the probability of the Chi-square being at the .20 level. This may have resulted from the fact that many migrants returned to the community from the United States and that migrants from other parts of Mexico moved in the community to replace those who did not return from the United States. Size of the family. It was expected that the larger families would probably be found within the stationary or the non-contact groups. A Chin-square test of significance for association between general contact gr Cups and size of the family was run with no positive results, so that the 111111 hypothesis of no association between the two variables could not be rejected. Variables of the Index of Contacts In Chapter 11, an attempt was made to arrive at an index of amount or contacts with the United States. In this section, an attempt will be made to discuss how the separate factors in the index and the total index are related to the different types of contact groups in the community. WW. It is obvious that the main difference among groups in their exposure to the United States lies in the length of time during which they were in the country. The migrant 7O group spent a longer time in the United States than the other two groups. While it is true that the great majority (eighty per cent) of migrants came only once to the United States, almost half of them remained in the country as long as two years. Over half of the visitors (fifty-six per cent) on the other hand, came to the United States several times. Thus visitors and migrants have opposite patterns; the majority of the migrants crossed the border once and stayed for long periods while visitors crossed the border more frequently and remained for shorter periods. The differ- ence between the migrant and the visiting groups are statistically sig- nificant, for the probability of the Chi-square test is beyond the .001 level of confidence. TABLE 32 NUMBER OF TIMES.MIGRANTS AND VISITORS ENTERED THE UNITED STATES Times in the Jilted States Migrants Visitors Total Only once 37 IL 51 More than once 9 22 31 Total no 36 82* “x" = 31.868 p < .001~ '6 = .61 *The "No Answers" were dropped for Chi-square computation. It is difficult to calculate the length of time that visitors spent in the United States because they have only vague recollections of the length of their stays in the country. To some degree this was also true of the migrant workers. One young man estimated that he had non- legally entered the United States about twenty times, and only once was 71 he able to remain for as long as six.months. Table 33 shows that forty- three per cent of the migrants remained in the United States for less than TABLE 33 NUMBER OF YEARS.MIGRANTS WORKED IN THE UNITED STATES T j Years Number Per cent Less than two years 20 L3 less than six months 13 Seven months to a year 2 More than a year to less than two years 5 2.0 to h.0 12 26 4.1 to 6.0 3 7 601 to 800 [4. 9 8.1 to more 7 15 Total 46 100 two years, one quarter from two to four years, and one third remaihed more than four years. Two more facts are salient regarding this length of time variable: First, about half of the forty-three per cent who worked in the United States less than two years were in the country for six months or less; and, secondly, those who lived in the United States longer than eight years migrated very early, during the 1910 Revolution or soon after. The data in Table 3A indicate the dates when migrants from Sonoyta came to work in the United States. Two fifths of all migrants now living in Sonoyta entered the United States in the last decade, and an equal proportion entered before the depression, while only nine per cent entered during the depression. Thus a little over one third of the adult males now living in Sonoyta worked in the United States, and most of them came 72 TABLE 34 PERIODS DURING WHICH MIGRANTS LIVING IN SONOYTA NOW IN THE UNITED STATES Historical Periods Years Workers Number Per cent During the Mexican Revolution 1910-1919 6 14 Before the Depression 1920-1929 12 26 During the Depression 1930-1939 A 8 During the w.w. ll 1940-l9hh 6 13 Since w.w. II 1945-1955 18 39 Total A6 100 w I as "alambristas." Since most of them migrated within the last decade or so they may be called "late" migrants. These late migrants had a tendency to