Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-7cvxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T15:58:42.743Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

“There's No One as Irish as Barack O'Bama”: The Policy and Politics of American Multiracialism

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 August 2010

Jennifer Hochschild  and
Vesla Mae Weaver
Jennifer Hochschild
Affiliation:
Harvard University. E-mail: [email protected]
Vesla Mae Weaver
Affiliation:
University of Virginiaand the Miller Center of Public Affairs. E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

For the first time in American history, the 2000 United States census allowed individuals to choose more than one race. That new policy sets up our exploration of whether and how multiracialism is entering Americans' understanding and practice of race. By analyzing briefly earlier cases of racial construction, we uncover three factors important to understanding if and how intensely a feedback effect for racial classification will be generated. Using this framework, we find that multiracialism has been institutionalized in the federal government, and is moving toward institutionalization in the private sector and other governmental units. In addition, the small proportion of Americans who now define themselves as multiracial is growing absolutely and relatively, and evidence suggests a continued rise. Increasing multiracial identification is made more likely by racial mixture's growing prominence in American society—demographically, culturally, economically, and psychologically. However, the politics side of the feedback loop is complicated by the fact that identification is not identity. Traditional racial or ethnic loyalties and understandings remain strong, including among potential multiracial identifiers. Therefore, if mixed-race identification is to evolve into a multiracial identity, it may not be at the expense of existing group consciousness. Instead, we expect mixed-race identity to be contextual, fluid, and additive, so that it can be layered onto rather than substituted for traditional monoracial commitments. If the multiracial movement successfully challenges the longstanding understanding and practice of “one drop of blood” racial groups, it has the potential to change much of the politics and policy of American race relations.

