Hispanic Identity development vs black identity development - Essay Example

African American Identity development vs Hispanics identity development African Americans and Hispanics form two of the largest and most significant minorities in US. As their number increased over the years, both African Americans and Hispanics have gained more representation in the American media. The two groups disagree over generally modest matters. The two have their own identity development models. Identity development can be described as “a process of simultaneous reflection and observation, a process taking place on all levels of mental functioning in which the individual contemplates how others (society) perceive him and how he perceives himself” (Erickson cited in Hud-Aleem and Countryman, 2008).

This paper draws a comparison between the identity development of African Americans and Hispanics in US. Five elements were deemed fundamental to the identity development by Bernel and Knight (1993). The five elements are “ethnic self-identification, ethnic constancy, ethnic role behaviors, ethnic knowledge, and ethnic preferences and feelings” (Bernel and Knight, 1993, p. 106). The process commences when the Hispanics start to understand race as an important concept in the very early childhood.

It takes more cognitive ability to realize ethnicity as a concept, so this happens at a later stage. On the other hand, Ruiz (1990 cited in Trusty and Sandhu, 2002, p. 90) has divided the identity development process of the Hispanics into four stages, namely causal stage, consequential stage, working through stage, and successful resolution stage. For African Americans, a five stage model of identity development was proposed by Poston, the five stages being “personal identity, choice of group categorization; enmeshment/denial, appreciation, and integration” (Hud-Aleem and Countryman, 2008).

Although African Americans and Hispanics are generally in favor of each other, yet African Americans are more likely of the two to believe that they enjoy good terms with Hispanics. Nearly half of the African Americans believe that the massive in-pour of immigrants into US has reduced the employment opportunities for them whereas the majority of Hispanics think otherwise. African Americans show more enthusiasm towards the residential integration than Hispanics do. More African Americans than Hispanics think that there should be integration of white Americans and the minorities in the neighborhoods.

African Americans and Hispanics are very different from each other in looks, with the former being on the much darker side of the scale of color than the latter. African Americans and Hispanics also differ in their perspectives on several issues including racial discrimination. African Americans generally hold the view that racial discrimination against them was more widespread in the past than it is now, yet many of them feel that with the passage of time, circumstances have changed for them for the worse in many areas including employment and housing.

However, the two minority groups are similar in the fact that they are two of the most powerful minorities in US. Analysis of the identity development of African Americans and Hispanics suggests that the former are more tolerant and pro-integration in every aspect of the culture as compared to the latter. This is in spite of the fact that African Americans have historically been more exposed to racism and are still victimized in such areas as residence and employment as compared to the Hispanics.

References:Bernel, M. E., and Knight, G. P. (1993). Ethnic identity: formation and transmission among Hispanics and other minorities. USA: State University of New York. Hud-Aleem, R., and Countryman, J. (2008). Biracial Identity Development and Recommendations in Therapy. Psychiatry (Edgmont). 5(11): 37–44. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2695719/. Trusty, J., and Sandhu, D. S. (2002). Multicultural counseling: context, theory and practice, and competence. NY: Nova Science Publishers.