The reconstruction of Latino ethnic identity in northern countries: USA and Sweden

The importance of the topic is well established in the research community and in public opinion, due to the political implications of ethnicity, ethnic identity and identity policies in the contemporary social agenda. We readily observe the growth of ethnic intolerance, xenophobia, cleansing, ethnocide, discrimination and violence and walls built in border areas to stop unwanted immigration in the name of “national security.” In this new century, we witness racist murder with impunity, criminalization and deportation of Roma people, along other manifestations of ethnic intolerance and the growth of extreme rightist groups, that exert political influence much beyond their numbers in the European political agenda. A socio-political development reminiscent of older forms of white populism and racism, today exemplified by the Tea Party in the US and the so-called “Swedish Democrats” in Sweden, with a primary focus on “illegal aliens” being blamed as the main cause of criminality, street violence and public insecurity. Harsher measures are taken against national minorities, immigrants and political refugees with darker phenotype and/or islamic religious/cultural affiliation. Social policies and institutional practices once again are defined in terms of the “color” and ethnic lines. These conditions structurally permeate and stratify social opportunities and quality of life for ethnic minority group members along cleavages of social inequality and exclusion (apartheid-like): different and unequal. US and Swedish societies are selected as the national contexts for the present study of latino identity, that historically reproduce unequal patterns of differential access and exposure to structural conditions of material and subjective discrimination. “Anglos”, “Swedes” and “Latinos” are the significant segments of the population in this study. Significantly, American and Swedish Latinos identify and report repeated experiences/perceptions of ethnic discrimination as a main factor explaining their own ethnic identity process.