Week 4 Penaloza (1994)

Atravesando Fronteras/Border Crossings: A Critical Ethnographic Exploration of the
Consumer Acculturation of Mexican Immigrants

Author(s): Lisa Peñaloza
Source: Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 21, No. 1 (Jun., 1994), pp. 32-54
Published by: Oxford University Press
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/2489739
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Atravesando Fronteras/Border Crossings:
A Critical Ethnographic Exploration
of the Consumer Acculturation
of Mexican Immigrants
LISA PENALOZA*
This article critically examines the consumption experiences of Mexican immigrants

in the United States. An empirical model of Mexican immigrant consumer acculturation
is derived that consists of movement, translation, and adaptation processes leading
to outcomes of assimilation, maintenance, resistance, and segregation. By drawing
attention to the ways in which international movements of people, companies, and
products intersect within existing subcultural relations, this research provides a
more satisfactory account of the complex dynamic processes through which Mexican
immigrants adapt to the consumer environment in the United States.
The most potent political force shaping the 60 years (Park 1928), and the assimilation framework
civilization of the future may well be one has been predominant in studies of consumer subcul-
that has no place in any ideology: the sheer tures (see, e.g., O'Guinn and Faber 1986; Wallendorf
movement of people from one place to an-
and Reilly 1983).
other. It is changing the face of the world,
Yet both similarities and differences are fundamental
rendering old boundaries and policies ob-
to the study of immigrant consumer behavior. The
solete, and laying the foundation for a "new
world order" quite unlike anything foreseen construct nation functions as a receptacle that "fills the
by any political leader or theorist-a void left in the uprooting of communities and kin" and
boundary-less world in which people live "transfers the meaning of home and belonging across
where they choose. [WALTER TRUETT AN- those distances and cultural differences that span the
DERSON 1992] imagined community of the nation-people" (Bhabha
1990, p. 291). Yet there is a troublesome unity within
the discourse' of the nation as the result of in-group
I n the United States of America, a nation born of
and out-group distinctions that are "as much acts of
colonial expansion and mass migration, immigrants
affiliation and establishment as they are of disavowal,
have played a key role in the formulation of the national
displacement, exclusion and cultural contestation"
culture and character. The assimilation, or melting pot
(Bhabha 1990, p. 5). Mexican immigrant consumer ac-
model, in which people of many different nationalities,
culturation involves both this process of transference
colors, and creeds would unite and form one nation,
and in-group-out-group relations.
has been the hallmark of this country. In the social sci-
In many ways, Mexican immigrants in the United
ences, the degree to which immigrants have integrated
States are the nation's "other." Foreigners, people from
into U.S. society has been of central concern for over
another country and another culture who speak another
language, Mexican immigrants are outside the "imag-
*Lisa Pefialoza is assistant professor, Department of Advertising,
ined community of the nation people" (Chavez 1991).
College-of Communications, University of Illinois at Urbana-Cham-
Yet Mexican immigrants share a number of funda-
paign, 119 Gregory Hall, 8 10 S. Wright St., Urbana, IL 61820. Support
from the Consortium on Mexico and the United States at the Uni-
versity of California, from California State University, San Bernar-
dino, and from the University of Colorado is gratefully acknowledged.
'The term "discourse" refers to narratives about the world (Aron-
The author thanks R. Belk, R. Faber, M. Gilly, T. O'Guinn, B. Robles,
A. Rubel, A. Venkatesh, M. Wallendorf, and the reviewers for their owitz 1988) and draws attention to the way a topic or issue is talked
about, its disciplinary location(s), and the way it is defined in terms
constructive comments. She also thanks her family and the partici-
pants in this research and wishes them well in their search for the
of the framing of research questions. Foucault (1977) spoke of dis-
cursive practices as regimes of truth that both constituted and reg-
good life.
ulated aspects of the social world.
32
? 1994 by JOURNAL OF CONSUMER RESEARCH, Inc. * Vol. 21 0 June 1994

