Do Americans conceive of race categorically, continuously, or both? This question matters because redressing racial inequality hinges on understanding the racial schemas embedded in minds and social institutions. Drawing on a survey of over 1,000 respondents, I find significant contradiction, ambivalence, and flexibility in conceptions of membership as a yes/no binary (one is or is not part of a racial group) and as a continuum (people are members to greater or lesser degrees). Findings include (1) In the abstract, most respondents reject the idea that race can be continuous or partial. But given concrete scenarios, most people regard racial membership as a continuum; (2) Race shapes race concepts. Black respondents are especially skeptical of a continuous conception of race when given an abstract prompt, but Blacks and all other groups of color are more inclined than Whites to think of racial membership as a continuum in concrete scenarios. Further, Black, Hispanic, and multiracial respondents differ in which dimensions of race they see as continuous; (3) Younger respondents use a continuous lens more; (4) Very conservative and very liberal Americans use a categorical lens more. I consider roots and implications.
AbascalMariaArmentaAmadaHalmWilliamHopkinsDaniel J.2025a. “Who Polices Which Boundaries? How Racial Self-Identification Affects External Classification.” American Journal of Sociology131(3):630–83. https://doi.org/10.1086/737164
3.
AbascalMariaArmentaAmadaHalmWilliamHopkinsDaniel J.SiglerGall. 2025b. “Calling the Kettle White: How Material Stakes Increase Ancestry’s Role in External Racial Classification.” SocArXiv. Retrieved June 2, 2026 (https://osf.io/preprints/socarxiv/87t9j_v2.)
4.
Bonilla-SilvaEduardo. 2006. Racism Without Racists. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
5.
BoxGeorge. 1979. “Robustness in the Strategy of Scientific Model Building,” Pp. 201–236Robustness in Statistics, edited by LaunerRobertWilkinsonGraham. Cambridge, MA:Academic Press.
6.
BrubakerRogers. 2016. “The Dolezal Affair: Race, Gender, and the Micropolitics of Identity.” Ethnic and Racial Studies39(3):414–48.
7.
BuggsShantel Gabrieal. 2017. “‘Your Momma is Day-Glow White’: Questioning the Politics of Racial Identity, Loyalty and Obligation.” Identities24(4):379–97.
8.
CampbellMaryTroyerLisa. 2007. “The Implications of Racial Misclassification by Observers.” American Sociological Review72(5):750–65.
CorningAmySchumanHoward. 2020. Generations and collective memory. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
11.
CrenshawKimberlé. 1989. “Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex.” University of Chicago Legal Forum1:139–67.
12.
CrollPaulGerteisJoseph. 2019. “Race as an Open Field: Exploring Identity beyond Fixed Choices.” Sociology of Race and Ethnicity5(1):55–69.
13.
DaCostaKimberly. 2007. Making Multiracials. Redwood City, CA: Stanford Press.
14.
DavisF. James. 2001. Who Is Black? One Nation’s Definition. State College, PA:Penn State Press.
15.
DeSanteChristopherSmithCandis Watts. 2020. Racial Stasis: The Millennial Generation and the Stagnation of Racial Attitudes in American Politics. Chicago, IL:University of Chicago Press.
EideElisabeth. 2016. “Strategic Essentialism.” Pp. 2278–80 in The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of Gender and Sexuality Studies. Edited by Naples NA. MA: Wiley-Blackwellhttps://doi.org/10.1002/9781118663219.wbegss554
19.
FoxCybelleGuglielmoThomas A.2012. “Defining America’s Racial Boundaries: Blacks, Mexicans, and European Immigrants, 1890–1945.” American Journal of Sociology118(2):327–79.
20.
GaddisS. MichaelGhoshalRaj. 2020. “Searching for a Roommate.” Socius6:2378023120972287.
21.
GaitherSarah. 2015. “’Mixed’ Results: Multiracial Research and Identity Explorations.” Current Directions in Psychological Science24(2):114–19.
22.
GhoshalRaj A.2025a. “Racial Appraisals by White, Black, Hispanic, and Multiracial Americans.” Sociology of Race and Ethnicity11(4):477–94. https://doi.org/10.1177/23326492241254072
HoArnold K.KteilyNour S.ChenJacqueline M.2017. “’You’re One of Us’: Black Americans’ Use of Hypodescent and its Association with Egalitarianism.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology113(5):753–68.
29.
HochschildJennifer L.WeaverVesla. 2007. “The Skin Color Paradox and the American Racial Order.” Social Forces86(2):643–70.
30.
HuangTiffany J. 2023. “What We Talk about When We Talk about Ethnicity: Hispanic Self-Classification and Appraisal in an Online College Forum.” Sociology of Race and Ethnicity9(4):502–517.
31.
HugheyMatthew. 2012. White Bound. Redwood City, CA:Stanford University Press.
