ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the historical development of U.S. Latinx identity developed through pre-Internet communication technologies. The construction of identity occurred in three primary thematic areas: the minimization of difference, denationalization, and racialization. Many of these socialization processes are intertwined and influence each other. Regardless, the end goal is the same—creating the “new Latino.” That is—an identity well suited to fit into mainstream multiculturalism as a consumer subject. These subjects are then interpellated into political subjects. Certain characteristics of Latinx are selected as salient and used to frame the problem-mediated Latinx practices. The framework developed in this chapter is used to analyze the mobilization of the Latinx polity through digital technologies by national Latinx organizations and mass media coverage of Latinx voters.
