Latino Culture is Growing Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Latino Culture is Growing - Research Paper Example Latino culture is certainly changing, but it is the aim of this essay to provide evidence that Latino culture is growing within the United States and as such is becoming more influential and powerful than ever before. The hypothesis of this paper is that the literature will support the notion that Latino culture is growing within the United States, and as such the operational definition will seek to define the statement above by describing the number of Latin Americans in the United States and the areas in which their culture is growing. We will define the weight of the Latin American culture in terms of number and evidence provided within the literature that it is becoming more and more influential in all areas of cultural interest. According to our hypothesis, Latino culture is growing and as such we will expect the tests we do (in this case measuring qualitative and quantitative evidence for the growth of Latino culture) to support this, providing us with an operational definition . To understand the growth of Latino culture, it is important to understand what exactly comprises it. Latino culture at its most basic level involves anything cultural that can be found predominantly amongst those within the Latin American ethnic group. It also generally refers to movements that have come from Latin America directly, or modern adaptations of this. For example, Roman Catholicism is generally thought to be a large part of Latin American culture (Phol, 1998). Music is found within all cultures, and Latino culture is no different. Latino music generally refers to music made by those of a Latin American origin, whether it be traditional forms such as salsa or adaptations of more modern American trends such as hip-hop or rock music with a distinctly Latin flavour, such as involving traditional rhythms or singing in Spanish. Language is often associated with culture too, and we will look at how the Spanish language is the most important growing language in the United Stat es and how Spanglish (a fusion of Spanish and English) is becoming more common amongst Latin American and Anglo American teens. It is hard with Latino culture, as with any culture, to pin down exactly what makes it unique, as culture changes so rapidly. However, it is safe to assume that Latino culture can be attributed to those of Latin American origin and as such most of the cultural elements discussed within this essay will be those directly formed under the influence of people of this ethnic origin. It is widely recognised that Latino culture is growing, particularly within adolescent groups. Latino teenagers now have more spending power than Anglo teens, spending over $320 a month, which is 4% more than the average American teenager (Stapinski, 1999). This means that advertising companies have had to adapt and begin to target Latino adolescents to improve profit margins, and new advertising companies such as Lazos Latinos have started to appear, primarily targeting the Latino Y outh. With this increased targeted advertising, more elements of Latino culture have been reaching a wider audience, meaning that Anglo teenagers pick up on the trends that are currently defining Latino culture and as such the trends are spreading to a wider