All rights reserved. 0093-5301/95/2101-0002$2.00
CONSUMER ACCULTURATION 33
mental qualities with the U.S. mainstream population,2 keting activities targeting the Latino market in the
many of whom are the grandsons, granddaughters, sons, United States, with its annual expenditures of $188.9
and daughters of immigrants. Mexican immigrants are billion (Fonseca 1992), influenced Mexican immigrants'
similar to previous immigrants who have come to the consumption patterns.
United States in search of economic opportunity and With these data, I had to rethink the nature of Mex-
to join other family members. They share aspirations ican immigrant consumer acculturation. Gradually, the
for the future and they work hard toward attaining theoretical framework guiding this research shifted in
a better way of life, qualities referred to as the emphasis from the socialization orientation that pre-
"American way." dominates the consumer learning literature to the
Despite these similarities, there are a number of dif- transcultural orientation that was more consistent with
ferences that set Mexican migration apart from other the data. The constructs consumer movement, trans-
migratory movements: the geographical proximity of lation, and adaptation more accurately described Mex-
Mexico, the historical and continued presence of people ican immigrants' consumer acculturation processes.
of Mexican origin in the southwestern United States, Regarding outcomes of the consumer acculturation
constant reinforcing migration, frequent trips between process, there were some paradoxes. Mexican immi-
Mexico and the United States, and Spanish-language grant informants assimilated consumption patterns as-
usage (Gomez-Quin-ones 1984; McCarthy and Valdez sociated with U.S. consumer culture, yet they also
1985). The influence of these factors on the consumer maintained aspects of the consumption patterns they
acculturation processes of Mexican immigrants in the had acquired in Mexico. At times their consumption
United States is discussed in this article. patterns suggested assimilation, yet the products and
I began this research with the question, How do Mex- services were used in ways that maintained ties to their
ican immigrants learn to buy products in the United previous culture. Informants also expressed concerns
States? Drawing theoretical guidance from the literature about getting caught up in U.S. consumer culture, and
on consumer socialization, acculturation, and cross- they actively resisted its pull, as well as the pull of their
cultural consumer behavior, I developed an a priori previous culture. The majority of informants inhabited
model of immigrant consumer acculturation to guide sites in the United States that were physically and so-
this research. In the a priori model Mexican immigrants cially segregated from the mainstream.
of various demographic and psychographic character- Crossing borders is a central theme in this research.
istics come to the United States, where they are influ- Mexican immigrants initiated the consumer accultur-
enced by dual sets of agents aligned with their culture ation process by crossing the national border between
of origin and of immigration. Through processes of the United States and Mexico, yet, once here, subcul-
consumer learning, they exhibit consumption patterns tural relations came into play. Intranational boundaries
associated with the existing culture, their previous cul- within the United States that delineated Latino and
ture, or a third, hybrid combination of the two cultures. Anglo "market segments" were evident. Yet transna-
A critical ethnographic design was employed in this tional similarities characteristic of a borderless world
research. The design consisted of three components: I were also evident in that Mexican immigrants gravitated
examined in detail several field sites, conducted inter- to physical sites in the United States where there were
views with 23 Mexican immigrants from 14 households, other Mexican people and a thriving Mexican consumer
and documented my observations and experiences in culture.
the research process. During the course of the study the Marketers, like Mexican immigrants, were key cul-
a priori model was modified to render it more consistent tural agents whose activities transcended subcultural
with the ethnographic data. As I spoke with informants, and national boundaries and who influenced immigrant
I learned of key similarities and differences between consumer acculturation processes by stimulating cul-
their previous consumption patterns in Mexico and tural contact. Segmentation strategies targeting Mexican
their current consumption patterns in the United States. immigrants in the United States reproduced subcultural
They spoke of difficulties with the language, the cur- borders in the United States, just as international mar-
rency, and social relations. As I accompanied infor- keting strategies lowered national boundaries between
mants and spent time at the field sites in the United the United States and Mexico.
States, I began to realize that the environment played
a critical role in the acculturation process, in that mar- INTERDISCIPLINARY FOUNDATIONS
OF CONSUMER ACCULTURATION
2The terms "mainstream," "Anglo," and "white" are used inter- The term "consumer acculturation" is defined as the
changeably to refer to the dominant cultural subgroup within the general process of movement and adaptation to the
United States. Currently, whites represent 80.3 percent of the U.S. consumer cultural environment in one country by per-
population (U.S. Department of Commerce 1992b). It is important
sons from another country. In approaching this topic,
to note that, while Mexican Americans are officially tabulated in this
mainstream, we are considered a minority subculture in the United this article draws from and contributes to studies of
States. consumer subcultures and consumer learning in the
34 JOURNAL OF CONSUMER RESEARCH
consumer behavior literature, studies of assimilation in outdated version that did not reflect contemporary
anthropology and sociology, and studies of consumer health concerns.
culture in cultural studies. Second, previous work has conflated the study of im-
Consumer researchers have long noted differences migrant and subcultural consumers. While subcultural
between the consumption patterns of Mexican consumers may reside next to immigrants, as in the
Americans3 and Anglos in the United States. For ex- case of Latinos, their consumer adaptation is markedly
ample, Sturdivant (1969) reported that Mexican Amer- different as the result of international migration. There
icans preferred to shop where Spanish was spoken. have been few studies of immigrant consumers. One
Hoyer and Deshpande (1982) found that Mexican exception is Mehta and Belk's (1991) examination of
Americans were more likely to buy the brands their the favorite possessions of Indian immigrants in the
parents bought and brands they perceived to be more United States. Many of these items were brought from
prestigious than were Anglos. Saegert, Hoover, and India and served to symbolically affirm ties to home-
Hilger (1985) reported that Mexican Americans were land, family, and culture, which was very important in
more price conscious and preferred familiar stores to a a land where their culture was less prevalent. The
greater degree than did Anglos. maintenance of Indian culture took place primarily in
Researchers turned to the literature on assimilation homes, religious and social clubs, specialty stores, and
to explain these differences. The assimilation frame- national publications.
work, which examines the degree to which a subcultural Mexican immigrants differ from Indian immigrants
group becomes similar to the dominant culture in a in their social class, geographical proximity, and mi-
nation over time (Gordon 1964), has become the dom- gration history. Whereas Indian immigrants' consumer
inant conceptual scheme guiding studies of consumer acculturation processes reflect their upper- to middle-
subcultures. Many of these studies have divided Latinos class background and relatively small numbers, Mexi-
into groups on the basis of their similarity to the Anglo can immigration has been characterized as primarily
subculture in the United States. For example, O'Guinn working-class,4 and represents the single largest group
and Faber (1985) developed a scale of consumer ac- of people legally admitted to the United States. From
culturation. In other studies, more assimilated Mexican 1971 to 1990, 438,700 Indian immigrants were legally
Americans were found to use less Spanish-language admitted to the United States, representing 3.7 percent
media (O'Guinn and Meyer 1984), to be more inclined of the 11.8 million legal admissions, while 2.3 million
to identify themselves as Hispanic (Deshpande, Hoyer, Mexican immigrants were legally admitted to the
and Donthu 1986), and to accord less importance to United States during this same time, representing 23.1
product attributes than did less assimilated Mexican percent of legal admissions (U.S. Department of Com-
Americans (Faber, O'Guinn, and McCarty 1987). merce 1992a). In addition, the southwestern United
While these studies have documented gradations in States was once part of Mexico and to this day has a
differences between the consumption behaviors of An- strong Mexican cultural tradition (Acufia 1988; Massey
glos and Latinos, there are some noteworthy limitations. 1987). In the state of California, Mexican Americans
First, researchers have not investigated the nature of represent one-third of the population (Strategy Research
the assimilation process, although they have indirectly Corporation 1991). The presence of Mexican Ameri-
addressed the process in attempting to explain their cans and a discernible Latino consumer culture in the
findings. For example, Wallendorf and Reilly (1983) United States may offer structural reinforcement to
compared the consumption patterns of Mexicans in Mexican immigrant consumers, which would enable
Mexico to Mexican Americans and Anglo-Americans them to continue consumption patterns acquired in
in the southwestern United States and noted that for Mexico.
some products such as meats, white bread, sugared ce- Finally, previous research has not investigated the
reals, and caffeinated products Mexican Americans' influence of marketing strategies on this process, al-
consumption patterns measured well beyond those of though O'Guinn and Meyer (1984) suggested that
Anglo-Americans or Mexicans. The authors concluded Spanish-language media may offer Latinos a validation
that assimilation was not a simple linear progression of their ethnicity and cultural heritage. By targeting La-
and attributed their results to a time lag effect in which tinos with specially tailored products and services,
Mexican immigrants tried to assimilate the consump- marketers not only offer Mexican immigrants a poten-
tion patterns of Anglo Americans but assimilated an tially powerful validation of their culture, but also may
facilitate the maintenance of consumption patterns as-
sociated with Mexican culture in the United States.
3Mexican Americans include Mexican immigrants and people born Assimilation studies have been based on a modernist
in the United States of Mexican descent. Of the 24.9 million Latinos view of the nation that was socially integrated and ho-
in the United States, 58.9 percent are Mexican American (Strategy
mogeneous with discrete national boundaries and cul-
Research 1991, p. 59). The term Latino is used in this article to refer
to persons from Central and South America. the Caribbean, and Spain,
because it is the preferred term of members of this group (de la Garza 4There has been a brain drain in the past decade (Vernez and Ronfelt
1992). 1991).
tures. These are not accurate characteristics of the con- anticipated to be relevant, along with Spanish- and En-
temporary United States (Jackson 1992; Lamphere glish-language ability, recency of arrival, ethnic identity,
1992), nor was this an accurate characterization at the and the nature of the environment. Two groups of con-
time of the classic assimilation studies.5 Marketers' ac- sumer acculturation agents that consist of family,
commodation of cultural difference in the United States friends, media, and social and religious institutions were
may well be linked to its increasing heterogeneity and featured in the model, one aligned with the culture of
diversity. origin, and the other aligned with U.S. culture. Con-
In conceptualizing consumer acculturation processes, sumer acculturation processes included modeling, re-
I turned to the literature on consumer socialization be- inforcement, and social interaction. In regard to out-
cause it explicitly focuses on processes of consumer comes of the consumer acculturation process, Mexican
learning (Moschis 1987). Modeling, reinforcement, and immigrants were anticipated to either assimilate U.S.
social interaction were identified as the central behav- culture, maintain their previous culture, or express a
ioral processes through which consumer skills, knowl- hybrid combination of the two cultures.
edge, and behaviors were transferred by acculturation
agents, which include family, friends, and institutions,
ETHNOGRAPHIC STUDY
such as schools and churches.
The extrapolation of this work to a transnational Ethnographic research techniques were selected for
context required modifications, however. Immigrants this research because of their long-standing tradition of
may have two conflicting sets of consumer acculturation studying "other" cultures and cultural phenomena
agents: one corresponding to their culture of origin and (Clifford 1988). In recent years ethnographic studies
one corresponding to the existing culture. Previous work have made significant headway in the field of consumer
has suggested that minority consumers may experience research as researchers have gone to the field to inves-
the competing pulls of two cultures (O'Guinn and Faber tigate consumers' experiences and to explore the social
1986). Further, consumer acculturation processes are significance of consumption (see, e.g., Arnould 1989;
not limited to the actions of immigrants; also important Belk 1991; Belk, Wallendorf, and Sherry 1988; Hill
are the ways immigrants are viewed and treated by the 1991).
U.S. mainstream (Berry 1980). Thus, in addition to the This research is positioned in the emerging tradition
importance of immigrants' attitudes toward the culture of critical ethnography (Clifford and Marcus 1986;
of origin and immigration, the degree to which the im- Rosaldo 1989; Thomas 1993). Critical ethnography, like
migrant group was accepted by the existing culture was more traditional forms of ethnography, is characterized
anticipated to play an important role in their accultur- by the use of participant observation data collection
ation. techniques and interpretive analysis. It differs in its
The previously mentioned dual pull, situated in the concern with issues of subjectivity and relationships of
context of mainstream/immigrant social relations, po- power affecting both the researcher(s) and those under
tentially impacts immigrant consumer acculturation investigation. Concerns of critical ethnographers in-
processes and outcomes in several ways. Mexican im- clude (1) relations between the researcher and the re-
migrants may internalize the stigma of being main- searched, (2) the agency of those being investigated, that
stream's "other." They may denounce themselves and is, how people were treated during the course of the
their culture, decreasinA their differences by assimilatingstudy, how they were represented in the written account,
products in an attempt to fit in. They may ignore or and whether the study incorporated their interests, and
reject pressure to assimilate, instead cultivating social' (3) the importance of situating our work within the
structures within which aspects of their previous culture global economy.
are maintained (Gordon 1964; Padilla 1980). They may
reject aspects of the culture of origin and/or immigra-
Researcher Subjectivity
tion (Berry 1990), and they may express combinations
of these strategies. Let me begin by saying I am not a Mexican immi-
On the basis of a critical review of this literature, I grant, I am a tenth-generation Mexican American from
developed a conceptual model to guide this research San Antonio, Texas. I differ from informants in my
(Fig. 1). I use the term consumer acculturation rather color, gender, class, and residence in relation to that
than assimilation in an attempt to advance this research imaginary line, the United States-Mexico border. In
stream beyond the question of the degree to which im- my family I am called giiera, a Spanish term for women
migrants validate American culture. The model begins who can pass as white. Because I do not physically re-
with individual differences likely to be factors differ- semble Mexican Americans, I am seldom identified as
entiating immigrants' acculturation processes. Demo- a member of this group, yet this is the group with which
graphic differences in age, social class, and gender were I identify. I grew up in an Anglo neighborhood and
learned Spanish in graduate school.
5See Glazer and Moynihan (1963) and Gordon (1964) for discus- I approached this work with the desire to access and
sions of ethnicity as a persistently divisive feature of American life. portray the consumption patterns and adaptation ex-
FIGURE 1
AN A PRIORI MODEL OF CONSUMER ACCULTURATION
Antecedent Consumer Consumer Consumer

Variables Acculturation Acculturation Acculturation
Agents Processes Outcome
Dimensions
1. Demographic
variables
Culture of Origin
Family Assimilate
Friends Culture
2. Language Media of Origin
Spanish/English Institutions
3. Recency of _ Modeling Maintain

