Beyond the American Dream : Tales of Hispanic Mutimillionaires Who Rose Above Poverty after

373 Pages·2017·2.08 MB·English

by  Ricardo Norton

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Dissertations Graduate Research
2011
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Ricardo Norton
Andrews University
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Norton, Ricardo, "Beyond the American Dream : Tales of Hispanic Mutimillionaires Who Rose Above
Poverty after Immigrating to the United States" (2011). Dissertations. 605.
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ABSTRACT

BEYOND THE AMERICAN DREAM: TALES OF HISPANIC
MULTIMILLIONAIRES WHO ROSE ABOVE
POVERTY AFTER IMMIGRATING
TO THE UNITED STATES

by

Ricardo Norton

Chair: Robson Marinho
ABSTRACT OF GRADUATE STUDENT RESEARCH

Dissertation

Andrews University

School of Education

Title: BEYOND THE AMERICAN DREAM: TALES OF HISPANIC
MULTIMILLIONAIRES WHO ROSE ABOVE POVERTY AFTER
IMMIGRATING TO THE UNITED STATES

Name of the researcher: Ricardo Norton

Name and degree of faculty chair: Robson Marinho, Ph.D.

Date completed: December 2011

Problem
A review of the literature on Hispanics reveals the absence of academic studies on
the conditions and life experiences that helped poor Hispanic immigrants become
multimillionaires after arriving to the U.S. at 18 years of age and older and without
conversational English. Most Hispanic immigrants live in poverty right after arriving to
the U.S. and only a few become multimillionaires. A study on how they rose above
poverty has the potential to uncovering useful information for other poor immigrants who
are still looking who seek financial success. Such study will also add to the larger body of
literature information regarding the experiences and factors that contributed to poor
immigrants reaching the multimillionaire status.
Methodology
This qualitative multi case study recruited four Hispanic multimillionaire
immigrants who immigrated to the U.S. in poverty and with limited communication skills
in the language of the land. Participants were interviewed to uncover their life
experiences and the factors that contributed to their financial success. Following the
inductive nature of qualitative inquiry for data collection and analysis, once data
saturation for each individual case was achieved, a cross-case study was performed to
uncover overlapping factors associated with the phenomenon.
Results
Data analysis uncovered 17 major factors contributing to becoming financially
successful in the U.S. Salient among the factors were a progressive non-conformist
attitude that led participants to seek more profitable job opportunities. Interviewees also
placed education high in among the factors associated with their success. Education
prepared them to face challenges analytically and made them marketable in a very
competitive job-market. Finally, real estate investment was notoriously conspicuous in
the research. The net worth of participants was principally determined by the value of
their real estate possessions.
Conclusion
This research reveals that poor Hispanic immigrants who arrive to the U.S. in
poverty and with limited knowledge of English can become multimillionaires. Their
human capital, such as mental fortitude, vision, and resolve, made them succeed
financially where others failed.
Andrews University
School of Education

BEYOND THE AMERICAN DREAM: TALES OF HISPANIC
MULTIMILLIONAIRES WHO ROSE ABOVE
POVERTY AFTER IMMIGRATING
TO THE UNITED STATES

A Dissertation
Presented in Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree
Doctor of Philosophy

by
Ricardo Norton
December 2011
© Copyright by Ricardo Norton 2011
All Rights Reserved
BEYOND THE AMERICAN DREAM: TALES OF HISPANIC
MULTIMILLIONAIRES WHO ROSE ABOVE
POVERTY AFTER IMMIGRATING
TO THE UNITED STATES

A dissertation
presented in partial fulfillment
of the requirements for the degree
Doctor of Philosophy

by

Ricardo Norton

APPROVAL BY THE COMMITTEE:

_________________________________ _________________________________
Chair: Robson Marinho Dean, School of Education
James R. Jeffery

_________________________________
Member: Tevni Grajales

_________________________________
Member: Alfonso Valenzuela

_________________________________ _________________________________
External: Pedro Navia Date approved
ii
TABLE OF CONTENTS

LIST OF TABLES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . viii
Chapter

1. INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 1

Background of the Problem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Statement of the Problem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Purpose of the Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Research Question . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Importance of the Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Limitations and Delimitations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Theoretical Framework . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
The Reality of the American Dream . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Hispanic Tales of Wealth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Hispanic Struggle to Achieve the Dream . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Variables Associated With the Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Definition of Terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Organization of the Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

2. LITERATURE REVIEW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Immigration to the Americas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Brief Overview of Immigration to the U.S. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Phases of Immigration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Immigration Laws . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Immigrants by Generation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Types of Immigrants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Hispanic Identity and Growth to the U.S. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Issues Regarding Hispanic Identity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Brief Historical Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
U.S. Census Contribution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Hispanic or Latino . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Hispanic Growth and Projections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Immigration and the American Dream . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Meaning and History of the American Dream . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Brief History of the American Dream . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
The Reality of the American Dream . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
iii
The Future of the American Dream . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Immigration Challenges Associated With the Dream . . . . . . . . . 63
Language Barrier . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Hostility and Prejudice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
Social Service Challenges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Discrimination and Inequality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Hostility to Wealth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Deportation and Other Challenges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Facing Challenges With Optimism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
The American Dream and Poverty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Nature and Scope of Poverty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Defining and Measuring Poverty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Poverty Money and History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
The Scope of Poverty in the U.S. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Poverty Among Hispanics in the U.S. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Theories of Poverty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
The Dark Side of Poverty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Emancipating the Poor Financially . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
Success and the Multimillionaire Quest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
The Meaning and Nature of Success . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
Financial Success and the American Dream . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
Who Is a Multimillionaire? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Studies on Millionaires . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
Social and Human Capital Theories of Success . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Variables Associated With Financial Success . . . . . 117
Financial Success and Human Action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
Financial Success and Sustainability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
Financial Success and Real Estate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Financial Success and Attitude . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
Financial Success and Thriftiness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
Financial Success and Gender . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
Financial Success and Cultural Assimilation . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
Financial Success and Other Variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
Financial Success and Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
Ethnic Enclaves and the Success of Immigrants . . . . . . . . . 146

3. METHODOLOGY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151

Research Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
The Nature of the Case Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
Research Question . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
Case Study Designs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
A Multi-case Study Approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
Validity and Reliability in Qualitative Dissertations . . . . . . . . . 158
Validation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
Reliability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
iv