Suchergebnisse

Death certificates are a means of assessing the racial classification of foreign-born Americans that is based neither on a set of formal racial identification criteria nor self-identification. Instead, local informants typically report the race of decedents. According to a sample of 1,884 records filed between 1859 and 1960, individuals born in China were progressively less likely to be identified by racial terms (e.g., white or yellow) and more likely to be identified by their country of origin (e.g., Chinese). The opposite is true for those born in Mexico or Puerto Rico, who are less likely over time to be identified as Mexican or Puerto Rican and more likely to be identified with a racial term—typically white. Most of the records analyzed are from southern states (n = 1,335), although an additional 548 records, primarily from Illinois and Ohio, are compared to the southern records. In some cases, white identity can serve as a mark of racial confusion, acting as a default or neutral identity rather than a mark of privilege. Conversely, it can represent a status that is actively striven for to provide freedom from discriminatory treatment. It serves primarily as the former for those born in China and the latter for those born in Mexico and Puerto Rico.

Many signs point to the contemporary period as a color-blind era, one in which Whites purport to be unaware of race in social or political life. At the same time, White ethnic and racial identity continues to be measured in official government statistics such as the decennial U.S. Census and the annual American Community Survey (ACS). To adjudicate between the two, the ACS ancestry question response can be used not just as a means to measure the actual size of national origin populations but can also be a way to understand what it means to be "White" in an era of color blindness and optional ethnicity. White identities can provide the mechanisms by which color-blind ideologies are understood and expressed. Whites whose primary identity is "American" will understand race in a different way than a White respondent who identifies with a European ethnicity—yet each identity can lead to the same color-blind beliefs. To assess the appeal of different varieties of White identity, the responses of 16,632 non-Hispanic Whites to the ancestry question on the 2011 ACS are used. Based on these data, one can discern four primary types of White identity prevalent in the United States today: "White" (6%), "American" (10%), "ethnic" (62%), and "none" (12%). Each identity is most appealing to a different segment of the population—for example, older, urban Whites are most likely to claim an ethnic identity, while younger Whites living in rural areas with larger Hispanic populations are most likely to claim simply that their ethnic ancestry is "White." Each identity also suggests a different pathway to color blindness.

Multiple social contexts have been shown to affect racial attitudes both positively and negatively when considered at different levels. In this article, context is simultaneously considered at three different levels: the metropolitan area, the census block group, and the interview situation (as measured by race of interviewer/race of respondent matching). Significant effects can be classified into three categories: the effects of the racial composition of the city, the effects of the racial composition of the neighborhood, and the effects of a "differentrace" interviewer. Neighborhood income and race of interviewer effects are direct; by contrast, racial composition effects are typically cross-level interaction effects. This indicates that the modeling of cross-level interactions is essential for future studies of the effects of racial composition on attitudes.

Multiple social contexts have been shown to affect racial attitudes both positively and negatively when considered at different levels. In this article, context is simultaneously considered at three different levels: the metropolitan area, the census block group, and the interview situation (as measured by race of interviewer/race of respondent matching). Significant effects can be classified into three categories: the effects of the racial composition of the city, the effects of the racial composition of the neighborhood, and the effects of a "different-race" interviewer. Neighborhood income and race of interviewer effects are direct; by contrast, racial composition effects are typically cross-level interaction effects. This indicates that the modeling of cross-level interactions is essential for future studies of the effects of racial composition on attitudes. [Reprinted by permission of Sage Publications Inc., copyright The American Academy of Political and Social Science.]

The past 20 years have witnessed a tremendous accumulation of research in whiteness studies in general, and in the sociology of whiteness in particular. In contrast to the earliest days of research in this subfield, much recent work has moved beyond preoccupations with whiteness as a seemingly invisible, default racial category to instead consider whiteness as a complex identity and basis of structural privilege and neocolonial dominance. Predominantly autobiographical and strictly theoretical work has been augmented by sophisticated empirical studies from a variety of methodological traditions. Contemporary scholars continue to grapple with epistemological concerns and the issue of how to dismantle that which is totalizing and hegemonic.