How Hispanics are reconciling their ethnic heritage with their U.S. identity, and how the U.S. cultural identity is in turn being shaped by the ethnic identity of Hispanics.

The most familiar signifiers of "Hispanic heritage" are the fairly obvious ones -- language, music, food, sports. But there are deeper elements of culture that relate to values which are not as overt. For example, Hispanic heritage is rooted in Natural Law theory. This under girds many of the cultural values of Hispanicity: things like hierarchy, paternalism, authoritarianism and corporatism. Collectivism and holistic views of the world are also part of this heritage. These underpinnings of Hispanic culture help explain some of its distinctiveness: more defined gender roles (machismo and marianismo), greater religiosity and belief in family and extended family as a collective, rather than individualistic, identity.

And these underlying values impact a host of world views across a wide variety of categories, shaping broader cultural norms in the U.S. We know that over 65 percent of U.S. Hispanics are millennials, making up nearly 20 percent of the total population of millennials in the U.S. Looking at millennial behaviors and beliefs we can see evidence of Hispanic cultural influence.

Amongst U.S. Hispanics themselves, we also see the process of cultural reconciliation happening: gender roles are changing, with more Hispanic women attending college with aspirations for careers. More Hispanics are breaking away from traditional religion. More Hispanics are having children outside of marriage, an anathema to traditional values. Spanish language is deeply valued, but wanes in the third generation. Music becomes a mash up, with stars like ALMA award winners Jennifer Lopez and Christina Aguilera. This reconciliation process will certainly continue, and as the Hispanic voting bloc becomes a greater force, find it way into political and social policy. This reconciliation comes with tensions, and trade offs for Hispanics and for U.S. cultural identity overall

Hispanic heritage is certainly about the people and their contributions. And it's certainly about the music, food and language. It's also about a reconciliation of one value system with another, the trade-offs this requires and produces within culture and the influence it has beyond.

Article retrieved from Huffingtonpost.com

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