ABSTRACT
Juanita Rodriguez is a fifty-nine-year-old “older” Mexican American who has been involved in community affairs. Perhaps the most important factor involving the Mexican-American leaders in Port City, is their homogeneity. These leaders have been representing the community, but it is a heterogeneous population, comprising “older” and “younger” segments each of which exhibits heterogeneous problems. Although some distinct political differences among the Mexican-American leaders do surface when one listens to them, it is the investigator’s opinion that the outcome of any political action by Mexican Americans in Port City is predictable. Ben Garza is a community leader who is somewhat of an enigma to the community. He is in his late thirties, was born and reared in Port City, and is a “charter” member of one of the four influential Mexican-American families. One is impressed by the limits on personal power created through the complex interaction of factors such as those described for Mexican-American leadership in Port City.
