The Puerto Rican Community in Hartford :: Culture Puerto Rico Spanish Essays

The Puerto Rican Community in Hartford Social Mobility is a hard term to define because it can be interpreted in an infinite amount of ways. My group has the responsibility of reporting how the Puerto Rican community in Hartford has evolved or changed in the past eighteen years. We are using a special section produced by the Hartford Current as our starting point. From there we are suppose to document how, if at all, the idea of transnational identity and mobility for Hartford’s Puerto Ricans has changed. I am writing about social mobility because my group is interested in knowing if in fact the idea of moving up on the social ladder is a motivation for Puerto Ricans to move to Hartford. Sal Enriquez has already shown that Puerto Ricans have moved to Hartford in the hopes of attaining economic success but what about social success? Before an answer can be provided I must try and define what social mobility is. In the context of this paper social mobility is the ability or opportunity for people within a certain to move up or down. I will assume that those that we are discussing are trying to move up, and not down in social class. It might be argued that social class ascension is directly related to economic success. If one wants to move up the social ladder then they first must move up the economic ladder. Since Puerto Ricans travel to the United States to attain economic stability are they also looking for social stability or improvement? There is no clear answer to this question. There are some Puerto Ricans in Hartford who have migrated so that they can maintain their social class standing. One student here at Trinity College is a good example of such mobility. Luigi Dessy a junior, engineering major, and active participant in school activities says that he came here for a good education and new experiences. He is appreciative of the fact that he has been able to attend private schools his whole life.