remain the United States for a shorter period of time than their returning predecessors. Perhaps the reason for this was the more rigid enforcement of United States immigration laws of recent date. A background fact for these tables is that more than four- fifths (eighty-three per cent) of the migrants crossed the border illegally as "alambristas." They could not wait for a legal entry which used to be less difficult to obtain before 1910. Several migrants were squeezed out during the Revolution and several were recently pushed out by economic hardship. It was not difficult to go "alambrista" during the World War II, but it has been very difficult since. Prospective migrants must 73 experience considerable pressure before deciding to risk running into the well-equipped border patrol.8 Table 34 and the author's observations in the area suggest that migration to the United States by Sonoytans may have increased through- out'the years. A noticeable exception was probably the depression era, when only nine per cent of the present adult males crossed the border, less than one per cent a year over a ten year span. It is well known that the depression, together with the American policy of that time, forced many Mexicans to go back home.9 Economic conditions in Mexico, as well as shortage of manpower in the United States following World War II, may explain some of the heavy migration from Mexico since 19h0 and the migration from Sonoyta.10 The places where migrants went to work Covered the area from Cali- fornia to Texas and as far north as Nevada. However, almost seven-tenths worked in either California or Arizona, although less than one fifth worked in bgth California and Arizona. Ajo, Arizona has been the place where many "alambristas" make the first, if not the final stop of their often unlucky journeys. The Imperial Valley in southern California, the Yuma valley in Southwestern Arizona, and the Phoenix region attracted most of the cotton or fruit picking "alambristas" who sometimes went season after 39330“. 8"The wetbacks" a recently released Mexican movie present a vivid picture of hate and hardships endured by non—legal Mexican migrants in the Rio Grande Valley. Migrants often denied being "alambristas" even if they had no formal permits to enter the United States. However, upon close examination of the group, it could be established that those who refused to be called "alambristas" belonged to both the older age groups and the higher socio— economic groups in the community. As a rationalization for this non—legal behavior, they frequently said: "No habio migracion en ese entonces," (There was no migration restriction at the time) which the writer found out to be incorrect. (United States Department of Justice, Immigration 7h ' Ffimily bondg in the United States. The researcher soon was made to realize that having a family in the United States was a source of prestige to native Sonoytans. In addition having relatives in the United States was an economic advantage. For example, along the border many vehicles owned.hw'1ocal people were registered by Mexican-American relatives living :na the United States. Thus the cars bearing American license plates exempted the owners from paying Mexican import duties. The relative distribution of kin in the United States for the three groups (migrants, visitors, and non-visitors) is according to expecta- tion; the higher the contact the more family ties in the United States. migrants had the greatest proportion of relatives living in the United States (forty-seven per cent), while visitors had about thirty-five per cent, and non-visitors had about twenty-one per cent. The probability of the Chi-square (.05) shows that these trends were probably not due to chance. TABLE 35 fAMlLI BONDS IN THE UNITED STATES OF MIGRANTS, VISITORS, AND NON-CONTACT GROUPS AMONG ADULT MALES FROM SONOYTA Migrants Visitors Non-contact Total Relatives in United States. 21 1} 9 A} No relatives in United States. 24 25 5) 82 _Total A5 38 42 125* 1'» 2 6.106 p 4 .05 a : .31 *The "No Answers" were dropped for Chi-square computation. and Naturalization Service, November 16, 1956, letter to the writer.) / 9See: Duran Ochoa, Julio, Poblacion, Mexico, Fondo de Cultura Economics, 1955, 0. 185. 0See Duran, 22, git., p. 186. 