Attempting to delineate urban Mexican American life patterns, this analysis seeks to indicate the distinctions in the patterns of life of different types of Mexican Americans in order to provide a workable framework for empirical research. The analytical framework contains 4 levels: the rural novice (from rural areas in the United States) or the immigrant novice (from a rural setting in Mexico) having little education and not conversant in English; the hard-core individual who has rejected society, and/or is deviant as defined by society, and/or is a barrio dweller; the transitory individual who is the would-be assimilate, would-be biculturate, or would-be hard-core regressor; and the mainstream individual who is either an assimilate or a biculturate. This framework, along with the accompanying values schemes and allegiance-group patterns, furnishes general guidelines for mounting action programs for urban Mexican Americans. It is recommended that such programs (1) begin by reinforcing basic Mexican American values, (2) be aimed simultaneously at different economic levels, (3) attempt to supply interdisciplinary technical support, (4) be designed to enable Mexican Americans to help their own, and (5) be national in scope and commitment. The greater issue is the mobilization of effort to enable most Mexican Americans to join the mainstream of United States society. Two figures and 13 references are included. (MJB)