THE PETITE BOURGEOISIE LATINO GAY IMMIGRANT

One of the mobility patterns of immigrants and groups living on the margins of given communities is to fit within the roles set up by the petite bourgeoisie in capitalist societies; though, there are intellectuals arguing that this form of social and economic stratification is declining, since there is no possible regeneration of the small business sector of western economies. It’s economic significance with respect to the capacity of the stratum to provide employment, to generate new jobs, and to stimulate innovation is being replaced by the new technological order and its related views of the world as well, and, to some extent, by mores and cultural dynamics brought about by immigrants moving into other countries and by civil rights legislations shaping who gets in or not into the established social order. 

The petite bourgeoisie is is still everywhere, a socially distinctive and persistent element in capitalist societies. and is an important repository of ideas and sentiments supportive of a given community. What differs from one society to another is who are the groups that will be accepted within the circles that control the particular petite bourgeoisie at some point in time and space. Several cases in New York City can serve to illustrate this point (a few were already described in previous entries in this blog). 

Having known this premise, a gay Puerto Rican man who speaks thick accented English with ideas on the margins regarding social values, recognized that it would have been suicidal to try to become part of some suburban middle calls USA community. A white American gay man who happens to be a banker or lawyer or doctor would have not faced the same difficulties when integrating within such suburban communities. 

An acquaintance from a South American country, a gay man in his late fifties, gave up on all his Puerto Rican friends who had helped him when he first arrived in the USA, and once established with a good job and apartment, only socialized with white middle class gay men, until -to his bewilderment, and never expecting the Trumpian mentality to wash over the country-, he was thrown off balance, when the white friends found out that he was not “legal” and they stopped seeing him. Though he saw himself as a member of his Andean country bourgeoisie, his perception did not prepare him to comprehend that these white gay men also respond to the social mores ruling the petite bourgeoisie view of the world in the USA and for them, he was not only a “person of color” but "illegal".  

It is no accident that the current government in Washington D. C. is blocking immigrants from South of the Border while setting up rules that would encourage immigrants from Europe. It would certainly be easier for the latter ones to be accepted by the petite bourgeoisie in the USA, but if this class is slowly disappearing, then what? Makes no difference, “race” is still a determining factor.