Today the Pew Hispanic Center released a report about Latinos and identity named “When Labels Don’t Fit: Hispanics and Their Views of Identity.” They also sent out this email summarizing the data that they found.

Nearly four decades after the United States government mandated the use of the terms “Hispanic” or “Latino” to categorize Americans who trace their roots to Spanish-speaking countries, a new nationwide survey of Hispanic adults finds that these terms still haven’t been fully embraced by Hispanics themselves. A majority (51%) say they most often identify themselves by their family’s country of origin; just 24% say they prefer a pan-ethnic label.

Moreover, by a ratio of more than two-to-one (69% versus 29%), survey respondents say that the more than 50 million Latinos in the U.S. have many different cultures rather than a shared common culture. Respondents do, however, express a strong, shared connection to the Spanish language. More than eight-in-ten (82%) Latino adults say they speak Spanish, and nearly all (95%) say it is important for future generations to continue to do so.

Hispanics are also divided over how much of a common identity they share with other Americans. About half (47%) say they consider themselves to be very different from the typical American. And just one-in-five (21%) say they use the term “American” most often to describe their identity. On these two measures, U.S.-born Hispanics (who now make up 48% of Hispanic adults in the country) express a stronger sense of affinity with other Americans and America than do immigrant Hispanics.

The survey finds that, regardless of where they were born, large majorities of Latinos say that life in the U.S. is better than in their family’s country of origin. Also, nearly nine-in-ten (87%) say it is important for immigrant Hispanics to learn English in order to succeed in the U.S.

This report explores Latinos’ attitudes about their identity, including race; their language usage patterns; their core values; and their views about the U.S. and their families’ country of origin. It is based on findings from a national bilingual survey of 1,220 Hispanic adults conducted Nov. 9 through Dec. 7, 2011, by the Pew Hispanic Center, a project of the Pew Research Center.

In addition, about 51 percent of people surveyed use their country of origin to identify themselves. This I can understand, especially if you hang out with different Latinos. In a general term, I have always felt that using Latino was the way to go. But according to this study done, more people prefer the term Hispanic to Latino (33 vs. 14 percent).

We are currently in an influx of paying attention to Latinos in the United States. This typically comes in waves. First it was the Latino Boom with Ricky Martin’s music when people realized we were here, then it was the immigration crisis and now it’s the immense population boom from the Census statistics. We’re also in the midst of a presidential election that is more potently discriminatory in various fashions and our community is being used to scare them straight…or crazy: “If you don’t sound appealing to Latinos…”

This study only goes to show what Latinos in the community have been saying all along: We can’t be pigeon-holed. We can’t be categorized. We’re an intelligent group of people, immigrants or native born, and we know what we like and what we don’t. The one piece that I found exceptionally important in this study was the fact that 95 percent of those surveyed felt that it’s important to keep Spanish going in future generations. On top of that, 82 percent of adults surveyed say they speak Spanish. Another thing we’ve said repeatedly: WE’RE BILINGUAL. I feel a sense of warm to finally see numbers portraying our beliefs. Makes me see for a fact that we weren’t just making it all up.

Regardless, the dense studies of the changing Latino demographic are emerging left and right. People have written about it for years, but now we have studies, numbers and statistics. Marketers, corporations and companies are still trying to grasp the meaning of all of this and in a way, so are we. As someone who fits into these studies, I find myself a bit confused in attempting to understand myself from an outsiders perspective. But nonetheless, the one main point that I draw from all of this is that I know what they’re talking about because I’m living it and they’re studying me.

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