Quien Es El Mas Macho?: A Comparison of Day Laborers and Chicano Men

This study examined whether the ideology of machismo is essentially a class-based structural phenomenon found primarily among poor and uneducated, working-class immigrant Latino men or an endemic cultural trait and value. We compared the responses on the Mirandé Sex Role Inventory (MSRI), a measure of traditional gender roles, of a sample of Day Laborer (DLG), immigrant men (N = 37) who work in the secondary labor market in menial, low-wage jobs with those of more educated, largely nonimmigrant, men (N = 105)¹ who are part of the primary labor market group (PLG) and have higher-wage stable jobs. DLG consistently scored higher on the Traditionalism items on the MSRI than the PLG sample and endorsed traditional beliefs that restrict women’s behavior and/or activities and reinforce the double sexual standard but results of separate factor analyses conducted with two or three components revealed considerable overlap and consistency in the two samples on the various components of the MSRI, particularly the Traditionalism Factor. The diversity of responses between the two samples suggests that there is not one but a wide range and variety of Latino masculinities.