Reinforcement Culture
Social Interaction of Immigration
Identity amily Express l

Friends Hybrid
Media Culture
5. Environmental Institutions/
factors
periences of Mexican immigrants from their perspec- appropriate, conversing, eating, praying, and playing.
tive. I went to the field to investigate the environment This work has been challenging and rewarding. During
inhabited by Mexican immigrants and to learn what its course my experiences ranged from awe and respect
their lives were like in the United States. For the first at informants' courage and hope for the future, to anger
six months, I found it difficult to establish rapport. In- at the inferior treatment I observed and heard them
hibited by doubts about my appearance and my ability relate, to amusement and joy at their accomplishments,
to speak Spanish, I kept my distance, observing and their stories, and the times we shared. I reexamined my
cataloging the people, the stores, and the merchandise. relation to my culture, noting that my claims to our
I was mostly ignored, except by those who offered as- common cultural heritage gave me an advantage in es-
sistance in the stores or those who whistled at me or tablishing trust yet invoked in me a sense of responsi-
offered to sell me illegal merchandise. After a few bility to represent informants accurately and to integrate
months I began to initiate conversations, to meet peo- their concerns.
ple, and to request interviews. The interviews provided
further opportunities to develop rapport. Speaking
Emergent Design
Spanish was instrumental but did not ensure trustwor-
thiness. I had to prove that my intentions were earnest, The research design was adapted during the course
which I did by sustained contact, focused interest, and of the study (Belk et al. 1988). This involved an iterative
by doing things for informants, such as providing trans- process of reading and conceptualizing the "issues,"
portation and translations. collecting and analyzing data, reconceptualizing, col-
Evidence of increasing trust included referrals and lecting and analyzing additional data, writing, and re-
invitations to accompany informants in their daily lives. writing. As previously mentioned, I began this work by
Alma, Rene, Maria Inez, Carolina, Gloria, and Rolando developing an a priori model. I then went to the field
allowed me to see them in various encounters with the to become familiar with the marketplace. After two
new culture. On these occasions my involvement was months of recording field observations of people, stores,
not limited to observation; I took an active role where and merchandise, I began to develop and pretest the
interview guide. In the three pretests, informants million persons reported being of Mexican descent or
jumped spatially and temporally as they spoke of their origin in the United States (U.S. Department of Com-
lives on this side and that side of the border between merce 1992b). These figures do not include undocu-
the United States and Mexico. I modified the interview mented immigration, which has been estimated to ac-
guide to distinguish more carefully people's previous count for two-thirds of all Mexican immigration since
consumption patterns in Mexico from their current 1980 (Warren and Passel 1987). In the state of Califor-
consumption patterns in the United States. Questions nia, where this study was conducted, estimates of the
were added to investigate more directly behavioral pro- number of Mexican people range from 2 million to 4
cesses linking the two consumption patterns. I went million persons (McCarthy and Valdez 1985; Strategy
back to the field for more fieldwork and to initiate for- Research Corporation 1991).
mal interviews.
Informants were purposely selected, with variety and
The first phase of interviews began in the fifth month
contrast used as criteria (Miles and Huberman 1984),
of fieldwork and consisted of six households; the re-
to yield a varied perspective on the experiences of Mex-
maining eight interviews were conducted over the next
ican immigrant consumers in the United States. I met
year and a half of fieldwork. Interviews averaged an
some informants while doing fieldwork. I met Melinda
hour and 15 minutes to complete and all interviews
and Lucia on separate occasions when I stopped to buy
were transcribed verbatim. In analyzing these interviews
from the grocery vans where they worked in the neigh-
together with the field data, I began to appreciate the
borhoods. I met Emir while walking down the street,
many differences and similarities between the United
and I met Rene on the bus. Referrals were also impor-
States and Mexico and the influences of marketing
tant in enabling me to identify and access informants
strategies and others' immigration on acculturation
processes. with target characteristics. I met Victor and Graciela
Over time, field activities and objectives shifted from with help from one of the local retailers. Rene, a key
observation to participation, from describing the sites, informant, introduced me to Carolina and her husband
agents, and activities to accompanying informants as Alberto, Maria Inez, Jorge, Sra. Marta, and Sr. Adan.
they negotiated the new culture. Participant-observation As a result, subgroups of informants reflected their ac-
activities with informants included sharing meals, going tual social support networks.
shopping, going to the beach, making a court appear- I interviewed 23 individuals from 14 households, at
ance, aiding a release from the hospital, and conversing times speaking with multiple members of the house-
with an employer, legal counsel, and several hospital holds, those who were present at the time and agreed
administrators. In addition, informants invited me to to do the interview. Informants varied in their age, gen-
some of their cultural activities. I attended church with der, social class, English- and Spanish-language ability,
Rene, went to the rodeo with Maria and Gloria and recency of arrival, and household composition (Table
their families, and celebrated cinco de mayo (May 5) 1).8 Eight households were interviewed entirely in the
and dieciseis de septiembre (September 16) festivals.6 Spanish language, four predominantly in Spanish, and
-These activities were instrumental in providing me with two predominantly in the English language, as deter-
a sense of their values and of what being a Mexican mined by informants' preferences. Sixteen informants
immigrant in the United States entailed. were interviewed in their homes, five informants were
interviewed at their workplace, one informant was in-
Mexican Immigrant Informants terviewed at the home of his friends, and one interview
Mexican immigrants are not a known population in took place at a local fast-food restaurant.
the United States.7 According to the 1990 census, 13.5 In the interviews informants were asked to describe
their experiences crossing borders and getting settled,
and to describe and compare their consumption pat-
6Cinco de mayo commemorates the victory of Mexican troops led
by General Ignacio Zaragosa over an occupying army of French troops terns and the consumer environments in the United
led by Emperor Maximilian Hapsburg in Puebla, Mexico, on May States and in Mexico. Questions regarding consumption
5, 1862. While this holiday is seldom celebrated in Mexico, it is cel- of food, clothing, the telephone, an automobile, finan-
ebrated by Mexican Americans in the United States and receives
cial services, and media were included to address a wide
tremendous corporate sponsorship. Dieciseis de septiembre com-
memorates Father Miguel Hidalgo's oration, the Grito de Dolores, array of market offerings (i.e., durable and nondurable
on September 16, 1810, which marked the beginning of the Mexican products and services). Questions regarding social ac-
Revolution for independence from Spain. This holiday is celebrated tivities were used to assess informants' contact with
in both Mexico and the United States (Acufia 1987, 1988).
Anglo-Americans and how they were treated by others
7There are currently no accurate, verifiable data on the total number
of Mexican immigrants currently in the United States or on those in the United States.
who enter this country every year. All figures are estimates because
of a number of data collection problems, which include multiple
trips between the United States and Mexico, fear of deportation, mis-
trust of social scientists, illiteracy, use of Spanish language, and in- 8All informant names appearing in this work are pseudonyms in
consistent use of terminology (Penialoza and Gilly 1986). order to maintain informants' confidentiality and anonymity.
TABLE 1
INFORMANT CHARACTERISTICS
Household
and Mexican Arrival Years in U.S. household
pseudonyms Sex Age Education residence datea Mexico U.S. occupation compositionb Language ability
1: Alma F 40 Graduate school Rural 1966 17 High school 2, female roommates Bilingual
teacher
2: Graciela F 35 Universityc Urban 1978 25 Travel agent 6, extended family, Bilingual
boarder
3: Victor M 33 Three years of Urban 1989 18 Travel agent 4, male roommates Bilingual
college
4: Emir M 24 Sixth grade Rural 1985 20 Yard worker 5, male roommates Spanish
5: Genaro M 40 High school Urban 1978 17 Manager, 1, single Spanish
fast-food (some English)
restaurant
6: Ignacio M 26 High school Urban 1988 24 Cosmetology 5, female and male Spanish
Enrique M 24 Veterinary Urban 1988 22 Cosmetology roommates
Josefina F 20 Business school Urban 1987 18 Secretary
Samanta F 27 University' Urban 1987 25 Teacher
Joel M 21 High school Urban 1987 19 Student
7: Melinda F 22 Sixth grade Rural 1989 15 Grocery van 7, two extended Spanish
attendant families
8: Chela F 34 University Urban 1989 25 Gas station 4, nuclear family Bilingual
cashier
9: Rene M 45 First grade Rural 1988 42 Woodworker 9, one extended, one Spanish
Miguel M 18 High school Rural 1990 17 Student nuclear family
10: Lucia F 11 Sixth grade Rural 1987 8 Grocery van 9, nuclear family Bilingual
attendant
1 1: Maria Inez F 36 Sixth grade Urban 1987 32 Seamstress 9, two nuclear Spanish
Gloria F 28 Eighth grade Urban 1990 27 Seamstress families, boarder
Rolando M 30 Sixth grade Urban 1990 29 Welder
12: Marta F 58 Third grade Rural 1989 58 None 9, extended family Spanish
Adan M 60 Second grade
13: Carolina F 26 University Urban 1987 20 Woodworker 4, nuclear family, Spanish
Alberto M 25 High school Urban 1985 19 Welder boarder (some English)
14: Jorge M 40 Ninth grade Rural 1988 39 Mechanic 12, three families Spanish
aWhen they came to live in the United States.

bTotal number of persons, type of household.
'Graduate.
Field Settings nia Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV), the county

