Making Minorities or Honorary Whites? Examining Multiracial Self-Concept

Abstract

Since the 1990s, scholars have speculated on the role of multiracials in shaping race relations in the twenty-first century. Drawing from a purposive sample of roughly 600 self-identified multiracials of partial white origin, we examine race making among multiracials through what we are calling self-concept, a conceptualization that runs along two dimensions—identity and closeness—by which we assess the extent to which multiracials align more closely with a white self-concept, more closely with a minority self-concept, or equally. We find that while there is variation, multiracials of partial white ancestry are more likely to express a self-concept that is more aligned with minorities than with whites. Moreover, we find that despite what the literature suggests, variation in self-concept is less associated with ascription than with social/familial context and racial attitudes. These findings suggest that while ascription matters, racial self-concept is primarily shaped through experience.