We explore racial-ethnic identity in three ways: (1) by assessing the importance of racial-ethnic identity for self-concept; (2) by comparing the importance of racial-ethnic identity in different settings (at home, in one's neighborhood, in public, at work); and (3) by contrasting the importance of racial-ethnic identity with other identities (gender, age, occupation, marital status, and social class). Data were gathered in a random national telephone survey. Results indicate that for blacks racial-ethnic identity is a more important component of self-concept than it is for multiracials and whites (both of whom say they place little importance on it). Other findings show that the importance of racial-ethnic identity varies across settings (e.g., it is most important for blacks at work and least important at home) and that in general the multiracials are not highly distinguishable from both blacks and whites. Moreover, an interesting and unexpected finding is that for all three groups, the single most important identity is sex/gender.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AlbaRichard. 1990. Ethnic Identity: The Transformation of White America. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
2.
AndersenMargaret L.CollinsPatricia Hill eds. 1995. Race, Class, and Gender. 2d ed.Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
3.
AndersonElijah. 1990. Streetwise. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
4.
BanksJames A.GayGeneva. 1978. “Ethnicity in Contemporary American Society: Toward the Development of a Typology.”Ethnicity5:238–51.
5.
BlackwellJames E.1991. The Black Community. 3d ed.New York: HarperCollins.
6.
BradshawCarla K.1992. “Beauty and the Beast: On Racial Ambiguity.” Pp. 77–88 in Racially Mixed People in America, edited by RootM.P.P.Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
7.
BurkePeter J.1980. “The Self: Measurement Implications from a Symbolic Interactionist Perspective.”Social Psychology Quarterly43:18–29.
8.
BurkePeter J.FranzoiStephan L.1988. “Studying Situations and Identities Using Experimental Sampling Methodologies.”American Sociological Review53:559–68.
9.
CauceA.M.HiragaY.MasonC.AguilarT.OrdonezN.GonzalesN.1992. “Between a Rock and a Hard Place: Social Adjustment of Biracial Youth.” Pp. 207–22 in Racially Mixed People in America, edited by RootM.P.P.Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
10.
CohenAbner. 1974. “Introduction: The Lesson of Ethnicity.” Pp. ix–xxiv in Urban Ethnicity, edited by CohenA.London: Tavistock.
11.
CooleyCharles H. [1902] 1956. Human Nature and Social Order. Glencoe, IL: Free Press.
12.
CoserLewis. 1956. The Functions of Social Conflict. Glencoe, IL: Free Press.
13.
DanielJessie. 1997. White Lies. New York: Routledge.
14.
DanielsDoug. 1981. “The White Race Is Shrinking: Perceptions of Race in Canada and Some Speculations on the Political Economy of Race Classification.”Ethnic and Racial Studies4:353–56.
15.
DavisAllisonGardnerBurleighGardnerMary. 1941. Deep South. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
16.
DavisF. James. 1991. Who Is Black?University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press.
17.
DelgadoRichardStefancicJean ed. 1997. Critical White Studies. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
18.
DoaneAshley W.1997a. “Dominant Group Ethnic Identity in the United States: The Role of ‘Hidden’ Ethnicity in Intergroup Relations.”Sociological Quarterly38:375–97.
19.
DoaneAshley W.1997b. “White Identity and Race Relations in the 1990s.” Pp. 151–59 in Perspectives on Current Social Problems, edited by CarterG.L.Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
20.
DobratzBetty A.Shanks-MeileStephanie L.1997. White Power White Pride!New York: Twayne and G.K. Hall.
21.
DrakeSt. ClairCaytonHorace R.1945. Black Metropolis. New York: Harper & Row.
22.
EspirituYen Le. 1992. Asian American Panethnicity. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
23.
EzekielRaphael S.1995. The Racist Mind. New York: Viking Press.
24.
FeaginJoe R.1991. “The Continuing Significance of Race: Antiblack Discrimination in Public Places.”American Journal of Sociology56:101–16.
25.
FeaginJoe R.VeraHernan. 1995. White Racism. New York: Routledge.
26.
FordhamSignithiaOgbuJohn U.1986. “Black Students' School Success: Coping with the Burden of Acting White.”Urban Review18 (3):176–206.
27.
FunderburgLise. 1994. Black, White, Other: Biracial Americans Talk about Race and Identity. New York: Morrow.
28.
GallagherCharles A.1997. “White Racial Formation: Into the Twenty-first Century.” Pp. 6–11 in Critical White Studies, edited by DelgadoR.StefancicJ.Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
29.
GansHerbert J.1979. “Symbolic Ethnicity: The Future of Ethnic Groups and Cultures in America.”Ethnic and Racial Studies2:1–10.
30.
GansHerbert J.1992. “Comment: Ethnic Invention and Acculturation: A Bumpy Line Approach.”Journal of American Ethnic History11:42–52.
31.
GayGenevaBaberW.L. eds. 1987. Expressively Black. New York: Praeger.
32.
GoffmanErving. 1959. Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. New York: Doubleday.
33.
GrayHerman. 1995. Watching Race: Television and the Struggle for “Blackness.”Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
34.
