Mainstreet USA revisited

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to examine the nature of market politics in a Latino/a community in Southern California, USA.

Design/methodology/approach

Research methods combine orignial ethnographic and historical work with secondary sources on marketing and political activities in their relation to consumption.

Findings

Findings highlight conflicts brought about by the burgeoning development of the consumer market for Mexican immigrants in the area, as proponents of conventional industrial and residential development projects clash with Latino/a consumers, Latino/a and Asian buisnessmen and women, and community activists.

Research limitations/implications

A partial view of Latino community is provided that stems from the treatment of consumer culture as fragmented, contradictory, and increasingly mediated by marketing activity and social relations.

Practical implications

Implications strive to re‐imagine Latino/a community and develop policy directives by considering the place of consumption, labor, and capital, and by taking into account the fluid nature of identity, the porous and dynamic bounds of community, and in/formal structures of political power.

Originality/value

This research contributes to our understanding of social relations between mainstream and minority groups as played out in marketing activity and consumer culture. It should prove valuable to academics, policy analysts, and community activists.

Citation

Penaloza, L. (2007), "Mainstreet USA revisited", International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, Vol. 27 No. 5/6, pp. 234-249. https://doi.org/10.1108/01443330710757267