Type
Research Article
Information
Perspectives on Politics , Volume 8 , Issue 3 , September 2010 , pp. 737 - 759
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Anderson, Benedict. 2002. The Spectre of Comparison. London: Verso.Google Scholar
Andrews, Matthew, and Chun, Jeffrey. 2007. “(Mis)Educating about ‘Mixed Race’: Discourse on Multiraciality and the Prospects of Higher Education Policy.” Asian American Policy Review 16(1): 87–94.Google Scholar
Aoki, Andrew, and Takeda, Okiyoshi. 2009. Asian American Politics. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press.Google Scholar
Bonam, Courtney M., and Shih, Margaret. 2009. “Exploring Multiracial Individuals' Comfort with Intimate Interracial Relationships.” Journal of Social Issues 65(1): 87–103.Google Scholar
Bratter, Jenifer, and Eschbach, Karl. 2006. “'What about the Couple?' Interracial Marriage and Psychological Distress.” Social Science Research 35(4): 1025–47.Google Scholar
Broh, C. Anthony, and Minicucci, Stephen. 2008. “Racial Identity and Government Classification: A Better Solution.” Presented at the Association for Institutional Research, Seattle, WA, May 28.Google Scholar
Campbell, Andrea. 2003. How Policies Make Citizens: Senior Political Activism and the American Welfare State. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Chandler, Michael, and Glod, Maria. 2009. “Multiracial Pupils to Be Counted in a New Way.” Washington Post, March 23, A1.Google Scholar
Chong, Dennis, and Rogers, Reuel. 2004. “Reviving Group Consciousness.” In The Politics of Democratic Inclusion, ed. Wolbrecht, Christina and Hero, Rodney. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.Google Scholar
Cooperative Institutional Research Program. (various). Freshman Survey. UCLA, Graduate School of Education and Information Services, Higher Education Research Institute, Los Angeles, CA.Google Scholar
DaCosta, Kimberly. 2004. “All in the Family: The Familial Roots of Racial Division.” In The Politics of Multiracialism, ed. Dalmadge, Heather. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.Google Scholar
Dawson, Michael. 1994. Behind the Mule: Race and Class in African-American Politics. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Edmonston, Barry, Goldstein, Joshua, and Lott, Juanita. 1996. Spotlight on Heterogeneity: The Federal Standards for Racial and Ethnic Classification. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.Google Scholar
Edmonston, Barry, and Schultze, Charles. 1995. Modernizing the U.S. Census. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.Google Scholar
Espiritu, Yen Le. 1992. Asian American Panethnicity: Bridging Institutions and Identities. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.Google Scholar
Farley, Reynolds. 2004. “Identifying with Multiple Races: A Social Movement that Succeeded but Failed?” In The Changing Terrain of Race and Ethnicity, ed. Krysan, Maria and Lewis, Amanda. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.Google Scholar
Farley, Reynolds. 2007. “The Declining Multiple Race Population of the United States: The American Community Survey, 2000 to 2005.” Presented at the Population Association of America conference, New York, NY, March 29–31.Google Scholar
Fields, A N. 1949. “Readers May Judge For Selves Of Social, Political Changes” The Chicago Defender (Jan 22): 7.Google Scholar
Foucault, Michel. 1979. Discipline and Punish. New York: Vintage Books.Google Scholar
Fryer, Roland Jr. 2007. “Guess Who's Been Coming to Dinner? Trends in Interracial Marriage over the 20th Century.” Journal of Economic Perspectives 21(2): 71–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gallup. 2007. Most Americans Approve of Interracial Marriages. Gallup Organization. (http://www.gallup.com/poll/28417/Most-Americans-Approve-Interracial-Marriages.aspx).Google Scholar
Gallup/CNN/U.S.A. Today. 2001. Poll—March Wave 1. March 9–11.Google Scholar
Gans, Herbert. 2007. “The Possibility of a New Racial Hierarchy in the Twenty-First-Century United States.” In The Inequality Reader: Contemporary and Foundational Readings in Race, Class, and Gender, eds. Grusky, David and Szelényi, Szonja. Boulder CO: Westview Press.Google Scholar
Garcia Bedolla, Lisa. 2009. Latino Politics. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press.Google Scholar
Goldstein, Joshua. 1999. “Kinship Networks That Cross Racial Lines: The Exception or the Rule?” Demography 36(3): 399–407.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Goldstein, Joshua, and Morning, Ann. 2000. “The Multiple-Race Population of the United States: Issues and Estimates.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 97(11): 6230–35.Google Scholar
Gross, Ariela. 2008. What Blood Won't Tell: A History of Race on Trial in America. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hancock, Ange-Marie. 2007. “When Multiplication Doesn't Equal Quick Addition: Examining Intersectionality as a Research Paradigm.” Perspectives on Politics 5(1): 63–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haney-López, Ian. 2003. Racism on Trial: The Chicano Fight for Justice. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Hattam, Victoria. 2007. Ethnic Shadows: Jews, Latinos, and Race Politics in the United States. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Hernandez, Jose', Estrada, Leo, and Alvirez, David. 1973. “Census Data and the Problem of Conceptually Defining the Mexican American Population.” Social Science Quarterly 53(4): 671–87.Google Scholar
Hirschman, Charles, Kasinitz, Philip, and DeWind, Josh, eds. 1999. The Handbook of International Migration: The American Experience. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.Google Scholar
