Drawing on surveys and in-depth interviews, this book examines the social and economic relations of first-generation Latino entrepreneurs. Verdaguer explores social patterns between and within groups, situating immigrant entrepreneurship within concrete geographical, demographic and historical spaces. Her study not only reveals that Latinos' strategies for access to business ownership and for business development are cut across class, ethnic and gender lines, but also that immigrants' options, practices, and social spaces remain largely shaped by patriarchal gender relations within the immigrant family, community and economy. This book is a necessary addition to the literature on immigration, class, gender relations, and the intersectionality of these issues.

Reviews

"quite appreciable is her contribution to a more nuanced understanding of ethnic minority entrepreneurship, both empirically sound and sensible to the selective and changing ways in which it is structurally and relationally embedded…"

—Paolo Poccagni, University of Trento, Sociologica

Contents

1. Latino Entrepreneurship Reconsidered: An Overview of the Study 2. Theorizing Immigrant Entrepreneurship 3. Divergent Latino Immigrant Stories: Salvadorans and Peruvians in America 4. The Washington Area Opportunity Structure and Latino Entrepreneurs 5. Class Resources, Group Cohesion and Business Strategies 6. Ethnicity and Business Strategies 7. Gender and Resource Mobilization Strategies 8. Social Networks, Social Capital and Embeddedness 9. Conclusion: The Social Bases and Consequences of Latino Entrepreneurship. Appendix A: Research Instruments. Appendix B: Study Participants Data.

Author Bio

María Eugenia Verdaguer is a Program Officer for the Fulbright Program, Western Hemisphere Programs Branch, working in the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) for the U.S. Department of State.