courthouse, and local cultural festivals.
Field sites consisted of an urban shopping street, two
neighborhoods where informants lived, and informants'
Data Analysis
dwellings. These particular sites were selected on the
basis of four factors: (1) the presence of a large number The output of data collection efforts consisted of
of Mexican immigrants, (2) an urban area, since 88 maps of the field sites, 300 photographs, 50 artifacts
percent of Latinos reside in urban areas in the United (brochures, business cards, flyers, and local newspapers),
States (Strategy Research Corporation 1991), (3) the and 839 pages of text. This included a set of field notes
centrality of these sites to the lives of Mexican immi- (311 handwritten pages compiled from 223 hours of
grants in the United States, and (4) the existence of a field observation), transcriptions of the tape-recorded
wide variety of commercial ventures and activities. interviews (141 pages typed), and a journal of personal
Objectives varied by site. In the neighborhoods, I fo- reflections (387 handwritten pages).
cused on their density, the type of dwellings, the people Field notes and journal entries were divided into data
in the area, and their activities. In the dwellings, I ex- units (i.e., separate pieces of information) and then
amined furnishings and personal space. At the mar- classified in an iterative, hierarchical process that in-
ketplace site I investigated the types of stores, their volved first dividing the units by data type (e.g., stores
clientele, the products and services offered, and mar- at the site, Latinos at the site, incidents, ongoing activ-
keting practices. In addition to these main field sites, I ities, events) and then categorizing units within each
accompanied informants to peripheral field sites that data type. Interview summaries were developed as a
included two churches, the beach, a rod&, the Califor- data reduction technique to facilitate comparisons
across types of informants. Data were analyzed by Not all informants' expectations or experiences were
means of coding patterns and themes with use of the positive. Miguel expected to see only Anglo-Americans
constant comparative method (Glaser and Strauss in the United States but was comforted to see many
1967). Findings were triangulated across data types and Mexican people on his arrival. Informants' two greatest
sources. fears were that they would not find a job and did not
Credibility assessment of this research consisted of know what would happen to them.
member checking and memoing with informants and Yet, while all informants were enthusiastic about
academic colleagues (Wallendorf and Belk 1989). This their move to the United States, their feelings about
involved my providing all or part of the data and interim leaving Mexico are best described as bittersweet. They
research findings to informants and to academic col- had left family and friends behind and related sorrow
leagues during the project. The task for informants was at these losses. They also reported missing their lan-
to assess whether the findings were consistent with their guage, food, holiday celebrations, and, as Victor put it,
experience; colleagues were to ascertain the logic of the "la tranquilidad, la seguridad en el aspecto de que uno
analytical categories and assess whether the findings podria caminar conociendo la mayor parte de la gente"
were well grounded in the data. [the tranquility, the security in the sense that one can
walk around knowing most of the people]. Their sorrow
ETHNOGRAPHIC ACCOUNT was combined with the uncertainty and difficulty of the
transition.
Immigration Experiences Informants moved to the United States legally and
Informants were exposed to the idea of living in the illegally. Four informants came to the United States by
United States before setting foot on its soil. In Mexico, airplane, 10 by bus, and four by private car. Samanta
stories abounded regarding life in the United States, came by train for a vacation that she has extended in-
and seeing people go to the United States to live was a definitely. Jorge, Sra. Marta and her husband Adan,
common occurrence. Noted Sr. Adan, "Alla hay sen- and Melinda and her two sons, ages 4 and 6, came over
timientos que mucha gente va a E.U., esta aceptada" with the help of a coyote (guide). As was customary,
[There are feelings that many people go to the U.S., it they paid the going rate of $300 per person after having
is accepted].9 Yet, at the same time they were told that arrived in the United States. The coyotes' services var-
jobs that paid better than in Mexico were available in ied: Jorge, Sra. Marta, and her husband Adan were
the United States; they were also told that jobs were brought to the door of family in the United States, while
difficult to find and they had to speak English. The sto- Melinda and her sons were merely assisted across the
ries changed with changes in the U.S. economy. border. Six informants reported multiple trips to the
For informants, positive expectations regarding their United States.
lives in the United States served as powerful motivators. Mexican immigration was described as "una cadena"
Reasons given for moving to the United States included [a chain] by Genaro, who explained that one man
to take advantage of greater job availability and buying comes, then sends for his brother, who sends for his
.power, to reunite family, and, for those with children, brother, who sends for his wife. All informants knew
to further their children's education. We came "para someone already living in the United States when they
trabajar y comprar" [to work and to buy], explained arrived, but that didn't necessarily mean they were
Carolina. Chela and Gloria noted that, while it was helped by these people, although most were. Victor an-
cheaper to live in Mexico, it was also more difficult for grily recalled a door slammed in his face, "Eran mis
people there to "salir adelante" [get ahead, have dis- amigos en Mexico, pero aqui no son mis amigos" [They
cretionary funds for spending or saving]. Jorge recalled were my friends in Mexico, but in the U.S. they are not
seeing people return to Mexico from the United States my friends].
with more possessions than they left with and expected The chainlike social network Genaro described was
that he, too, would be able to do so. The difference in consistent with other informants' experiences. Two
earnings in the two countries is graphically described general patterns of migration were noted; informants
by Victor: "Para ganar una persona 250 mil pesos, o came to the United States as a part of a group or alone.
sea 100 dolares en Mexico, tiene que trabajar un mes, Those who made the journey alone were reunited with
cuando aqui cien dolares en tres dias o dos dias se gana. family members, friends, or others from Mexico who
Por eso, es que hay un correria para venir, L no?" [Toare now in the United States. Soon after making their
earn 250,000 pesos, or $ 100 in Mexico, one has to work separate trips to the United States, Alberto was joined
a month, when here one earns $100 in two or three by his wife, Carolina, and Rolando was joined by Maria
days. That is why so many people come]. Inez. Chela and Graciela, who had come to the United
States as children with their mother and aunt, respec-
tively, returned to Mexico only to come back to the
9Excerpts of interviews appearing in this paper reflect the language
informants used. Translations of Spanish language excerpts are in-
United States years later with their husbands and chil-
dicated by brackets and were done by the author with the help of dren. Once in the United States, Emir, a solo traveler,
bilingual informants. joined up with four others from his hometown in Mex-
ico. In a similar way, Ignacio, Joel, Josefina, Samanta, Mexico described their homes in Mexico as having dirt
and Enrique formed another household in the United floors, with no electricity or running water. They raised
States. crops, tended a few animals, and shopped for food daily
Social networks of family and friends were an integral by walking to nearby small corner markets. Those from
part of the consumer acculturation process. These net- urban areas were used to cosmopolitan surroundings
works served as coping social structures in and through and reported shopping at department stores and in the
which informants adapted to the consumer environ- mercados (markets comprised of shops and stands of
ment in the United States., They facilitated the physical various sizes). In rural and urban areas in Mexico prod-
move and the transition by providing key sources of ucts were also sold door-to-door and on the street.
information and support, which ranged from advice to The neighborhoods where informants lived in the
money and places to stay. United States featured a dense array of duplexes and
On arrival, informants who could not speak or un- apartment buildings situated in between older houses
derstand English experienced tremendous problems and condominiums. One or two vans were a common
with the language. For example, in the following passage sight parked along the curb or circulating through the
Genaro relates how his first attempts to use the tele- neighborhoods, announcing their arrival with loud
phone were thwarted because he did not speak English: Latin music. These "convenience stores on wheels"
(Fig. 2) offered particular arrays of food and household
Queria marcar de a , y me habia dicho que items-dried beans and rice, tortillas, chilies, fresh fruits
costaba quince centavos el telefono-hace pocos afios- and vegetables, instant coffee, and personal grooming
y puse el dime, el nickel, y era larga distancia, y la op- supplies.
eradora me decia que pusiera mas dinero, y yo colgaba In these colonias (neighborhoods), the dominant
el telefono, y iotra vez! Esto hacia como cinco, seis veces, presence of Mexican people and their use of the Spanish
hasta que le pregunte a una senora que si ese telefono no
language were evident. Small groups of young and older
funcionaba, y esa sefiora me dijo que si, y salio, y me
dijo que adonde yo queria marcar, entonces, yo le dije men typically congregated outside the buildings and in
que a Los Angeles, y me dijo que era larga distancia, y between the cars parked along the street. The cars were
yo no sabia nada de ingles, y por eso no entendia." in various states of disarray, and there were bars on
[I wanted to call from and I had been told
many of the windows and doors of the buildings. Chil-
that it cost fifteen cents to use the phone-this was several dren played on patches of dirt for lawns, and tomato
years ago-and I put in a dime, a nickel, and it was long and chili plants grew in between brilliantly colored
distance, and the operator told me to put in more money, flowers in the gardens.
and I hung up the telephone and tried again! This hap- Informants' household furnishings varied consider-
pened like five or six times, until I asked a woman if this ably. Carolina and Alberto had a matching sofa and
telephone was working, and she said yes, and then asked love seat, coffee table, entertainment center, and a new
me where I wanted to call, and I said -and she told dining room set in their new condominium. In Rene's
me it was a long distance call, and because I did not
apartment a detached seat from a car served the dual
understand English, I did not understand.]
purpose of sofa by day and bed by night. A full-size bed
served a similar purpose in the apartment where Maria
Of the 23 informants, 19 were monolingual Spanish Inez and Gloria and their families lived. Household
speakers. Their language difficulties were lessened in adornments included family photographs, children's
many areas because of the availability of Spanish lan- drawings, religious crosses and candles, promotional
guage materials. Despite English's having been legislated calendars from local retail outlets, and plastic flower
as the official language in the state of California, Span- arrangements atop lace doilies.
ish-language driving tests, ballots, and income tax forms Informants established their households in the United
were readily available at city and county agencies. Fur- States in a highly transitory manner influenced by fam-
ther, even at sites where English was prevalent, such as ily and friendship ties, the viability of their jobs, and
the California Department of Motor Vehicles, the trips to Mexico. With the exception of Graciela, Car-
courthouse, and the hospital, Spanish translators were olina, and Alberto, all informants lived in rented dwell-
available. Nevertheless, all 19 said they wanted to learn ings in the United States. It was typical that informants
English because it was a big advantage in the workforce. shared less space with more people than in their homes
However, because of work, family commitments, and in Mexico, which partially explains why so many people
transportation problems, only Genaro, Rene, and Me- were observed in the neighborhoods. Graciela, Melinda,
linda reported attending English classes. and Sra. Marta lived in extended-family households.
Chela, Carolina, and Lucia lived in households com-
Confronting The New Consumer posed of nuclear families with children, and Alma, Vic-
Environment tor, Emir, and Ignacio shared housing with roommates.
There were multiple families in three of the other
Housing. In Mexico, most informants inhabited households. Jorge shared a two-bedroom apartment
single-family dwellings. Informants from rural areas in with three families; he explained that one family oc-
FIGURE 2
A MOBILE GROCERY STORE
..........
F.i~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ . . . .
cupied each of the bedrooms, and the other family slept gave that as one of the reasons they returned to Mexico.
in the living area. Two nuclear families lived in Maria During the two. and one-half year period in which this
Inez's apartment, each with a full-size refrigerator in work was done, seven households moved; three returned
the kitchen, and a single man rented one of two beds to Mexico.
in the living room. Rene shared a two-bedroom apart- Shopping. At the marketplace site two-hour parking
ment with two families; he kept his belongings in the spaces lined the urban shopping street, a four-block
hall closet and slept on a couch in the living area. Only plaza of various types of retail stores and city offices,
Genaro lived alone. including the Mexican consulate. There were jewelry
The household served as an important social context and pawn shops, clothing and shoe stores, restaurants,
and agent of consumer acculturation. Here informants and two discount stores. Some of the retail establish-
displayed artifacts of Mexican and U.S. culture. The ments were from Mexico, including a bank, two shoe
household also brought together individuals of various stores and two electronics stores. One store featured
characteristics, resources and skills, who provided each Mexican curios (souvenirs). Many of the products were
other with social support and some tensions. House- also from Mexico and included cassette tapes, foods,
holds composed of mixed levels of English facilitated soaps, and laundry detergents. Services offered included
their members' efforts to learn English; those whose travel arrangements, money orders, formal-dress and
members spoke only Spanish reinforced the sole use of tuxedo rental, rental videotapes, photocopies, income
Spanish. Chela reported tensions in her family because tax preparation, and check cashing. Here, retail em-
her teenage daughter resented being less able to speak ployees handing out flyers competed with sidewalk dis-
English than her four-year-old sister. Because these plays of merchandise and street vendors for the money
children learned English at school and were generally and attention of the many people walking by. Spanish
better able to use English than their parents, they were was the lingua franca. Store names and advertisements
relied on to help negotiate U.S. culture-which they were prevalent in Spanish, although many signs were
resented at times. Finally, whether informants' families bilingual and some were in English.
