Accepted, forthcoming in 2026.

https://doi.org/10.1111/soc4.70165

Meso‐level institutions are increasingly being examined as sites of racialization, specifically as racialized organizations that are seemingly neutral upon first look but in reality are racialized from the outset. Homeowners associations (HOAs), private organizations with governmental powers that oversee housing communities, are becoming increasingly common across the United States. Concurrently, ethnoracial minorities are increasingly becoming homeowners; as over three‐fourths of newly built houses in the U.S. are in the bounds of an HOA, it is likely more ethnoracial minorities will reside within these organizations, whether they rent or own their home. We further the burgeoning “racialized organizations” body of research by examining the role this meso‐level actor plays in the (re)production of racial and spatial inequality, particularly as it affects the ethnoracial minorities residing within them. By pairing the tenets put forth in racialized organizations theory with archival research, fieldwork, and interviews (N = 47) we conducted with ethnoracial minorities in one of the largest HOAs in the country, we discuss how homeowners associations—seemingly neutral structures with seemingly neutral policies—both create and perpetuate ethnoracial inequality. Including resident voices, we discuss how HOAs align with the tenets of racialized organizations theory, and show how the power and agency typically associated with homeownership is altered by the HOA. As HOAs continue to rise in number, homeownership is increasingly shadowed with meso‐level punitive functions and notions of white habitus as habitat, and the sociopolitical agency of ethnoracial minorities is still limited in meaningful ways, even after they reach the heavily‐touted achievement of homeownership. As homeownership rates rise, we argue the importance of examining HOAs as racialized organizations, as the implications potentially change the way we understand the meaning of homeownership for ethnoracial minorities in the U.S.

https://doi.org/10.1111/soc4.70077

Past sociological research on Black-Latinx relations in the United States details experiences that often take one of two routes: contention or cohesion. In this paper, I overview frames that account for Black-Latinx relations in past research evidencing contention (racial threat and group position) and cohesion (rainbow coalition and linked fate), discussing past studies that show how these operate within communities. Factors such as anti-Blackness and colonial pressures, anti-Latinx and anti-immigrant sentiment, historic community relations and context of reception, and perceived competition over resources all contribute to rather complex intergroup relations. While overviewing past research is imperative to understanding the current state of Black-Latinx relations, I end by raising important considerations for the field moving forward. First, closer attention should be given to the fluid boundary between “Black” and “Latinx,” as Afro-Latinidad and Afro-Latinx experiences are crucial to understanding broader group relations. Recent research in Black-Latinx communities also calls attention to alternatives beyond the contention-cohesion binary, encouraging us to be cognizant that experiences with displacement may hinder the willingness to coalesce, even when shared racializing experiences and structural barriers persist. As communities continue to diversify, it becomes increasingly important to understand how Black-Latinx relations operate on-the-ground.

https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-soc-090924-015711

In this review, we advocate for deeper exploration of Latino racialization by highlighting three core complexities: complexities of racial categorization, state-based racialization, and within-group variation. We review research on these complexities, focusing on the US Census and immigration system as key state mechanisms that have shaped and obscured Latino racialization. Our goal is to review and outline dynamic features of Latino racialization, illustrating that such processes operate both in aggregate forms and in ways that reflect within-group variation, impacting Latinos who are not as frequently centered in the broader Latino category. We propose an expansive definition of racialization and introduce a conceptual model to address racial alignments (and misalignments) among its core elements: racial identification, racial ascription, and shared experiences of structural racism. The model accounts for multiple complex mechanisms by which racialization plays out and demonstrates that Latino racialization mirrors broader patterns in racial formation and is not so uniquely complex.

https://doi.org/10.1080/01419870.2024.2431162

This work underscores the importance of understanding engagement in respectability politics as a response to racialization and structural inequalities. Drawing on fieldwork and interviews with Puerto Ricans in a Florida community who hail from the Northeastern United States and the island (N = 30), intragroup tensions can be seen in the areas of language, status, and culture. Groups’ experiences with racialization in their communities of origin prior to arrival, coupled with their interactions with white co-residents in Florida, play a role in the expectations they hold in these arenas, and subsequently, the way they perform respectability. Over time, adherence to respectability ideology becomes habitus, and existing community members expect newcomers to conform or risk threatening the perceived good-earned status of the group, relegating them to threat narratives past. As (im)migration to the U.S. is increasing for many groups, understanding within-group tensions becomes increasingly important, particularly if coalescence is the goal.

https://doi.org/10.1080/01419870.2023.2210646

In The “Puerto Rican Problem” in Postwar New York City, Edgardo Meléndez provides the first substantial overview of the “Puerto Rican problem” that emerged in New York City between 1945 and 1960 and extended well beyond this period. The “problem” campaign first emerged after 1945 as Puerto Ricans arrived to New York in, at the time, unprecedented numbers. An “intense campaign, with racist and nativist overtones” (p. 3) quickly mobilized, claiming Puerto Ricans were “alien to the United States in race and culture” (p. 23) and a social drain on the city. In this extensive account, Meléndez closely examines how the “problem” narrative initiated and persisted, Puerto Ricans’ obstacles to incorporation in the city, and the reaction and involvement of Puerto Rico’s and NYC’s governments, who were both invested in reframing the “problem” narrative.

American Sociological Association (ASA) featured article

https://doi.org/10.1177/23326492231169249

This study examines Puerto Rican-Black intergroup relations in Poinciana, Florida, a new immigrant destination in the suburban south led by the country’s largest homeowners association. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork and interviews with 47 residents, I interrogate interpersonal relationships, feelings of belonging, and how residents’ lack of sociopolitical agency contribute to perceptions of intergroup relations. Past research evidences both coalition and tensions between Puerto Rican and Black co-residents, including shared marginalization experiences leading to increased coalition, or economic competition leading to contention. As migration to new immigrant destinations continues to rise, this study suggests minoritized groups may hold discordant conceptualizations of their relationship, what I refer to as “cultural contention.” While Puerto Ricans describe a shared sense of marginalization and unity with their Black neighbors, Black residents express concerns over displacement. With the precarious status of the community, there are few opportunities for residents to coalesce, and further fragmentation is possible.

https://doi.org/10.1111/soin.12295

This study examines constructions of Puerto Ricans across two different media forms: newspaper articles and Twitter. We use Poinciana, Florida, a Central Florida Puerto Rican enclave, as a means to examine these constructions. Because of the high concentration of Puerto Rican residents and unprecedented migration to the area, Poinciana is an ideal community to examine media constructions of a migrant group. Utilizing constructivist grounded theory, we analyze all published newspaper articles (1995–2016) and public Twitter posts (2009–2016) about Puerto Ricans in the region (N = 174). We find newspaper articles construct mostly benign views of Puerto Ricans, reflecting “Happy Talk” diversity discourse, while Twitter constructions present more negative portrayals, generally relating to population size, and often reflecting a racist ideology reminiscent of the Latino Threat Narrative. We conclude by detailing the significance of divergent constructions across media forms during a period of heightened migration, and how the type of media consumed by Puerto Ricans in this community known as “Little Puerto Rico” is likely to influence their perceived level of societal acceptance.