The myth of macho dominance in decision making within Mexican and Chicano families.

PIP: The myth concerning Hispanic family life which prevails in the social science literature can best be summarized by abbreviated quotations attributed to Alvirez and Bean. The Mexican or Chicano husband is a macho autocrat who rules as "absolute head of the family with full authority over the wife and children" where "all major decisions are his responsibility." Domination by husbands in marriage is logically consistent with their wives' submissivesness accompanied by passive acceptance of the future, strong religious beliefs, and a tendency to reside in the temporal present. The myth is also deeply imbedded in the social pathology model: differences between Hispanics and Anglos are assumed to reflect negatively on Hispanics. The myth, it should be noted, is seldom subjected to the scrutiny of empirical inquiry. The review of 4 studies on both Mexican and Chicano samples fails to support the notion of male dominance in marital desision making. Refutation of the hypothesis of masculine dominance in marital decision making calls other components of the myth into question. Research among Hispanics on alledged female submissiveness, fatalism, eligiosity, and temporal perspective are called for. More sophisicated designs involving experimental manipulations are needed. Experimental studies on the process of decision making, actual behaviors involved in economic or budgetary negotiations, and parental interaction around childrearing would also be of interest. While the data reviewed may suggest that Hispanic males may behave differently from nonHispanic males in their family and marital lives, the behavior is not in the inappropriate fashion suggested by the myth with its strong connotations of social deviance. Additional research is recommended among Hispanics on sex role behavior among both men and women, with special emphasis on how it influences family life and marriage.^ieng