Social Class Distinctions and the Latino Elite

Abstract

Chapter 4 goes beyond Osceola County and the Buenaventura Lakes suburb to document the formation of a “Latino elite,” a community of professionals and entrepreneurs brought together by business networking organizations for Latinos. The chapter focuses on the elite spaces that are now being constructed, and these are the spaces of social clubs, golf courses, and business networking groups where the formation of a Latino upper class is now occurring. Drawing on the work of Pierre Bourdieu, the ethnographic vignettes throughout the chapter show how Puerto Ricans and other Latinos formulate, perform, and embody their social class positions, and the ways they perpetuate these differences through lifestyle choices and by articulating class based distinctions. Through this examination the reader will see how the everyday lives of individuals are shaped by their class positions and the distinctions that are made, consciously and unconsciously, thereby fostering a polarized Latino population. Ultimately, this chapter reveals how the exclusivity and elitism of the Latino upper class contrasts with the poverty, struggles, and criminalization experienced by the low-skilled, service sector labor force.