HelmsJanet E.1990. Black and White Racial Identity. New York: Greenwood Press.
35.
HydeCheryl. 1995. “The Meanings of Whiteness.”Qualitative Sociology18:87–95.
36.
JamesWilliam. 1890. Principles of Psychology. New York: Holt.
37.
KelleyRobin D.G.1996. Race Rebels: Culture, Politics, and the Black Working Class. New York: Free Press.
38.
KennedyRandall. 1997. “My Race Problem—and Ours.”Atlantic Monthly, May, pp. 55–66.
39.
KeyesCharles F.1981. “The Dialectics of Ethnic Change.” Pp. 3–30 in Ethnic Change, edited by KeyesC.F.Seattle: University of Washington Press.
40.
KinketBarbaraVerkuytenMayke. 1997. “Levels of Ethnic Self-Identification and Social Context.”Social Psychological Quarterly60:338–54.
41.
LeeStacey J.1994. “Behind the Model-Minority Stereotype: Voices of High- and Low-Achieving Asian American Students.”Anthropology and Education Quarterly25:413–29.
42.
LightIvan. 1981. “Ethnic Succession.” Pp. 54–86 in Ethnic Change, edited by KeyesC.F.Seattle: University of Washington Press.
43.
LymanStanford M.DouglassWilliam A.1973. “Ethnicity: Strategies of Collective and Individual Impression Management.”Social Research40:344–65.
44.
MartinJudith N.KrizekRobert L.NakayamaThomas K.BradfordLisa. 1996. “Exploring Whiteness: A Study of Self Labels for White Americans.”Communication Quarterly44:125–44.
45.
MasseyDouglas S.DentonNancy A.1993. American Apartheid. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
46.
McIntoshPeggy. 1988. “White Privilege and Male Privilege: A Personal Account of Coming to See Correspondences through Work in Women's Studies.” Pp. 76–87 in Race, Class, and Gender, 2d ed., edited by AndersenM.L.CollinsPH.Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
47.
MeadGeorge Herbert. 1934. Mind, Self, and Society. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
48.
NagelJoane. 1996. American Indian Ethnic Renewal. New York: Oxford University Press.
49.
NakashimaCynthia L.1992. “An Invisible Monster: The Creation and Denial of Mixed-Race People in America.” Pp. 162–89 in Racially Mixed People in America, edited by RootM. P. P.Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
50.
OkamuraJonathan. 1981. “Situational Ethnicity.”Ethnic and Racial Studies4:452–65.
RosenbergMorris. 1965. Society and the Adolescent Self-image. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
59.
RosenblumKaren E.TravisToni-Michelle C. eds. 1996. The Meaning of Difference. New York: McGraw-Hill.
60.
SimmelGeorg. [1903] 1969. “The Metropolis and Mental Life.” Pp. 47–60 in Classic Essays on the Culture of Cities, edited by SennettR.New York: Meredith Corp.
61.
SpickardPaul R.1989. Mixed Blood. Milwaukee: University of Wisconsin Press.
62.
SpickardPaul R.FongRowena. 1995. “Pacific Islander Americans and Multiethnicity: A Vision of America's Future?”Social Forces73:1365–83.
63.
SteeleShelby. 1990. The Content of Our Character. New York: St. Martin's Press.
64.
StrykerSheldon. 1980. Symbolic Interactionism. Menlo Park, CA: Benjamin Cummings.
65.
SuttlesGerald. 1968. The Social Order of the Slum: Ethnicity and Territory in the Inner City. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
66.
TatumBeverly Daniel. 1997. Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? and Other Conversations about Race. New York: Basic Books.
67.
TaylorRonald L.1979. “Black Ethnicity and the Persistence of Ethnogenesis.”American Journal of Sociology84:1401–23.
68.
ThomasMelvin. 1993. “Race, Class, and Personal Income: An Empirical Test of the Declining Significance of Race Thesis, 1968–1988.”Social Problems40:328–42.
69.
Van AusdaleDebraFeaginJoe R.1996. “Using Racial and Ethnic Concepts: The Critical Case of Very Young Children.”American Sociological Review61:779–93.
70.
VannemanReeveCannonLynn Weber. 1987. The American Perception of Class. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
71.
WatersMary C.1990. Ethnic Options. Berkeley: University of California Press.
72.
WatkinsMel. 1994. On the Real Side. New York: Simon & Schuster.
73.
WhiteClovis L.BurkePeter J.1987. “Ethnic Role Identity among Black and White College Students: An Interactionist Approach.”Sociological Perspectives30:310–31.
74.
WinantHoward. 1995. “Dictatorship, Democracy, and Difference: The Historical Construction of Racial Identity.” Pp. 31–49 in The Bubbling Cauldron, edited by SmithM.P.FeaginJ.R.Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
75.
YanceyWilliam L.EricksenEugene P.JulianiRichard N.1976. “Emergent Ethnicity: A Review and Reformulation.”American Sociological Review41:391–403.
76.
ZackNaomi ed. 1995. American Mixed Race. Boston: Rowman & Littlefield.
77.
ZhouMinBankstonCarl L.1998. Growing Up American. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
