- Philip Zeidman – Second Blog Post in Representing Adolescence
Well, for my blog this time, I’ve sort of decided to make a connection with my major, which would be political science. Thinking about this, a very common topic right now in the political sphere is race, as almost it always has been. While history has categorically mistreated People of Color, minorities, native peoples, etc…; the purpose of this blog post is to show some data about the decline white domination in voting population demographics and social construction. In examining some of this data, and drawing contrast from, “The House on Mango Street,” one is able to see how far society has come since the publication of the novel’s inside view into immigration, and experiences as a migrant.
A main concept in demographic politics is mapping the race or nationality of specific peoples, and tailoring policy to serve said peoples. There is data gathered from official votes, census areas, and state records regarding the racial construction of different voting chapters. As the trends conclude, America will soon become a, “majority-minority,” nation. This means the combination of different ethnic groups in the U.S. will surpass the current white majority. Analysts predict there will be a crossing into this new majority-minority construction by 2045, and that there will be perhaps a 74% minority total population by 2060 (Frey, “The US Will Become ‘Minority White’.)
The book, House on Mango Street follows Esperanza, who lives in a generally less fortunate, and almost fully immigrant neighborhood. While her ultimate goal was to get out of her childhood neighborhood, she struggles with her identity, and her role in home and community. In the Hipanic Quarter of Chicago demographics have changed. All the while there has been more acceptance of minority culture, and progressive political atmosphere.
Tables –
To show this ideal a chart is really a great descriptive tool. I’ve chosen one of particular interest. This chart shows over time the racial diversity statistics of Chicago by age. This means the makeup of different, “slices of time.” As can be seen clearly, the proportion of the white population of chicago has decreased overtime. This is because the older age groups are more white populated than the most age group. And so this shows the demographic condition of Chicago.
Why is this important? This is important, specifically for the political sphere, because these numbers represent people, and localities, of which their vote can charter their preferences. In short, this matters because politicians and those who model and structure the city of Chicago. Additionally as a trend for the modern era, the representation for local offices, and other offices reflect how much stake minority groups have on a scale larger than these smaller communities such as Mango Street.
As mentioned there are other charts that give some implications of how well off people in these minority rich areas are. Which in itself will show the modern equivalent to the conditions Esperanza faced in the The House on Mango Street.
Economics matter. A main storyline in the book is the struggle between The Mango Street community and poverty in some sorts. These next two charts are meant to sort of paint a story, where the number of people who previously were like Esperanza experiencing poverty are becoming less. The next graph shows the distribution of household income by race.
Tables from the Chicago Metro Data Collections, left ( overall income distribution by race), right (same but normalized to fit 100% of population, right)
Left – “Household Income in the Chicago Area (Metro Area).
Right – Race and Ethnicity in the Chicago Area (Metro Area)
As can be seen there is disparity in the wages of the highest earners, being that they are a majority white, implying that there is still significant economic disadvantage still persisting to this day in minority communities. This would seem to go against the idea of progression of her situation into the modern era. The question of how things have changed since the timing of Mango Street. However the second chart, on the right shows the adjusted rates making each ethnic characteristic group equaled to 100%. This mena normalizing the chart to get real adjusted income for population makeup. In this graph, the chart is near up and down, where the stake for the population majority is nearly no different than the minority-majority of Chicago. This would lead one to conclude the distribution of wealth in Chicago has been getting better. Nobody kept this sort of data well back in the 60’s and so there is no comparative chart exactly, but imaging the same chart, but the blue expands more to the upper section and the minority groups to the lower. Additionally, in a perfect egalitarian society the chart would make perfectly parallel lines. This graph is not as far from that idealism. This shows there is more market share for minorities then there has likely ever been, meaning better living conditions for minority communities.
Finally, through the use of these graphics I hoped to break down some of the changing demographics, and economic changes that are going on in Chicago. As Minority presence faces less social stigma, becoming the majority face of Chicago. Additionally, wealth distribution and tech expansion has helped to stabilize income in these potentially former Mango Street-esk communities.
(P.S) – Author’s note – I Study political science and econ, sorry if this is boring, but it’s super relevant. This is the only writing i know 😦
Bibliography
Cisneros, Sandra. The House on Mango Street: Active Reading Guide (Sandra Cisneros). Sundance Publishers & Distributors, 1995.
“Household Income in the Chicago Area (Metro Area).” The Demographic Statistical Atlas of the United States – Statistical Atlas, 2020, statisticalatlas.com/metro-area/Illinois/Chicago/Household-Income.
“Race and Ethnicity in the Chicago Area (Metro Area).” The Demographic Statistical Atlas of the United States – Statistical Atlas, 2020, statisticalatlas.com/metro-area/Illinois/Chicago/Race-and-Ethnicity. Frey, William H. “The US Will Become ‘Minority White’ in 2045, Census Projects.” Brookings, Brookings, 10 Sept. 2018,
Representing Adolescence @ Pitt 