were united in the United States influenced the length In describing their first shopping experience in the
of their stay. Informants whose families were in Mexico United States, informants noted the larger quantity,
greater variety, and lower prices. Alberto recalled, "Me translation was not really meaningful to him until he
sentia como que iba entrado a una pelicula, ,no? Y yo had begun to save some of his earnings and had gained
iba hacer el protogonista y yo iba a los Estados Unidos an understanding of the cost of living in the United
y yo iba hacer lo que queria . . . y a mi me sentia bien, States. "Este mall era muy grande . . . , entonces entra
es bonito conocer un pais tan fuerte, tan potente, ,no? uno y se queda fascinado de ver todo eso. . . y, a mi,
tan avanzado y tantas cosas" [I felt like I'd entered a se me ocurre imposible decir cuando yo podria comprar
movie, you know. And I was the main character and una camisa . . . si yo ganaba tres trienta y cinco la
I'd come to the United States, and I could do what I hora, L,como iba a gastar uno la mitad del sueldo d
wanted. I felt good. It is good to know a country so una semana en comprar una camisa? ,verdad? En-
strong and powerful, you know, so advanced with so tonces, es una cosa que uno va viendo hasta que la
many things]. Maria Inez described the merchandise as persona empieza a trabajar, empieza a organizarse de
beautiful, while Marta noted how clean and orderly the tal manera de vivir, y de ser, cuando ya empiezas a
stores were. agarrar de lo que estas haciendo" [This mall was very
At the marketplace, the problems informants expe- big, and when someone entered, they would be fasci-
rienced with language were rare. Not knowing English nated to see all this . . . as for me, it struck me as im-
was of little consequence for informants shopping at possible to say when I would be able to buy a shirt .
the field sites because most retailers accommodated if I was earning $3.35 an hour, how would anyone be
their Spanish-speaking customers by maintaining a able to spend half their weekly salary on a shirt? True?
Spanish-speaking workforce. This is not to suggest that These are the things one begins to see when a person
language was not an issue in Mexican immigrants' con- begins to work, begins to organize one's way of life and
sumer acculturation. Inability to speak English affected oneself, when you begin to save some of your earnings].
informants' selection of stores and purchase and use of These vignettes highlight the tremendous amount of
products and services in the United States. It precluded translations that immigrants make as they move from
them from using some products and services and more one consumer culture to another. Learning the new
favorably disposed them to shop at stores, such as those consumer culture involved becoming adept at both its
at the site, where employees spoke Spanish and that elements and relational rules. Cultural signs and heu-
carried products and services they had purchased and ristics drawn from the previous system were applied
used in Mexico. logically to the new system through a process of trans-
Informants also reported experiencing difficulties lation. Informants learned to render intelligible signs
with U.S. currency that were not so easily overcome. inscribed in the new cultural code by first resituating
The exchange rate was 3,000 Mexican pesos to the dollar them within the previous code with which they were
at the time of this research. In the following passage, familiar and then by returning their equivalent to the
Joel related his initial experience with U.S. currency: terms of the new code. When the application of previous
"No conocia la moneda, el cambio, y entonces, para rules to the new system did not work, as illustrated in
mi, era muy difilcil cuando me decia son tanto por tanto,
Gloria's experience of deciphering the currency, the
a mi, me parecia muy barato realmente, porque decia rules were modified in an iterative process of repetition
dos cinquenta, uno cincuenta, cincuenta centavos. and retrial. Over time, informants began to learn what
6Que es eso, no? Porque en Mexico se habla de miles" many cultural signs meant and their value in the United
[I was not familiar with the money, the change, so for States.
me it was very difficult when someone would say how This experiential consumer learning was a difficult
much things cost, prices appeared really cheap to me, process compounded by the social pressure to perform
because they would say $2.50, $1.50, 50 cents. What is in any given moment. To be wrong risked personal em-
this? Because in Mexico one speaks in thousands]. barrassment, as avoided by Miguelito, Alma's nephew,
Gloria reported problems shopping and taking the who was visibly uncomfortable at the ice cream counter
bus because she was confused by U.S. coins, and re- when his turn came to order. He quickly asked me to
mained so a year after her arrival. Exasperation was order vanilla for him.
heavy in her voice as she said, "In Mexico, well, I don't
know, the money goes in order," and, "Who would
Particular Products and Services
think that the little one (a dime) would be worth more
than a nickel?" When her heuristic assigning greater Food. Food is more than a means of nourishment
value to larger coins failed, she concluded that it was and sustenance; it is also a key cultural expression. For
"un sistema bien estrania" [a very strange system]. informants, eating the foods they ate in Mexico in the
In the next passage, where he recalls a trip to a large United States provided them with a taste of home and
shopping mall in the United States, Joel articulates how served to reaffirm ties to their culture of origin. Infor-
he learned to decipher the new code. He established a mants from small villages in Mexico reported shopping
standard of conversion in terms of the amount of time for food daily by walking to small corner markets or
he would have to work at his pay rate in the United buying from vendors. Many had no refrigeration and
States to buy a particular item, yet added that this would grow their own food-corn, beans, chilies, and
melons. Informants from the city reported shopping mants from small towns and villages noted that in
for food once a week or so at large supermarkets and/ Mexico people would go door-to-door with clothing for
or the central market, where they compared prices and sale, and they would accept partial payments over time.
looked for the best deals. Despite these apparent dif- This manner of doing business was described by Alma,
ferences between rural and urban residents, all infor- who lived in a small village in Mexico until she was 17:
mants reported that food cost less in Mexico and that "People would come and bring us things, people would
they preferred fresh produce and freshly cut meat. go house to house with clothes to sell, you could buy a
In the United States, informants noted similarities dress with payments, every week this woman would
in the ways they shopped for food in the United States come, she carried stuff in a plastic bag. . . and people
as compared to Mexico. Informants reported shopping would tell her, yes, that is what I need, and they knew
mainly at large supermarkets for the prices and at small each other."
corner stores (Fig. 3) and vans (Fig. 2) for convenience. Door-to-door clothing sales were also described by
As in Mexico, large grocery stores and small corner informants from urban areas in Mexico. Joel added that
markets in the United States included a carniceria U.S. brands were available in Mexico, but you had to
(butcher shop) where meat was specially cut to order, look closely because people would sew the tags of name
thinly sliced, with all of the visible fat removed. brands into items of clothing prior to their sale. In ad-
Yet informants also noted differences in the ways dition, Ignacio noted that clothing was brought from
people shopped for groceries in the United States. They the United States to people in Mexico to help them
rejected some of the consumption patterns associated enter this country.
with U.S. culture, particularly packaged, prepared, and I observed door-to-door clothing sales similar to those
frozen foods. They simply could not understand why described in Mexico in the United States. During my
Americans bought produce in cans and meat that was interview with Sra. Marta, she was describing her pre-
already packaged and frozen since "you don't know vious purchase of T-shirts for $5 from a door-to-door
when," as Graciela described it. Informants consistently salesperson, when a young woman came to the door
said they had not changed their food consumption very selling pots and pans. Marta welcomed her inside, we
much since they had moved to the United States, with looked at the pots, chatted with her a short while, and
the exception of Alma, who said she no longer ate beans. then continued the interview. Marta explained, "Aqui
Victor noted that he and his roommates took turns pre- se vende y se puede pagar poco a poco . . . o luego, si
paring "comida tipica mexicana, un carne de puerco no tenemos dinero" [Here one sells and one can pay a
en chile" [typical Mexican food, pork cooked with chili]. little at a time . . . or later, if we do not have money].
Even working mothers Marla Inez and Gloria continued Informants readily assimilated clothing in the United
to shop daily for meat and produce. States, especially where compatible with their previous
Their statements were consistent with my observa- styles of dress. Yet style and brand awareness were more
tions. Stores at the site offered many products from pronounced for the young. Few of the adults, as com-
Mexico in anticipation of and in response to the pref- pared to most of the young people, reported a favorite
erences of their Mexican clientele, items such as fresh brand of clothing. Apparently, brand awareness and
meat and produce, canned chilies and salsas, spices, discrimination are skills acquired more rapidly by the
cookies, and soft drinks. Many of the products directed
younger adults than by their elders.
to this group were produced and supplied by U.S. firms. For adult men, similar styles were worn in the United
In the neighborhoods, the grocery vans also provided
States and Mexico, although there were some genera-
Mexican immigrants with ready access to "Mexican"
tional differences noted in informant reports and in my
foods. These "convenience stores on wheels" were typ-
observations. Older men wore western-style polyester
ically run by other Mexican people and catered to a
slacks or jeans, boots, and wide leather belts with big
Mexican clientele. In my journal I wrote, "here you
buckles, while younger men wore jeans or shorts, high-
don't have to go to the products, they come to you."
top sneakers, and T-shirts.
Because so many of the foods eaten in Mexico were
For adult women, the incidence of wearing pants was
available in the United States, Mexican immigrants did
reported to be much less prevalent in Mexico than in
not have to change their food consumption very much.
the United States. Some Mexican women informants
Their accommodation by marketers both validated the
retained the more traditional female attire of dresses
presence of Mexican immigrants and legitimized Mex-
and skirts in the United States, while others wore pants
ican culture in the United States.
and even shorts. But even in the United States many
Clothing. Clothing serves as bodily protection, but considered women's wearing of pants socially unac-
it is also a means of cultural expression that imperfectly ceptable. Jorge lamented that Mexican women who
indicates style, gender, social class, and even nationality. wore pants in public in the United States were "sin
Informants uniformly reported that clothing sold in vergiienza" [without shame]. The younger women in
Mexico was of less variety, lower quality, and higher his household giggled at his criticism. I noticed they
prices than clothing sold in the United States. Infor- were wearing pants.
FIGURE 3
A SMALL CORNER MARKET
._1 .. rS.gS........
, ... .... .
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ .s.g._. . . . ' ' , ,'. . .~ ,4 .
Because clothing was sold at a cheaper price in the available in Spanish, language barriers still existed for
United States than in Mexico, and because informants informants operating an automobile. Language prob-
made more money here, clothing was quite a bargain lems triggered the following incident in which Rene re-
for them. More importantly, by literally putting on this ceived an $80 traffic citation. Infuriated, he explained
aspect of U.S. culture or by refusing to do so, informants to the officer-a translator was called to the scene-
assumed and asserted their place in this country. that he had received permission from the California
DMV to move his car. Unfortunately, that officer and
Automobile. The automobile is a powerful symbol
a clerk at the DMV agreed that this permission did not
of status and success in Mexico, where they are expen-
serve as a valid California driver's license, which he did
sive and few people have one. Informants reported that
not have. A few weeks later I gave Rene a ride home
a car was a luxury in Mexico, where automobile prices
from the DMV; he had just received his license.
were almost double prices in the United States and fi-
For informants, the automobile was a powerful sym-
nancing was not available. Only two of the 14 house-
bol of success in the United States. Here, the automobile
holds reported having a car when they lived in Mexico.
offered autonomy and mobility to people no longer de-
In contrast, 10 of 14 households reported having cars
pendent on a bike, the bus, or other people to get
in the United States. In addition to using their cars for
around. Yet, while the auto has been credited with less-
local transportation, informants used them to bring
ening our reliance on others and enabling individuality
others to and from Mexico. Further, most informants
(Glasser 1967), because the automobile was a resource
linked their ability to purchase autos in the United
shared among immigrant household members, it par-
States to a secondary market for used cars. In this mar-
adoxically furthered their interdependence.
ket, one person sells his/her car to another and, not
infrequently, accepts monthly or weekly payments, such Telephone. The telephone is a lifeline that enabled
as those reported by Carlos Velez-Iban-ez (1983). Rene and maintained important social contacts, including
paid $50 a week for seven weeks for his 1977 Mustang. ties to loved ones and job prospects. Yet the telephone
While this informal market rendered the auto more was not just a means of communication; its cost struc-
accessible, and driving manuals and written tests were ture affected the way informants communicated and
changed the makeup of their social networks. In Mex- spending patterns (including sending money to Mexico),
ico, the telephone was a luxury, according to infor- and perceptions of lower interest rates paid by financial
mants. There it cost as much as $800 to get connected, institutions in the United States. Informants noted with
which could take years, yet informants reported that disappointment that, while they made more money and
the telephone was relatively cheaper to use. Four had more possessions in the United States, they also
households had a telephone in Mexico. had more expenses here and experienced pressure to
Twelve of 14 households reported having a telephone pay bills. All informants reported sending money to
in the United States. Here the phone was described as family members in Mexico and/or sending money to
"una necesidad" [a necessity]. The telephone enjoyed help others come to the United States at one time or
this high rate of assimilation among informants in the another.
United States because of the high value of the connec- Knowledge of financial options and terms, and trust
tions it enabled among family, friends, and job pros- with regard to financial institutions, also affected their
pects, and its relatively lower connection costs, which use of financial services. There was much confusion
