Latinas/os in the United States Changing the Face of Amrica [Hardcover]

The Latina/o population in the United States has become the largest minority group in the nation. Latinas/os are a mosaic of people, representing different nationalities and religions as well as different levels of education and income. This edited volume uses a multidisciplinary approach to document how Latinas and Latinos have changed and continue to change the face of America. It also includes critical methodological and theoretical information related to the study of the Latino/a population in the United States.

Clara E. Rodr?guez As is befitting a book on Latinas/os at the start of the 21st century, the chapters in this volume reflect the contemporary panorama of Latinas/os in the United States. Today, Latinas/os are the largest minority group. They accounted for 12. 5% of the total U. S. population in the last decennial census; recent estimates sho wed the Hispanic population to be 41. 3 million as of July 1 1, 2004, or 14% of the nations total population. However, this estimate does not include the 3. 9 million residents of Puerto Rico, who are also U. S. citizens and would raise the total to 2 45. 2 million. This would make the U. S. population of Latinos the second-largest Spanish-origin population in the hemisphere, after Mexico. The growth of this population since 1980 has been dramatic. Hispanics/Latinos grew more than seven times faster than the population of the nation as a whole, increasing by half, whereas the white (non-Hispanic) population increased by only 6% between 1980 and 1990 (U. S. Bureau of the Census, 1991, Table 1; U. S. Bureau of the Census, 1993, p. 2). In the 1990s, the Hispanic population increased 58%. Moreover, between 2003 and 2004, one of every two people added to 3 the nations population was Hispanic/Latino. Consequently, not only are Latinos a substantial part of the U. S. population, but they account for half its population growth.Theoretical And Methodological Issues Of Latina/O Research.- Theoretical and Ml³G