Informal Mentors and Role Models in the Lives of Urban Mexican‐Origin Adolescents

Abstract

This article draws on a larger study investigating the social networks and help-seeking practices of Mexican-origin youth in San Diego, California. Th authors present the subset of findings concerning adult, nonfamily informa mentors and role models. Using survey data, interviews, and a critical ethno graphic perspective grounded in sociological theory, the article examines pa ticipating adolescents' critical understandings of these significant figures i their lives, the rare and fortuitous nature of these relationships, and their empowering influence in the lives of urban, low-income, immigrant Latin youth. Linkages to social capital and developmental theories are offered. I've always been attracted to find somebody who talks about how to make itIf I see a [chance] to learn from the person, I'll go for it, you know what I mean? Whether I'm gonna look stupid by asking stupid questions or whatever. But as long as I can get it into my head that I can make it. You know, no matter how hard it's been, no matter how hard it's gonna be, I can still make it. I've met a lot of people, from the university, Mexicans, homeboys tambien [also], you know, that have made it. People like that, you know, have influenced me. They get the point across.-Salvador Baca, high school senior, speaking of his attraction to community members who have overcome obstacles to attain success. Volume 34,2003 role in helping to determine their overall well-being and future life chances. For youth from working-class ethnic minority communities, these agents often play a decisive role in guiding them away from risk factors and into productive adulthood. Apart from the contributions of these individual agents, the reality today is that public and private institutions such as the school, community organizations, commercial centers, religious institutions, the media, social service agencies, employment sites, and the police and judicial systems, also participate and share in the adolescent socialization process. The recognition that adolescents are socialized in large part by community members and institutions is by no means recent. In the 1950s, social scientists argued that due to rapid social and technological change, parental interests, attitudes, belief systems, and social competencies had decreasing functional value for adolescents who must meet the challenges of this new age (Riesman 1950:58-59). Class and racial stratification compound this problem for those among the lower classes striving for upward mobility. As Albert Bandura (1969:248) asserted, "[lowerstatus] parents themselves cannot provide satisfactory models for classtyped habits of speech, customs, social skills, and attitudes that are required for successful upward mobility," although parents still play a decisive role in "the mobility process by encouraging and supporting high educational aspirations. Anthropology & Education Quarterly " Yet, while researchers have relied on this view to explain privilege within middle-class communities (Ianni 1998), as well as societal exclusion...

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