were rendered even less expensive when shared among between bank and retail store credit cards. With the
multiple household members. exception of Graciela, who had left Mexico during the
As with the automobile, language barriers rendered peso devaluations of the 1980s and expressed her dis-
use of the telephone difficult at times for informants. trust of financial institutions, informants did not express
Yet, counter to Genaro's experience over 15 years ago, concern about the impact of inflation. In addition, Alma
virtually all of the language barriers have been over- expressed a very negative attitude toward commercial-
come. Telephone companies now provided Spanish- ized credit, which may also explain its low rate of adop-
fluent operators to accommodate their Spanish-speak- tion. Although she had two credit cards, Alma typified
ing customers. For informants, the telephone was a vital credit as the "American way" and did not like to use
means of communication, given their distance from it. She explained, "You owe something to someone,
loved ones, and significant amounts of money were and I don't like it." Alma associated credit with Amer-
spent to maintain ties to people in Mexico. Informants ican materialism, of which she disapproved. Alma was
reported that they tried to minimize their bills by calling not the only informant concerned with resisting aspects
at off-peak hours and on weekends, but that their calls of U.S. culture. Joel, Genaro, Ignacio, and Rolando
in the United States were expensive, especially when shared Alma's anxiety about impending materialism
they called Mexico. Informants' monthly telephone bills and debt.
ranged from a low of $30 in Graciela's household to a
Media. In Mexico, media broadcast in Spanish, and
high of over $500 in the household Miguel Concepcion
many programs were produced in Mexico and Central
shared with two other families.
and South America, although many American programs
Financial Services. For informants, discussing their were also broadcast on privately owned Mexican sta-
use of financial services raised issues regarding their tions. Graciela noted that advertisements were more
ability to make ends meet, their values and priorities, indirect in Mexico, where they "rodean para llegar a
and their degree of experience and trust regarding fi- punto que tiene que anunciar" [go around before ar-
nancial institutions. In Mexico seven of 14 households riving at the point one has to announce]. This is con-
reported having either a checking or savings account sistent with previous research comparing Spanish and
when they lived in Mexico. Informants noted that, while English languages (Hall 1977).
they did not have much money in Mexico, the cost of In the United States, the media served as a bicultural
living there was also much lower. lifeline for Mexican immigrant informants, enabling
At the time of the interview, seven households main- them to "plug into" U.S. or Mexican culture with the
tained a bank account in the United States, and three turn of a dial. Informants noted that there were more
households maintained accounts in Mexican banks to television stations in the United States than in Mexico.
take advantage of higher interest rates there. While in- English-language media provided low-risk access to the
formants were involved with informal credit networks mainstream, even for those not fully bilingual. Yet, as
in the form of loans and financing sales of products in Lee (1989) noted, televised images provided immigrants
the United States and in Mexico, few had become a somewhat distorted lifestyle and behavioral information
part of the formal credit system in the United States. on U.S. culture. Spanish-language media offered infor-
Only Genaro and Alma had major credit cards. While mants reinforcement and validation of their culture.
their limited income was a factor, the fact that infor- Television programs, music, movies, and advertise-
mants with stable work histories and steady jobs that ments in Spanish, especially those using recognized ce-
paid well (e.g., Graciela, Chela, and Carolina) did not lebrities and other cultural signs, were a reassuring dose
have credit cards or interest in getting them suggests of the familiar that welcomed Mexican people to the
that other issues were operating. United States.
Factors influencing use of financial services in the Informants' media use in the United States could not
United States included level of discretionary income, be cleanly divided into English or Spanish formats, and
varied with age and across generations. Combinations and her brothers would speak English whenever they
of English and Spanish were exhibited. For example, wanted to keep things from their parents.
bilingual Graciela preferred Spanish-language television All informants reported that their friends were from
programs but listened regularly to "easy listening" En- Mexico, except Chela and Alma, who claimed both An-
glish-language radio, while Spanish speakers Maria Inez glo-American and Mexican friends. That most of their
and Melinda expressed their preferences for Spanish friends were also Mexican helped reinforce ties to Mex-
and English television and radio. Lucia and her six ican culture. It is likely that these friendships were based
brothers, all bilingual, preferred English-language top- on shared experiences of distance from home and family
forty radio, while their parents, Spanish speakers, pre- and adaptation to U.S. culture.
ferred Spanish-language media. These findings, while The job site was also an important source of contact
generally consistent with those of O'Guinn and Meyer with mainstream American culture, and working im-
(1984), suggest some limitations to the use of general- migrants initially appeared to have greater contact with
ized media preference and language ability as indicators the mainstream than their nonworking counterparts.
of media use. However, informants' jobs varied in the degree to which
they provided such contact. Only Alma, a high school
Spanish teacher, Chela, a cashier at a gas station, and
Intercultural Contact
Genaro, manager of a fast-food restaurant, had sus-
Informants were first exposed to the idea of life in tained contact with Anglo-Americans at their job sites.
the United States while they were still in Mexico through While language ability was an issue, it did not determine
word of mouth, media, international trade, and tourism. the extent of their contact. Both Chela and Alma were
This preimmigration contact, much of which was com- bilingual, yet Genaro was Spanish dominant. Maria
mercial in nature, is contrasted with my observations Inez acknowledged that she was learning some English
and informants' reports of little personal contact with at work, but it was mostly work related.
Anglo-Americans in the United States. Given the nominal contact with U.S. culture and the
At the marketplace and in the neighborhoods, Mex- predominant contact with others from Mexico de-
ican immigrants were the dominant presence. Mexican scribed by informants, together with my observations
retailers and clientele easily outnumbered the sprinkling of their physical separation in the neighborhoods and
of Anglos I observed at the marketplace. Spanish lan- at the marketplace, it was evident that Mexican im-
guage was dominant on store signs, in the newspapers migrant informants inhabited a marginalized consumer
and magazines circulated there, in the music, and in culture in the United States. At these sites, Mexican
conversations in the stores and on the street. In the culture was strongly present in the United States but
neighborhoods, Mexican people and other signs of was segregated from the mainstream.
Mexican culture, including the grocery vans, the music,
and use of the Spanish language, were readily visible. Individual Subjectivity
Whites were so noticeable by their absence that I was
stopped by police on suspicion of possession of illegal Informants reported a number of changes they had
drugs. ' noticed in themselves since moving to the United States.
Mexican culture was also evident in the households In general, rural informants experienced more changes
in the language spoken, the food, the customs, and the than did urban informants, yet all reported some
decor. All household members were from Mexico, with changes, such as working harder and having more
two exceptions, a Cuban woman who shared an apart- money and more possessions, while also having less
ment with Alma and a Puerto Rican man who rented time, experiencing more financial pressure, and be-
space in Gloria and Maria Inez's household. Exposure coming more self-centered and less trusting of others.
to U.S. culture through the children in the household Overall, Mexican immigrants spoke about their lives
was a primary, although indirect, source of contact with in the United States very positively. Graciela com-
U.S. culture for informants with children. As previously mented about living here, "Trabajando bastante es
mentioned, informants' children learned English agradable porque uno alcanza lo que uno desea"
through the schools, which they attended with Anglo [Working so hard is agreeable because one achieves what
children, whereas adults tended to have more problems one desires]. She spoke with pride about her house and
with the English language. Melinda admitted that she the travel business she and her husband had started here,
yet admitted that she had much less recreation time
than when she lived in Mexico.
101 had just taken Rene home from the hospital. We had stopped While moving to the United States offered informants
by his house before going to fill his prescriptions when a police car many benefits, it fell short of expectations. Miguel,
pulled up behind us. The officer asked what I was doing there, he had
Juan's brother, poetically described life in the United
seen me quickly leave the apartment. I handed him my university
card and explained my work. He told me there had been some com-
States as "una jaula de oro" [a golden cage]. He ex-
plaints about drugs in the neighborhood and counseled me to be plained that, while Mexicans had more money and pos-
careful. sessions in the United States, they were not free to go
back and forth to Mexico because the trip was dangerous Informants only reluctantly described incidents of
and expensive. Informants also expressed surprise that bad treatment they had experienced in the United
they worked so much in the United States. They com- States. For example, Gloria recalled being humiliated
pared this to a way of life in Mexico that was more at work by co-workers because she did not speak En-
relaxed and enjoyable, with more time to go out with glish. When these incidents were reported, they were
family and friends to dance or to see a movie, in spite often rationalized. Maria and Victor quickly explained,
of having less money. Victor tellingly described the "Living in the U.S. is like everywhere else, there are
faster pace of life in the United States, noted by many good and bad people." Yet other informants linked the
informants, in the following passage: "Pues, aqui la vida discrimination they experienced to their status as Mex-
es rapida, muy exitada-nada mas que tengo cinco ican immigrants in the United States. Rolando noted
minutos para ir a comer, cinco minutos para esperar that many Americans did not "see Mexicans well."
mi camion, cinco minutos para entrar a trabajar, es Rene explained, "Te ven bien mientras de que tu. est'as
cuestion de estar moviendose y de estar mirando el reloj haciendo sus servicios . . . pero cuando t(u te reclamas
ante todo . . . y corre, jcorre!" [Well, here the life is algun interes que te pertenese, entonces, ya no te ven
very fast paced, very agitated-nothing more than I bien" [They see you well when you are doing work for
have five minutes to eat, five minutes to wait for the them, but when you try to claim rights that belong to
bus, five minutes to get to work, it is a matter of always you, then they do not see you so well].
moving and always looking at the clock before you do Informant identity was another important part of
anything . . . and run, run!]. their subjectivity. Informants identified themselves on
Informants acknowledged the pulls of both countries. the basis of their Mexican nationality, and this desig-
They expressed nostalgia for their past and their pre- nation was attributed to them by others. Notably, only
vious culture, such as that observed by Lowenthal five of 23 informants responded when asked their eth-
( 1985). They missed knowing people and being known, nicity; they were not familiar with the Spanish equiv-
and having more time to spend with loved ones, as well alent for this word. Alma identified herself as Latino.
as the food, and the fiestas. Yet, informants also criti- Alma, Genaro, Josefina, and Graciela accepted the term
cized their previous culture. All lamented their coun- Hispanic but noted that they did not use it and identified
try's economy. Informants also noted cultural limits on it as a term used in the United States.
their autonomy, such as traditional family roles and It is significant that informants identified themselves
limits on women's attire. Genaro remarked that he as Mexicans. They were expressing their identification
could not get ahead because he felt obligated to take with their country and culture of origin, both of which
his family to dinner every Sunday, while Rene was crit- were outside the U.S. mainstream. Informants' difficulty
ical of the large amounts of money spent on quincianera answering the ethnic identity question likely stemmed
celebrations. " from differences in the social categories used in the two
Informants reported conflict and pressure to adjust countries. Alma insightfully described the differences
to the way of life in the United States. In the following between the two cultures in the following passage, "I
passage, Victor described his adaptation to the individ- didn't know I wasn't Caucasian until I came here (to
ualism of U.S. culture: the U.S.) . . . In Mexico I was Caucasian, in the U.S.
I am brown."'2 While ethnicity was not a familiar con-
Aqui tengo que ser ma's egoista, tengo que cambiar, y a cept for most informants, they soon learned that it was
mi, no me gustaba este tipo de si stema, de ser egoista,
a fundamental distinction in the United States.
pero aqui la gente es asi, nada m'as que yo, yo, yo, y iyo!Reviewing the testimony of informants revealed a
Y es todo. Nadie le ayuda a la gente por lo cual, y tambien
tengo que cambiar de esa manera . . . pienso que es ne-
third important translation in addition to the language
cesario cambiar, estoy viendo las cosas de otro punto de and the currency. Learning one's place in society, that
vista, y ahora si que no voy a preocuparme con un vecino, is, how people see each other and attribute membership
me voy a preocuparme con nada mas que mi mismo. in particular social categories, was an integral part of
[Here, I have to be more egocentric, I have to change.
consumer acculturation. The assimilation model has
As for me, I have never liked this kind of system, to be simplified the complex experience of cultural difference,
egocentric, but here people are like that, nothing else but especially the recognition and management of the
me, me, me and me! And that is all. Nobody helps each stigma of otherness. Mexican immigrant informants
other, and I, too, have to change like this . . . I think it experienced cultural difference in their relation to
is necessary to change, I'm seeing things from another themselves, to others, and to their culture, as they
point of view now, and from now on I'm not going to be learned that being Mexican meant being part of a stig-
concerned with a neighbor, I'm going to be concerned matized, subordinated group in the United States. These
with myself.] were the sentiments expressed by Rolando when he said
that Mexican people were not "seen well" in the United
States.
"The quiincianiera is a coming-of-age ritual for young women that
is celebrated on their fifteenth birthday. '2Technically, Alma is both (see n. 2).
FIGURE 4
AN EMPIRICAL MODEL OF CONSUMER ACCULTURATION
Individual Consumer Consumer Consumer

