Growing up and its price in three Puerto Rican subcultures

Wolf, Kathleen L.

essay

Growing up and its price in three Puerto Rican subcultures

portrait of a society : readings on puerto rican sociology • Rio Piedras • Published In 1972 • Pages: 233-275

By: Wolf, Kathleen L..

Abstract
This paper is concerned with the training of children in three different classes on the island of Puerto Rico. These three classes are rural farmers in the community of Manicaboa, sugar workers in Barrio Poyal, and the middle class of the small rural town of San José. The material presented, although not comparable in all aspects, shows the operation of very different psychological dynamics in subcultures found on the same small island (p. 233). This diversity, according to the author, indicates that there is no uniform Puerto Rican personality, despite the fact that cultural traditions are fairly uniform. In the investigation of the three classes, Wolf pays special attention to their respective psychological problems. This document contains a wealth of information on household composition and family relationships, sex status, infant and child care practices, socialization processes, pregnancy and childbirth, personality development, and various forms of psychological adjustment in the society.

Adjustment processes

Personality development