75 Friendship relations. This variable was divided, it may be re- called, into two nationality categories (American and Mexican) and into two friendship categories (close friends and acquaintances). Since only a very small number of respondents (less than ten per cent) reported having either close American or Mexican friends in the United States, no statis- tical analysis was applied. It may be worth mentioning, however, that the non-contact group reported having no close friends in the United States. In contrast, the pattern for having "acquaintances" in the United States approached the picture for family ties in the United States. There was a trend in Table 36 and 37 toward a positive association between visiting TABLE 36 NUMBER OF AMERICAN ACQUAINTANCES IN THE UNITED STATES REPORTED BI THREE GROUPS OF SONOYTANS Acquaintances in Groups in Sonoyta United States Worked Visited Non-contact in U.S. U.S. with U.S. Total None 23 16 28 67 Some 18 13 2 33 ri'otal Al 29 30 100* 1r — _- 7, - 13.1.1.5 p < .01 c =-- .50 *The "No Answers" were dropped for Chi-square computation. or working in the United States and having acquaintances in the country. In addition there was a greater tendency for migrants and visitors to the llTests of significance were run either collapsing the rows of "few" fl¢0< cm. 30 mmmHU S ///// y . 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J S - a : a - a o : m - a : w 7 N 1 H 3: a: as :0 a: as so 8 nmmsa 0mm onmnmnp Hop amnmwb ofic onmnmpp one oncefisw ooHdEomon onmnwnp _oo maocopcodmmn opmsw 0H 0e one :Homc 090 com me omen osoo onmw> :wm Ho oflaw on odEowa Ho hence 380 3831.82 a opmsm ma 0:0. _ mayo :00 _ :wmdoo oeoo . mag, AIHCODV MTGOflOQwfivo CU chMOOMHE .N OkUMH—O Re laciones de trabajo . 11. 12. 1.- Quien se hizo cargo, durante su ausencia, de los trabajos que usted hacia a. En la casa b. FUera de la casa 9 2.- Que parentesco tiene con esa persona ? 3.- Que clase de trabajos eran esos ? b.- Describame 1a organizacion de esos trabajos 5.- Como se hacia eso, digamos, hace diez anos ? 1.- Cambia usted trabajo con sus familiares o amigos ? 2.- Que clase de trabajo es ese ? 3.- Con que frecuencia lo hace ? h.— En que condiciones generalmante ? 5.- L0 hace usted solo 0 en compania de los miembros de su familia? (NOTA: Si e1 interrogado pertenoce a COOperativas o ejidos, haganse preguntas so- 13. lb. 15. 16. hrs 1a estructura y el funcioramiento de esas entidades). Le gustaria tener otra clase de trabajo ? Cual ? Si usted hubiera tenido mejores oportunidades que oficio o profesion hubiera escogido ? Quien es en patron o empleador ? fl 2.- Que relaciones mantiene usted con el 1u3ra del trabajo? 3.- Quien es en immediato superior ? Tiene usted mando sobre otros en su trabajo ? Quienes son: Relaciones de trabajo (Cont.) 17. 1.- Quienes son sus inmediatos companeros de trabajo ? 18. Si usted pudiera escoger losczompaneros de trabajo, 0 para alguna tarea en particular, a quienes escogeria ? (NOTA: Despues de detenida observacion hagase una cuidadosa descripcion de la situacion de trabajo ). l9. Aqui tiene usted una lista de ocupaciones: Cual de ellas coloca usted en primero, segundo, tercero, cuart0,...........1ugar ? iParticipacion en organizacione . 20. Podria usted recorder, en un periodo de cinco anos, 1as asociaciones u organizaciones a que ha pertenecido o aun pertenece 9 O Cuadro 3. Informacion sobre organizaciones. Organizaciones Frecuencia Luger de Porciento Ha sido Miembro Fechas de reuniones reuniones de su asis- oficial de co- tencia Cuando mite Cuando l L g I 2 : l 3 _ l 1 3 L 3 I 1 _ 3 2 3 _ 1 2 3 I _ 21. Hagame usted una relacion de algunos prntos de discusion que se han presentado en 1as organizaciones a que usted pertenece actualmente y deme los nombres de 1as personas que encabezan esas discusione: (3:01: 23. 2h. 2S. -9- Informacion sobre influencias 22. Entre 1as personas que usted conoce, cuales considera usted que se preocupan mas por el bienestar general de la gente de estos lugares ? Nombre Grado y clase de relacion Direccion Estan estas personas relacionadas entre si ? (NOTA: La combinacion de 1as letras puede indicar 1a clase de relacion,asi:ac-Ho.) 23. Si usted tuviera que salir algunos dias de la region, a quien dejaria en- cargado de sus negocios ? Nombre Grado y clase de relacion Direccion n) U‘ 211 2b. En tal obra (refierese a situacion actual quienes tomaron parte active? Nombre Grado y clase de relacion Direccion 3. b. C. 25. Que iniciativas en beneficio de la comunidad han sido propuestas? 