Social hierarchy in local Spanish-language print media: The discursive representation of Latino social actors in the United States

Abstract

This study critically examines the discursive construction of social hierarchy in local Spanish-language print media with the goal of determining the extent to which these representations challenge those found in the mainstream media. It focuses on the ways in which four linguistic and two sociosemantic constructs represent Latino social actors in local Spanish-language print media. It finds two patterns in the representation of Latino social actors, each of which leads to the establishment of a particular social hierarchy. The first pattern reifies a traditional Us/Them hierarchy by representing Latinos as subordinate social actors to Anglo Americans. The second pattern represents Latinos as equal or dominant to Anglo Americans and thus levels or reverses the traditional Us/Them hierarchy. The latter pattern is indicative of the potential for local Spanish-language print media to challenge the putative subordinate position of Latinos in the United States.