Plus ça Change? Multiraciality and the Dynamics of Race Relations in the United States

Posted in Articles, Media Archive, Social Science, United States on 2009-10-10 16:10Z by Steven

Plus ça Change? Multiraciality and the Dynamics of Race Relations in the United States

Journal of Social Issues
Volume 65, Number 1 (March 2009)
pages 205-219
DOI: 10.1111/j.1540-4560.2008.01595.x

Frank D. Bean, Chancellor’s Professor
School of Social Sciences
University of California, Irvine

Jennifer Lee, Associate Professor, Sociology
School of Social Sciences
University of California, Irvine

The issue of race has long cast a shadow on the founding mythology of the United States, but today some scholars argue race is declining in significance, as evidenced by the rise of interracial unions and the fact that the offspring of such unions can now officially acknowledge their mixed-race backgrounds. However, the sizeable growth of the Asian and Latino populations in the United States through immigration complicates the issue. Seemingly neither black nor white, the new immigrants are generating increased diversity and raising questions about whether today’s color line replicates the old Black–White demarcation.  The research results introduced in this article suggest the contemporary color line in the United States more reflects a Black/non-Black division than a White/non-White one.

Read or purchase the article here.

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Moving Beyond the Black-White Color Line? Immigration, Diversity, and Multiracial Identification in the United States

Posted in Census/Demographics, Media Archive, Papers/Presentations, Politics/Public Policy, United States on 2009-10-06 21:38Z by Steven

Moving Beyond the Black-White Color Line? Immigration, Diversity, and Multiracial Identification in the United States

Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association
Hilton San Francisco & Renaissance Parc 55 Hotel
San Francisco, CA
2004-08-14

Jennifer Lee

This paper explores theory and evidence about immigration, race/ethnicity, intermarriage, and multiracial identification, and assesses the implications of trends and patterns for changes in America’s color lines, focusing especially on the traditional and relatively persistent black-white color line that has long divided the country. For more than three and a half decades, continued immigration from Latin America and Asia has transformed the United States from a largely biracial society consisting of a large white majority and smaller black minority into a society composed of multiple racial and ethnic groups. At the same time, the rate of intermarriage between whites and nonwhites increased dramatically, and along with its rise, the growth in the multiracial population. For the first time in U.S. history, the 2000 Census allowed Americans the option to mark “more than one race” to self-identify, reflecting the view that race is no longer conceived of as a bounded category. Increases in immigration, intermarriage, and multiracial identification might appear to indicate that race is declining in significance, and racial/ethnic divides, eroding for all groups. However, the trends and patterns of interracial marriage and multiracial reporting indicate that while racial/ethnic boundaries may be loosening for some groups, they are not loosening for all. Moreover, while the traditional black-white divide may be fading, a new divide seems to be emerging-one that separates blacks and non-blacks.

Read entire paper here.

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Journal of Social Issues – Multiracial Identity Issue

Posted in Articles, Media Archive, Social Science, United States on 2009-09-18 01:10Z by Steven

Volume 65, Number 1 issue of Journal of Social Issues, (published by The Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues) is entirely focused on mixed-race issues.

Journal of Social Issues
Volume 65, Number 1
pages 1-245
2009-03

You can read this issue online for free here or click on the individual articles below.

OVERVIEW AND INTRODUCTION

MULTIRACIAL IDENTITY CONSTRUCTION

MULTIRACIAL PEOPLE’S VIEWS OF RACE

PERCEPTIONS AND REPRESENTATIONS OF MULTIRACIAL PEOPLE

PUBLIC POLICIES AND THEIR CONSEQUENCES FOR MULTIRACIAL PEOPLE

COMMENTARY

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