the chicano network

Social Networks. If you’re reading blogs you probably have heard of them. The furor around the media would seem to indicate that they are about the revolutionize the ways of societies. They are correct, except their observation is a few decades late. In fact, the social networks I’m interested in don’t even need the Web.

While reading “The Immigration Equation” by Roger Lowenstein published in The New York Times Magazine calls for many comments to be made, its central argument around the economics of immigration is probably a much better target for other blogs with a political agenda. However, there were a number of hard facts that I found very interesting to be discussed here.

As recently as 1970, the U.S. had fewer than one million Mexicans, almost all of them in Texas and California. The U.S. did bring Mexican braceros to work on farms during the 1940’s, 50’s and 60’s. The program was terminated in 1964, and immigration officials immediately noticed a sharp rise in illicit border crossings [...] there was a catalytic effect – so many Mexicans settled [in the U.S.] that it became easier for more Mexicans to follow [...] with 12 million people born in Mexico now dispersed around the U.S., information about job-market conditions filters back to Mexico with remarkable speed.

You have to be impressed with the fact that this social network is capable of recruiting over half a million immigrants per year in a way that most of them will be able to make a living for a good season. Some of them will migrate with the intention of staying, but the majority will only commit to a short season with the objective of making some money that they can send home. One needs only to look at the statistics around remittances to Mexico to confirm this fact. The general pattern of migration is consistent with my previous observation about the types of migrants: explorers & itinerats. With the vast majority of immigration today being of the second type.

Even more interesting is the demographic composition of the network. Judging by their average income ($22,300 compared to $37,000 of all immigrants) we can assume that they are typically under educated. A day in L.A. will be sufficient to confirm that most low-income jobs are being done by Mexicans. And even then, their current earnings are probably much better of what they could aspire to make back home, which brings me to the key point: they are mostly computer illiterate. And yet, they are capable of running such an efficient social network. They rely on weekly phone calls made to their homes in Mexico, to their families spreading the word around town about the journeys of those up north and a nothing-to-lose attitude of those who are new to the network.

The main argument to be made is that for a social network to be efficient, it must rely not on technology but on cultural predisposition. Mexicans have a strong culture of bonding, often through very large and extended families, but also among neighbors. It’s a characteristic cultural behavior that has shaped this race for ages and will influence the way our societies evolve.