Differences Acculturation Acculturation Acculturation
Agents Processes Outcomes
1. Demographic Culture of Origin

1.Deoriaphic Family
variables l ll | Friends
Media
Institutions f
Commercial Assimilation
2. Language Educational
Spanish/English Religious
Maintenance
l3. Recency of / | Movennent | p R

| | { \ ~~~~~~~~~~~~Adaptation 1| Rssac
4. Ethnic Culture of
4.dEnthity Immigration
Identity ~~~Family
Friends Segregation
Media
Informants' subjective experience of cultural differ- with differential skills to adapt to the consumer envi-
ence influenced their identity and shopping patterns. ronment in the United States. In terms of age, older
On one hand, informants in the United States had informants were more habituated to their previous cul-
"made it." Those with jobs earned more money than ture and had more difficulties in the United States, while
they had in Mexico, and they were active consumers younger informants appeared to adapt more readily.
here, buying food, clothing, cars, and telephones. Yet Those of middle-class backgrounds seemed to have an
informants' words and actions belied the conviction that advantage over those with working-class backgrounds;
they were part of the U.S. mainstream. For informants, however, many professional credentials were not valued
the stigma of being Mexican in the United States pre- in the United States, and social class overlapped with
sented a double bind that was not easily reconciled, for, English-language ability and rural-urban status.
as Belk (1988) noted, to a certain degree people are Informants from urban areas experienced fewer dif-
their culture. ficulties than did their rural counterparts because they
had inhabited a consumption environment in Mexico
that more closely resembled that in the United States.
DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS
Women informants generally had to work to help pro-
An Empirical Model of Immigrant vide for their households in the United States, which
created some role tension for men and women accus-
Consumer Acculturation
tomed to men being the sole provider in Mexico. Work
Individual Differences. Mexican immigrant con- status provided some opportunity for contact with An-
sumer acculturation was not a monolithic experience; glos, although jobs differed in the degree to which they
informants were a diverse group of people who came facilitated such contact. Those with longer tenure in
to the United States with a wide range of resources and the United States appeared to have less difficulty adapt-
skills (Fig. 4). Demographic differences in age, social ing; however, it is emphasized that, given the degree to
class, rural/urban residence, gender, work status, and which Mexican culture is present in the United States,
length of stay in the United States provided informants length of stay did not necessarily determine adaptation.
Contact with and acceptance of Anglo culture were also United States. They experienced changes in themselves,
factors. in their sense of who they were, in their language, and
Language ability was also important in distinguishing in their culture. Yet informants also noted that many
informants' abilities to adapt. Both age and generation things had not changed. They had moved to a thriving
were important factors in distinguishing informants' Latino consumer subculture in the United States that
language experiences in the United States. Informants was similar to their previous consumer culture in Mex-
who came to the United States as adults were less able ico. Similarities were noted in stores, products, ways of
to grasp the new language than those who came as chil- doing business, foods, styles of dress, and media.
dren, with the exception of those who had learned En-
Outcomes. Mexican immigrant informants ac-
glish in school in Mexico. Further, informants with En-
quired possessions fairly rapidly on their arrival in the
glish skills had an advantage in the workplace, yet this
United States. Characteristics of the market offerings
advantage was leveled in venues where Spanish was the
that affected the degree to which they were accepted by
dominant language.
informants included their cost structures, degree of lan-
Agents. Dual sets of consumer acculturation agents guage dependence, social visibility, how well they fit
aligned with Mexican and U.S. culture served to me- into informants' lives, and product symbolism relative
diate the two cultures by representing them and helping to both U.S. and Mexican consumer cultures.
to reproduce them in the United States. Agents included Informants assimilated many products and services
family, friends, media, retail businesses, schools, and associated with U.S. consumer culture. Most readily
churches. Of these, informants' family, friends, Spanish- adopted were low-cost, high-visibility items, absent of
language media, the church, and retail businesses were any language barrier, such as clothing. In addition,
primarily aligned with Mexican culture. Informants re- market offerings that maintained social networks and
lied on social networks of family and friends from Mex- enabled shared financing among multiple household
ico to get a job, to find a place to live, to learn their members exhibited a high rate of acceptance, particu-
way around, and to learn English. Spanish-language larly the telephone and the automobile.
media, the church, and retailers catered to Mexican Yet informants also maintained aspects of Mexican
people with programming, Spanish-language masses culture. Many aspects of informants' consumption pat-
and cultural events, and products and services, respec- terns in the U.S. were linked to the maintenance of ties
tively. Schools and English-language media were the to their culture and families. Informants maintained
predominant sources of informants' contact with Anglo these ties through telephone contact, the foods they
culture. prepared and ate, their use of Spanish media, and leisure
Processes. The consumer acculturation process was activities. In addition, analysis revealed that some of
initiated by people's movement from one country to the products and services associated with U.S. culture
another. Both push and pull factors motivated immi- that had been adopted by informants (e.g., telephone,
gration. Informants left conditions of job scarcity and auto, and financial services) were used in ways that par-
low pay in Mexico. They came to the United States to adoxically maintained ties to Mexican culture.
take advantage of available jobs, higher pay, and an The ways in which Mexican immigrants adapted to
education for their children. Of most critical impor- the new consumer environment were much more com-
tance, their anticipated earnings and consumption pat- plex than simply buying and using products associated
terns were powerful incentives for immigrating to the with American or Mexican culture. Informants also re-
United States. ported experiencing pressure to change, such as that
On arrival, informants experienced some difficulties. articulated by Victor, and they resisted the pulls of both
They were accustomed to their previous consumption Anglo and Mexican culture. American culture did not
patterns, and many of the skills, knowledge, and ex- have solely positive value and significance for infor-
periences they had acquired in Mexico no longer were mants, and this important critique of U.S. culture from
applicable in the United States. Key translation skills the immigrants' perspective has been effectively silenced
were required to develop faculties in three new cultural by the assimilation framework. Informants disliked and
exchange systems, the language, the currency, and social resisted to varying degrees the materialism, time fixa-
relations, with the old systems serving as bridges to the tion, isolation, and discrimination they associated with
new systems. U.S. culture. Informants also resisted aspects of Mex-
Informants reported their adaptation to the many dif- ican culture, such as its limits on individual autonomy
ferences between their lives in the United States and and elements of its holiday traditions. The elements of
Mexico. Through experiential trial-and-error learning Mexican culture informants considered undesirable
processes, informants adapted to the new consumer en- were evident in the conflicts they expressed regarding
vironment in the United States. They established new their spending patterns and priorities.
consumption patterns in housing, use of the telephone, Finally, informants inhabited sites in the United
financial services, clothing, food, and media. Informants States that were physically segregated from the U.S.
also reported that they personally adapted to life in the mainstream. At the marketplace, and in the neighbor-
hoods and households, Mexican culture was the dom- dise associated with Mexican culture. Retailers also
inant presence. At these sites I observed a thriving La- made available products and services associated with
tino consumer culture, situated apart from mainstream U.S. culture. By providing user-friendly access to
U.S. culture. mainstream products and services for Mexican immi-
grants in the United States, marketers facilitated their
assimilation of those items.
Impact of the Environment
Nor was consumption of Mexican culture limited to
Mexican immigrant consumer acculturation was Mexican people in the United States; it has become
profoundly affected by the environment. Environmen- increasingly targeted to and consumed by the U.S.
tal opportunity originally drew informants to the United mainstream. The success of marketing Mexican culture
States. Once here, informants purchased and used many has become readily discernible in the mainstream con-
products and services associated with American culture sumption of foods, fashions, entertainment, architec-
(e.g., clothing, cars, telephones, and money in a bank ture (e.g., "Spanish" tile and adobe), southwestern de-
account). Yet many aspects of their new consumer en- cor, and in language colloquialisms."3 The influence of
vironment in the United States, such as the stores, Mexican culture is so notable in the Southwest that
products, and ways of doing business, effectively facil- geographers have predicted it will eventually become a
itated their maintenance of consumption patterns as- nation in its own right (Wright 1992).
sociated with Mexican culture in the United States. International trade between the United States and
Crossing borders is a central construct in this re- Mexico also influenced Mexican immigrants' consumer
search. The consumer acculturation process began with acculturation processes. Informants did not see U.S.
people crossing the border between the United States products for the first time on their arrival. They had
and Mexico. The border also served as a key construct become acquainted with American companies and
organizing informant narratives, as they spoke of their products in Mexico. Examples of stores included
lives on this side and that side of the border. Borders Woolworth's, McDonald's, Kentucky Fried Chicken;
influencing Mexican immigrant consumer accultura- products included Colgate toothpaste, Coca-Cola and
tion were not limited to the international border be- Pepsi sodas, Nike tennis shoes, and Levi's jeans. 14 Thus,
tween the United States and Mexico, however. Mexican in addition to stories about life in the United States,
