Latinos in the U.S. Political System: Two-Tiered Pluralism.By Rodney E. Hero. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1992. 256 p. $49.95.Although the 1980's has often been characterized as the decade of the "Hispanic," this period has produced an almost total absence of academic research on this minority population within the discipline of political science. It is therefore of great significance that Rodney Hero's Latinos in the U.S. Political System, has been published by a major university press. The central purpose of this book appears to be twofold. One is to expand our knowledge and understanding of Latinos as participants (actual and potential) in the American political system and two, the explicit attempt to place this study within the mainstream of political science pluralist democratic theory. Hero draws our attention to the Latino population (Mexican American, Puerto Rican, and Cuban) by focusing on the ever changing social, economic and political problems of Latinos at the local, state and national level. Throughout the book Hero examines the real and potential impact that Latinos have on the major institutions (e.g., political parties, the congress, presidency, and courts) of the political system and major public policy issues (education, employment and language policy). The strength of the book lies in the last two chapters of the book where Hero draws our attention to the limitations of dominant group theories of American politics (pluralist and elite theory, as well as the theory of internal colonialism) in explaining Latino politics and the lack of visibility that Latino politics receives from scholars within the discipline of political science. Unfortunately the book is not without it's weaknesses. Two major problems concern the organization of the book and the theoretical chapter. Hero begins the book with two introductory chapters. The first chapter discusses basic issues in the study of latino politics such as individual and group identity and assimilation. The second chapter examines in a rather broad and unstructured fashion three theories of group politics (pluralism, elite theory and internal colonialism) and mobilization. The linkage between these two introductory chapters is not very clear and these discussions do little to increase our understanding of the role that Latinos play in the American political system. This problem is partly a function of the fact that Hero does not introduce his own interpretations of Latino politics until the very last chapter. Clearly this theoretical chapter on what Hero calls "two-tiered pluralism" should have been placed as an early chapter in the book. The second problem involves the theoretical chapter on "two-tiered pluralism." This chapter does not add much to the body of theory which the author finds so unsatisfactory as an explanation of Latino politics. This modified theory of pluralism which Hero calls "two-tiered pluralism" unfortunately falls short of Hero's own challenge to scholars at the beginning of his book to provide a useful explanation of Latino politics. Perhaps then the greatest contribution this book has to offer to the subfield of minority politics may lie not so much in the questions Hero is able to answer but rather the questions Hero raises concerning the lack of mainstream theory to adequately explain Latino politics. It may well be the time for American scholars of minority politics to consider incorporating theories of political economy. Studies which incorporate the American minority experiences within the context of global ethnic conflicts (both within countries and regions as well as those which (political boundaries) may produce more adequate theoretical frameworks to explain the political experiences of American minorities by comparing the ways in which American minority groups politics are similar and/or different from other ethnic group experiences globally.
Manuel Avalos |