2.- Quienes fueron los iniciadores ? 3. b. C. Estan estos relacionados entre si ? (Of. Note 22) -10- 25 (Cont.) 3.- Quienes fueron los que trabajaron en ellas ? a. ___ b. ___ c. ___ 26. 1.- Sabe usted de personas que hicieran oposicicn a esas iniciativas ? a. ___ pl. __ c. 2.- Sabe usted 1as razones por las cualos Iormaron esa oposicion? 27. 1.- Visits usted a1 senor cure? "__“._ Con que frecuencia? 2.- Metivos: a. profesi males __ r, regocios _ c. amistad ‘ Asiste usted a las reuriones 0 images que el organiza? 28. 1.- Visita usted a1 presidents municipal? Con que frecuencia 2.- Motivos: a. profesionales _.____b. negocios c. amistad 3.— Asiste usted a 1as juntas 0 reuniones a que el invita? 29. l.- Participa usted en reuniones politicas? Frecuencia 2 Que clase de actividad tiene usted en esas reuniones? 30. 1.- Concurre usted a fiestas? . Con que frecuencia 2.- Concurre usted a beiles? ___m_w_ Con qre Irecuencia 31. .- Le gustaria a usted ver iniciada alguna cosa en particular en beneficio del pueblo? Que? _____ __ 2.- Quien cree usted que deberia hacerlo? -11- 31. (Cont.) 3.- No cree que usted mismo podria iniciar eso que propone? h.- Si no, por que? 32. Aqui tiene usted una lista de personas que usted conece: Quiere usted ponerlas en el orden que indique lo que han hecho en beneficio de la comu- nidad, empezando por 1as que mas hayan hecho? -12... Relaciones sociales. (Veanse los simbolos al final). 33. l.- A que families visita usted con mas frecuencia ? Nombre Grado y clase de relacion Direccion 2.- Estan ellas relacionadas entre Si ? 3.- Con que frecuencia 1as visita ? a. b. C. d. 3h. 1.- Quiere darme el nombre de los amigos con quienes se reune usted con mas frecuencia? a. b. c. d. 2.- Con que frecuencia se reunen ? a. b. c. d. 3.- En que lugares se reunen ? a. b. c. d. 35. Cuando usted esta enfermo quienes son los primeros que vienen a verlo? Hombre Grado y clase de relacion Direccion 0' . O . Q. 36. En caso de enfermedad en su casa, 0 en caso de muerte, a quienes avisaria usted primero? 3. U‘ O . -13- Relaciones sociales (Cont.) 37. Quienes invitan a usted a bautizos, matrimonios, cumpleanos, y otras fiestas? Nombre Grado y clase de relacion Direccion SD 0‘ O . Q. 38. En caso de urgente necesidad, a quien pediria usted ayuda? Nombre Grade y clase de relacion Direccion 0" O . Q. 39. A quienes invita usted a bautizos, matrimonios, cumpleanos y otras fiestas? Nombre Grado y clase de relacion Direccion Simbolismo de parentescos: Abuelo: A10. Abuela: Ala. Nieto: Nto. Nieta: Nta. Hermano: Hno. Hermana: Hna. Primo: P0. Prima: Pa. Tio: To. Tie: ~ Ta. Sobrino: So. SObrina: Sa. Yerno: Y0. Nuera: Na. Compadre: Cpa. Comadre: Cma. Suegro: Spro. Suegra: Sgra. Padrino: Pno. Madrina: The. Ahijado: Ado. Ahijada: Ada. ~1h- Histories Proyectivas. Primera serie: Relaciones familiares. Historia A. - Maria de dieciocho anos, se enamoro de un muchacho extrano que vive lejos del pueblo. Los padres de la joven se opusieron abiertamente a1 matrimonio desde el principio, pero ella dice que piensa casarse con ese muchacho que parece muy buen partido aunque para lograrlo.tenga que fugarse de la casa y del pueblo. 1) Que aconsejaria usted a .aria? 2) Por due piensa usted de esa manera? -15- Primera serie: Relaciones familiares. (Cont.) Historia B. - Alonso viajo a los EE.UU. en donde trabajo por mas de un ano. De regreso vino resuelto a llevarse a toda la familia pero su mujer no quiso por- que sus hijas estan casaderas y dice que por alla se le piereden. A estas horas no han podido decidir nada. 1) Que haria usted en el caso de Alonso? 2) Quiere explicarme los motivos que tiene para obrar de esa manera? -16- Primera serie: Relaciones familiares. (Cont.) Historia C.- Hace pocos dies que en un pueblo vecino Juan Pedro tuvo otra pelea con su mujer. Esta, ya cansada de tanto disgusto, se presento a1 presidente para pedir su divorcio. Si Juan Pedro viniera a pedirle un consejo, que lo reSponderia? 2) Por que razones 1e daria usted esa reSpuesta? -17- Segunda serie: Relaciones laborales. Historia D.