Managing Hispanic and Latino Employees

Chapter 2Who Is the Hispanic Employee?

The word “Hispanic” originates in the Latin word for Spain, “Hispania.” Hispanic is the broadest and most generous term used to denote people whose common denominator are societies where (1) Spanish, or related Iberian languages, are spoken, and (2) mainstream society has its origins in Spanish culture and history. This definition is the substratum from which all other terms are derived.

In the same way that the term “European” encompasses people from the part of the world that is geographically and culturally defined as west of the Ural Mountains, east of the Atlantic Ocean, with the Mediterranean Sea to the south and the Arctic to the north, “Hispanic” covers the nations and societies that are of Iberian ...