immigrant informants also encountered boundaries in another important source of preimmigration contact
the United States in a number of aspects of their daily for informants was supplied by American companies
lives. Intranational borders in the form of subcultural doing business in Mexico.
differences were evident in the segregated neighbor- In addition, many of the stores informants had fre-
hoods where Mexican immigrants lived and at the mar- quented and products they had consumed in Mexico
ketplace where they shopped in the United States, in were readily available in the United States, stores such
the predominance of Spanish spoken at the various sites, as Dos Hermanos and Canada Shoes, Dimex stereo,
in informants' consumption patterns, and in their Orlandi Valuta monetary exchange house, Don Roberto
identities. jewelry, and products including Ariel and Roma laun-
dry detergent, Pefiafiel soda, Gamesa cookies, Herdez
salsa, and Tecate beer, to name a few. Mexican com-
Impact of Marketing
panies have found a successful extension of their do-
Recognizing the direct influence of marketers on mestic marketing strategies targeting Mexican people
consumer learning processes is a key contribution of and other Latinos in the United States. In doing so,
this research, as their influence has been limited to in- these companies helped institutionalize Mexican cul-
direct, mass-mediated influences in the literature ture in the United States.
(Moschis 1987). Marketers were critically important
agents of consumer acculturation, for marketers "saw" Impact of Immigration
Mexican people in the United States very well, even as
Mexican people have had and continue to have a
they were invisible in other contexts. Marketers were
significant impact on both the U.S. Latino market and
shown to impact Mexican immigrants' consumer ac-
on mainstream U.S. culture. The historical legacy of
culturation processes in two ways, via segmentation
immigration from Mexico, only partly the result of
strategies in the United States and international trade
Mexico's proximity, has had a tremendous impact on
between the United States and Mexico. By targeting
Latinos with market offerings associated with Mexican
culture, marketers facilitated the institutionalization of '3Mexican art, film, and music have garnered "crossover appeal,"
Mexican culture in the United States. Informants at the that is, support among mainstream U.S. consumers (Lacayo 1988),
and in 1991 salsa outsold ketchup in the United States for the first
field sites were met more than halfway by marketers
time (O'Neill 1992).
who provided particular assortments of merchandise
'4Many of these "American" products are increasingly assembled
and employed a Spanish-speaking workforce. However, in other countries, including Mexico, yet that does not seem to impact
marketers at the sites did not deal solely with merchan- attributions of their country of origin (Han 1989).
U.S. culture, especially in the Southwest. Immigration his model are required to reflect multiple cultural
and birth rates have fueled the development of a thriving groups, interrelations between them, and contestations
Latino consumer culture in the United States, and the of cultural presence and meanings in an increasingly
growing power and presence of the U.S. Latino con- global arena.
sumer subculture is changing the face of the U.S. mar- This research also sheds light on global dynamics of
ket. In southern California, where this work was con- cultural interpenetration (Andreason 1990). The dy-
ducted, Spanish-language station KLAX recently namics of intercultural contact and change observed in
earned Arbitron's highest rating for that area (Adelson my research were not satisfactorily addressed in terms
1993). of generalizations of either increasing cultural homo-
geneity (Levitt 1983) or increasing cultural heteroge-
Intercultural Contact and Change in the neity (Douglas and Wind 1987). Instead, dynamics of
intercultural contact and change occurred simulta-
Global Economy
neously in both directions and resulted in greater market
The ethnographic data did not support a clean na- similarities and differences. The presence of Latinos in
tional distinction within individual or collective con- the United States, together with marketing strategies
sumption patterns. Instead, a complex overdetermined targeting us, are changing the character of the U.S.
combination emerged for each individual and for each market.
product/service category, in which market offerings These alignments of national and subcultural do-
took on different meanings when situated relative to mains offer marketers attractive economies of scale, yet
the dual consumer cultures. Informants' consumption they entail a serious challenge to consumer researchers.
patterns were inherently eclectic, drawn from both U.S. While marketers have exhorted the benefits of tailoring
and Mexican cultures, and are more accurately viewed a product or service to a particular group of people on
as the result of rather complex dynamics of cultural the basis of their unique characteristics for over 20 years
influences, marketing strategies, and individual agency (Engel, Fiorillo, and Cayley 1971), the impact of these
than as culturally determined or determining. segmentation strategies on market structure is an im-
Mexican consumers not only crossed the border be- portant, yet underinvestigated, consumer research issue.
tween two nations, they were border consumers, as are Marketing segmentation strategies are not only predi-
many consumers in a global economy. People are will- cated on cultural differences; they can effectively re-
ing and able to move to enhance the quality of their produce and/or neutralize them. By targeting Latinos
lives, yet, as this work demonstrated, they experience in the United States, marketers helped bring down the
many trade-offs when doing so. In the global, post- border between the United States and Mexico. Yet these
modern era consumer behaviors increasingly presup- same marketing strategies also helped raise cultural
pose border crossings as consumers, products, and borders between Latinos and Anglos in the United
marketers transcend national boundaries (Featherstone States. Thus, the market fragmentation noted by post-
1990). Further, given the increasing occurrence of in- modern cultural theorists (Baudrillard 1988; Jameson
ternational trade, it is increasingly difficult to speak of 1983) is at least partly the result of marketers' zeal to
the United States and Mexico as independent, auton- target increasingly specialized market subsegments.
omous cultures. Further, developing international alliances of com-
More and more, consumer behavior involves ele- patible subcultural market segments and national mar-
ments of strategic cultural display within an environ- kets has been identified as the next frontier in marketing
ment characterized by interdependent, overlapping (Hassan et al. 1991). In the global economy, immigra-
cultural domains. For informants, consumer accultur- tion and trade pacts and alliances among nations call
ation entailed the performance of appropriate signs, into question our traditional unit of analysis, the in-
such as language, clothing, and foods, tailored to the dividual consumer in the nation-state. This research
particular situational contexts of their homes, work- points to the increasing importance of rethinking our
places, schools, and shopping centers. Thus, cultural categories as we investigate consumer behavior that
influences on consumers' behaviors were more than a transcends national borders, as well as our own discur-
link between informants' subjective cultural identities sive conventions.
and the cultural identities ascribed to various products In this sense, the persistence of the assimilation model
and services. Culture was a variable commodity that in studies of consumer behavior may disclose more
was exchanged-divorced from previous referential about researchers' assumptions concerning the nature
cultural domains and reattached to new ones. of cultural interpenetration and the important role the
These findings suggest important extensions to immigrant plays in our national ideology than it does
McCracken's (1986) theoretical framework of the about the nature and direction of change in immigrants'
movement of cultural meaning of consumer products. consumption patterns. Bhabha (1990) has argued that
As McCracken noted, consumption patterns are not forgetting the past is not a question of historical memory
ends in and of themselves, but take on meaning depen- but rather an intrinsic part of national discourse that
dent on their cultural context. However, extensions of functions to smooth over and render historically passe
conflicting ideas of national culture and the social culture, Mexican immigrants currently maintained a
cohesion of the many as one. Analogously, the assim- dominant presence here.
ilation model has been used in ways that have smoothed Finally, further research is also called for that inves-
over options other than assimilation and has rendered tigates other immigrant and subcultural groups in the
unintelligible the increasing heterogeneity of the U.S. United States and in other nations. Belk (1993) has ar-
market. By attending to similarities and differences gued that it is the framework, not the findings, that are
within and across national boundaries, this research generalizable in ethnographic research. Research on
disrupts totalizations of the U.S. market and interjects various consumer subcultures in multiple nations is
in their place a highly differentiated amalgam of con- crucial to the development of theory pertaining to the
sumer cultures that are geographically located and in- nexus of subcultural and international consumer be-
herently interrelational. havior. It may be that the legacy of postcolonial relations
Yet, even as consumer behavior becomes more remains in the form of global markets consisting of
global, its significance necessarily remains anchored in shared "cultural" traditions and other cultural influ-
terms of local codes (Friedman 1990). Particularities ences on consumers' behavior.
will continue to command attention because consump-
tion behaviors are unavoidably localized and culturally [Received June 1992. Revised September 1993.]
defined. Thus, situating our research within the partic-
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Week 4 Penaloza (1994)

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Atravesando Fronteras/Border Crossings: A Critical Ethnographic Exploration of the

Consumer Acculturation of Mexican Immigrants

This article critically examines the consumption experiences of Mexican immigrants

? 1994 by JOURNAL OF CONSUMER RESEARCH, Inc. * Vol. 21 0 June 1994

AN A PRIORI MODEL OF CONSUMER ACCULTURATION

Antecedent Consumer Consumer Consumer

3. Recency of _ Modeling Maintain

Identity amily Express l

aWhen they came to live in the United States.

Field Settings nia Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV), the county

A MOBILE GROCERY STORE

A SMALL CORNER MARKET

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ .s.g._. . . . ' ' , ,'. . .~ ,4 .

AN EMPIRICAL MODEL OF CONSUMER ACCULTURATION

Individual Consumer Consumer Consumer

1. Demographic Culture of Origin

l3. Recency of / | Movennent | p R

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