"Nos explotan, pero aún así tenemos que respetarlos": Rethinking Latine cultural values through a critical lens

Because cultural values are believed to shape the identities, attitudes, and behaviors of societies, the study of Latine cultural values holds a prominent place in Latine psychology. However, it is important to examine how the cultural values ascribed to Latine communities reflect their interaction with the sociohistorical and sociopolitical contexts Latines inhabit. Guided by a critical consciousness lens, the present study analyzed the values that recent Puerto Rican immigrants identified and deemed representative of Puerto Rican culture and society. Results from a reflexive thematic analysis with 19 Puerto Rican immigrants living in Florida and Arizona showed that participants ascribed a different set of cultural values to Puerto Ricans in the archipelago and Puerto Ricans in the U.S. diaspora. While the values of alegría, lucha, hospitalidad, and respeto were assigned to Puerto Ricans in Puerto Rico and those who have migrated to the United States, the values of dependencia and conformismo were attributed to Puerto Ricans in the archipelago. We then used a critical consciousness lens to examine how these cultural values are (a) influenced by colonial dynamics or (b) reflect resistance to or survival of those dynamics. These findings highlight the need to examine how cultural values should be understood and interpreted as responses to sociopolitical and historical processes. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).