Choosing issues, choosing sides: constructing identities in Mexican-American social movement organizations

Abstract

This essay offers a conceptual framework with which one can understand the process of identity formation in minority social movement organizations. It is argued that identities are configurations of ethnic symbols, group experiences and history arranged and reinterpreted for a specific political purpose. It is further argued that organizationally generated identities can be studied by examining the positions they take in support of or in opposition to existing social and economic structures. Finally, this article develops a theoretically informed model of identity formation in Mexican-American organizations that centres on their interpretation of three interlocking but distinct issues: racial discrimination, economic disadvantage and cultural hegemony.

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