As is the case with much of culture, the collective view of family has deep histori-
cal roots. Regarding Mexico, for example, Rodriguez unites the three ideas of history,
collectivism, and family:
From the time of our ancestors, the community has taken care of its children. The Aztecs
accepted the children from the village into the clan and gave themcara y corazón. They
socialized them, teaching them the traditions, to be self-disciplined and obedient.... It was
the group that gave the child life and sustained him.^103
What we have been discussing in regard to families in Mexico also applies to Mex-
ican American families. Sanchez writes,“While it often consists of a household of
husband, wife, and children, people of Mexican origin are more likely to live in an
extended family context, which includes parents, grandparents, brothers and sisters,
cousins, and other blood relatives—commonly referred to asla familia, the greater
family.”^104 So influential is the power of family ties that when family members
migrate from Mexico to the United States, they usually have someone from their
extended family awaiting their arrival and assisting with the transition period. The
idea of collectivism among Mexican families is further strengthened by a system of
godparenting calledcompadrazgo. Godparents, in most instances, are not blood rela-
tions but are part of the extended family. Zinn and Pok explain this broadening of
the Mexican family in the following:“Thecompadrazgosystem of godparents estab-
lished connections between families and in this way enlarged family ties.”^105 Godpar-
enting is also an important social institution throughout Central and South America.
Puerto Rican culture is another example of the socialization process involving a
collective orientation. According to Carrasquillo,
For the Puerto Rican, the family is an extended social unit that encompasses a wide
variety of relationships. The extended family functions as a primary agent of socialization,
as a safety net for its members in times of need, and as a means for obtaining protection,
companionship, and social and business contact.^106
This extended collective family is also found in sub-Saharan African culture. In
fact, Wilson and Ngige write,“The nuclear family of husband, wife, and their chil-
dren (i.e., family of procreation) was considered incomplete without the extended
family.”^107 The collective nature of this family structure encourages everyone to con-
tribute to the common good of the family. In these types of families, children are
reared and nurtured by a series of adults. For example, according to Peltzer, child-
rearing practices include “mothering by several adults during infancy and early
childhood.”^108 The children engage in“affectionate play with their fathers, held by
the various aunts and uncles, grandparents, and cousins who surround them....”^109
You can observe the collective nature of these families in the Maasai proverb“The
child has no owner.”The meaning, of course, is that all members of the tribe are
responsible for socializing the children.
Three more cultures (Arab, Japanese, and Chinese) and one co-culture (American
Indian) should be examined before we conclude our section on collectivism and the
family. An excellent preview of the Arab perspective on collectivism is stated by
Esherick:
Unlike the rugged individualism we see in North America (every person for him or herself,
individual rights, families living on their own away from relatives, and so on), Arab society90 CHAPTER 3•The Deep Structure of Culture: Lessons from the Family
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