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Community Well-Being: Trends in California's Rural Communities Michigan State University
Rural California is becoming increasingly Latino [1]. At the same time, the economic well-being of California's agricultural communities is becoming increasingly defined by the race and ethnicity of residents. A number of studies have noted that communities with high concentrations of Latinos tend to have greater economic and social problems. [2] Most studies have focused on immigration from Mexico and other parts of Latin America as the cause of both the increasing concentration of Latinos, and decreasing community well-being. However, these studies have neglected the concurrent changes that are occurring with the non-Latino white population. Therefore, this paper examines both the out-migration of non-Hispanic whites and the in-migration of Latinos in rural California, to better understand the relationship between ethnicity and the economic well-being of California's rural communities. The first part of the paper uses a database of 126 rural California communities to compare and contrast demographic changes (over 1980-90) in Latino and non-Latino population, and to examine the degree to which White out-migration and Latino in-migration correlate with community socio-economic indicators. The second part of the paper uses in-depth qualitative data to examine several communities in the San Joaquin valley. Through analysis of community social capital, intergroup conflict and cooperation, and local perceptions of economic opportunities, we examine some of the dynamics underlying the broader migration, settlement, and economic trends discussed in the first part of the paper.
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