KhannaNikki.2010. “’If You’re Half Black, You’re Just Black’: Reflected Appraisals and the Persistence of the One-Drop Rule.” The Sociological Quarterly51(1):96–121. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1533-8525.2009.01162.x
34.
KhannaNikki. 2012. “Multiracial Americans: Racial Identity Choices and Implications for the Collection of Race Data.” Sociology Compass6(4):316–31.
35.
KimChangHwanSakamotoArthur. 2010. “Have Asian American Men Achieved Labor Market Parity with White Men?” American Sociological Review75(6):934–57. https://doi.org/10.1177/0003122410388501
36.
KleinEzra. 2020. Why We’re Polarized. New York: Simon and Schuster.
LeeTaeku. 2009. “Between Social Theory and Social Science Practice: Toward a New Approach to the Survey Measurement of ‘Race’.” Pp. 113–44 in Measuring Identity: A Guide for Social Scientists. Edited by AbdelalR. New York: Cambridge University Press
MaghboulehNedaSchachterArielaFloresRené. 2022. “Middle Eastern and North African Americans May Not be Perceived, Nor Perceive Themselves, to be White.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences119(7):e2117940119.
42.
MannheimKarl. [1928] 1952. “The Problem of Generations.”pp. 276–322 in Karl Mannheim: Essays edited by KecskemetiP.London: Routledge.
43.
MondakJeffery J.AndersonMary R.2004. “The Knowledge Gap.” The Journal of Politics66(2):492–512.
44.
Monk Jr.Ellis P. 2021. “The Unceasing Significance of Colorism.” Daedalus150(2):76–90.
45.
Monk Jr.Ellis P. 2022. “Inequality without Groups.” Sociological Theory40(1):3–27.
46.
MoraG. Cristina. 2014. Making Hispanics. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
47.
MorningAnn. 2009. “Toward a Sociology of Racial Conceptualization for the 21st Century.” Social Forces87(3):1167–92.
48.
MorningAnn. 2018. “Kaleidoscope: Contested Identities and New Forms of Race Membership.” Ethnic and Racial Studies41(6):1055–73.
49.
OmiMichaelWinantHoward. 2014. Racial Formation in the United States. 3rd ed. New York, NY:Routledge.
RichCamille Gear. 2014. “Elective Race: Recognizing Race Discrimination in the Era of Racial Self-Identification.” Georgetown Law Journal102:1501–1572.
52.
RothWendy D.2005. “The End of the One-Drop Rule? Labeling of Multiracial Children in Black Intermarriages.” Sociological Forum20(1):35–67.
53.
RothWendy D.2012. Race Migrations: Latinos and the Cultural Transformation of Race. Redwood City, CA:Stanford University Press.
54.
RothWendy D.2016. “The Multiple Dimensions of Race.” Ethnic and Racial Studies39(8):1310–38.
55.
RothWendy D.2018. “Unsettled Identities amid Settled Classifications? Toward a Sociology of Racial Appraisals.” Ethnic and Racial Studies41(6):1093–1112.
56.
SapersteinAliyaPennerAndrew. 2012. “Racial Fluidity and Inequality in the United States.” American Journal of Sociology118(3):676–727.
57.
SchachterArielaFloresRené D.MaghboulehNeda. 2021. “Ancestry, Color, or Culture? How Whites Racially Classify Others in the US.” American Journal of Sociology126(5):1220–63.
58.
SchmotterCaleb H.2026. “The Dimensions of Ethnicity: Understanding the Cognitive Architecture of Ethnic Group Membership.” Journal of Race, Ethnicity, and Politics. Retrieved June 3, 2026 (https://doi.org/10.1017/rep.2026.10070)
59.
SchumanHowardSteehCharlotteBoboLawrenceKrysanMaria. 1997. Racial Attitudes in America. Cambridge, MA:Harvard University Press.
60.
SuhayElizabethJayaratneToby Epstein. 2013. “Does Biology Justify Ideology? The Politics of Genetic Attribution.” Public Opinion Quarterly77(2):497–521.
61.
SpivakGayatri. 1988. “Can the Subaltern Speak?” Pp. 66–111 in Marxism and the Interpretation of Culture, edited by GrossbergLarryNelsonCary. Houndmills: Macmillan.
62.
SwidlerAnn. 1986. “Culture in Action: Symbols and Strategies.” American Sociological Review51(2):273–86.
63.
SwidlerAnnArditiJorge. 1994. “The New Sociology of Knowledge.” Annual Review of Sociology20(1):305–329.
64.
TawaJohn. 2018. “Dimensions of Racial Essentialism and Racial Nominalism.” Race and Social Problems10:145–57.
65.
TellesEdward. 2018. “Latinos, Race, and the US Census.” The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science677(1):153–64.
66.
TeslerMichael. 2013. “The Return of Old-Fashioned Racism to White Americans’ Partisan Preferences in the Early Obama Era.” The Journal of Politics75(1):110–23.
WarikooNatasha Kumar. 2011. Balancing Acts. Oakland, CA:University of California Press.
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