- Don Jacinto, dueno de una gran hacienda, deSpidio el otro die a uno de los trabajadores sin mayor causa. Este, irritado contra el patron, murmuro en- tre sus companeros y prometio vengarse. 1) Que hubiera hecho usted en el caso de ese trabajador? 2) Ha tenido usted algunas experiencias que lo inclinen a pensar asi? -18- Segunda serie: Relaciones laborales. (Cont.) Historia E.- Luis tuvo un dngusto con el patron que siempre esta exigiendo mas y mas trabajo. Luis, fastidiado, 1e dijo que por que no consigue maquinaria, que para eso es la plate. E1 patron 1e responde que Luis es un perezoso, que la maqui- na no es sino 1a disculpa de la pereza. 1) Que piensa usted de esta discusion? 2) Digame como cree usted que ha llegado a pensar de esta manera. -19- Segunda serie: Relaciones laborales. (Cont.) Historia F.- Durante 1as horas de trabajo e1 mayordomo trato may mal a uno de los trabajadores. Los companeros aconsejaron a1 trabajador dos cosas completamente distintas: O apelar a1 sindicato para pedir ayuda, o irse a otras tierras donde hays respeto por el trabajador. 1) Que 0pina usted de estos consejos? 2) Si usted prefiere lo segundo, a donde aconsejaria a1 trabajador irse? 3) Deme algunas razones. -20- Tercera serie: Contraste rural-urbane. Historia G.- Elisa decia ayer que la vida en la capital as deliciosa porque uno puede hacer lo que quiera y nadie le dice nada. 1) Que piensa usted de esto? 2) Si quiere expliqneme 1as causas para pensar asi. -21.. Tercera serie: Contraste rural-urbano. (Cont.) Historia H.- Pedro fue a buscar trabajo a la Ciudad y no encontro nada en dos meses. For fin, maldiciendo la ciudad, se volvio a no hacer nada tampoco aqui en el pueblo. 1) Que hubiera hecho usted en ese caso? 2) Por que razones? -22... Tercera serie: Contraste rural-urbano. (Cont.) Historia I.- Margarita acaba de llegar de la capital vistiendo diferente y aun hablando distinto. La mama fue la primera en reganarla por eso. En 91 pueblo casi todas 1as mujeres la critican. 1) Que 0pina usted de eso? 2) Como ha llegado usted a formarse esa Opinion? -23- Cuarta serie: Actitudes religiosas. Historia J.- Un grupo de amigos discutia en el cafe sobre liberatad religiosa. En otros paises, decia uno de ellos, la gente cree en lo que quiere y nadie molesta a nadie por eso. En cambio aqui hasta se odian por creencias religio- ~as. 1) Que cree usted a este respecto? 2) Y cuales son sus razones? -2h- Cuarta serie: Actitudes religiosas. (Cont.) Historia K.- El dia de la fiesta del patrono de la parroquia Mariano se puo a criticar a la gente que gasts tanto dinero en esas fiestas en vez de economi- zarlo, cuando casi todo el mundo es pobre. Decia ademas que en otras tierras la vida religiosa es tan distinta y tan buena. 1) Que 0pina usted de esto? 2) Haga e1 favor de decir sus motivos para 0pinar de esta manera. -25- Cuarta serie: Actitudes religiosas. (Cont.) Historia L.- Un grupo de trabajadores que dueron en el verano a los EE.UU. que- ria celebrar alla la fiesta del santo patrono pero e1 dueno de tierras no los dejo hacer nada y aun otros companeros de trabajo les dijeron que esas fiestas se hacen Mexico pero no en tierras extranas. 1) Que piensa usted de ese patron? 2) Como 1e parece 1a actitud de los dos grupos de trabajadores? 3) Podria darme explicaciones sdbre su presente manera de pensar? -26- Quinta serie: Influencias Historia M.- Manuel nunca ha tenido la idea de salir del pueblo. un die so encon- tro en la tienda con su amigo Felipe que acababa de llegar de los EE.UU. y habla- ron sobre eso. Manuel critico duramente a Felipe por tanta viajadera. Felipe, por su parts, dijo, entre otras cosas, que la vida en el pueblo es muy aburrida, que el trabajo es escaso, y que los influyentes del pueblo no lo dejan progresar. 1) Que 0pina usted de esta discusion? 2) Por que piensa usted de esta manera? -27- Quinta serie: Influencias. (Cont.) Historia N.- Don Calixto, que acaba de llegar de California, prOpuso con mucho entusiasmo el otro dia que todo el mundo se juntara a ayudar a1 arreglo del cami- no, que al fin y al cabo es para beneficio de los mismos vecinos.' Otro senor 1e contesto que eso es negocio del gobierno. Don Calixto reaponde que aqui, si no es el gobierno, nadie hace nada... 1) Que dice usted de esto? 2) Le agradeceria darme sus razones para afirmar eso. ROOM USE ONLY WZHQGZZ FW {15.9.1 211836 1930“?) ,