Hochschild, Jennifer, and Burch, Traci. 2007. “Contingent Public Policies and Racial Hierarchy: Lessons from Immigration and Census Policies.” In Political Contingency: Studying the Unexpected, the Accidental, and the Unforeseen, eds. Shapiro, Ian and Bedi, Sonu. New York: New York University Press.Google Scholar
Hochschild, Jennifer, and Powell, Brenna Marea. 2008. “Racial Reorganization and the United States Census 1850–1930: Mulattoes, Half-Breeds, Mixed Parentage, Hindoos, and the Mexican Race.” Studies in American Political Development 22(1): 59–96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hochschild, Jennifer, Powell, Brenna Marea, and Weaver, Vesla. 2008. “Political Discourse on Racial Mixture: American Newspapers, 1865 to 1970.” Presented at the Policy History Conference, St. Louis, MO, May 29–31.Google Scholar
Hollinger, David. 2003. “Amalgamation and Hypodescent: The Question of Ethnoracial Mixture in the History of the United States.” American Historical Review 108(5): 1363–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hollinger, David. 2006. Postethnic America: Beyond Multiculturalism. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Hutchings, Vincent, Wong, Cara, Brown, Ronald, Jackson, James, and Faison, Nakesha. 2005. “The National Ethnic Politics Study (NEPS): Ethnic Pluralism & Politics in the 21st Century.” Presented at the American Association of Public Opinion Research conference, Miami Beach, FL, May 12.Google Scholar
Igo, Sarah. 2007. The Averaged American: Surveys, Citizens, and the Making of a Mass Public. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jacobson, Matthew. 1998. Whiteness of a Different Color: European Immigrants and the Alchemy of Race. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Jones, Trina. 2000. “Shades of Brown: The Law of Skin Color.” Duke Law Journal 49: 1487–557.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Joseph, Peniel. 2007. Waiting 'Til the Midnight Hour: A Narrative History of Black Power in America. New York: Holt.Google Scholar
Kasinitz, Philip, Mollenkopf, John, Waters, Mary, and Holdaway, Jennifer. 2008. Inheriting the City: The Children of Immigrants Come of Age. New York and Cambridge: Russell Sage Foundation and Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
King, Desmond, and Smith, Rogers. 2005. “Racial Orders in American Political Development.” American Political Science Review 99(1): 75–92.Google Scholar
Lee, Sharon, and Edmonston, Barry. 2006. “Hispanic Intermarriage, Identification, and U.S. Latino Population Change.” Social Science Quarterly 87(5): 1263–79.Google Scholar
Lee, Taeku. 2004. “Social Construction, Self-Identification, and the Survey Measurement of ‘Race’.” Presented at the American Political Science Association Annual Convention, Chicago IL.Google Scholar
Lien, Pei-te, Conway, M. Margaret, and Wong, Janelle. 2003. “The Contours and Sources of Ethnic Identity Choices among Asian Americans.” Social Science Quarterly 84(2): 461–81.Google Scholar
Lien, Pei-te, Conway, M. Margaret, and Wong, Janelle. 2004. The Politics of Asian Americans: Diversity and Community. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Marx, Anthony. 1998. Making Race and Nation: A Comparison of South Africa, the United States, and Brazil. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Massey, Douglas, and Charles, Camille. 2006. National Longitudinal Survey of Freshmen. Princeton University, Office of Population Research. October 20, 2006 (http://nlsf.princeton.edu/index.htm).Google Scholar
Massey, Douglas, Charles, Camille, Lundy, Garvey, and Fischer, Mary. 2003. The Source of the River: The Social Origins of Freshmen at America's Selective Colleges and Universities. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Matsuoka, Natalie. 2008. “Political Attitudes and Ideologies of Multiracial Americans.” Political Research Quarterly 61(2): 253–67.Google Scholar
Mavin Foundation. 2006. Mission Statement. (http://www.mavinfoundation.org/about/mission.html), accessed March 8, 2010.Google Scholar
McDougall, Harold. 1997. Statement at Hearings on “Federal Measures of Race and Ethnicity and the Implications for the 2000 Census”. Washington DC: U.S. Government Printing Office. 301–16.Google Scholar
Mettler, Suzanne. 2002. “Bringing the State Back in to Civic Engagement: Policy Feedback Effects of the G.I. Bill for World War II Veterans.” American Political Science Review 96(2): 351–65.Google Scholar
Mettler, Suzanne, and Soss, Joe. 2004. “The Consequences of Public Policy for Democratic Citizenship: Bridging Policy Studies and Mass Politics.” Perspectives on Politics 2(1): 55–74.Google Scholar
Migration News. 2004. Census, Welfare, California, New York City. University of California, Davis. (http://www.migration.ucdavis.edu/mn/more.php?id=2994_0_2_0).Google Scholar
Montejano, David. 1987. Anglos and Mexicans in the Making of Texas, 1836–1986. Austin: University of Texas Press.Google Scholar
Morning, Ann. 2008. “Ethnic Classification in Global Perspective: A Cross-National Survey of the 2000 Census Round.” Population Research and Policy Review 27(2): 239–272.Google Scholar
Murray, Pauli. 1997 [1950]. States' Laws on Race and Color. Athens: University of Georgia Press.Google Scholar
Myrdal, Gunnar. 1944. An American Dilemma. New York: Harper & Brothers.Google Scholar
New American Media. 2007a. California Dreamers: A Public Opinion Portrait of the Most Diverse Generation the Nation Has Known. (http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/view_custom.html?custom_page_id=340).Google Scholar
New American Media. 2007b. “Deep Divisions, Shared Destiny.” (http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=28501933d0e5c5344b21f9640dc13754).Google Scholar
Nobles, Melissa. 2000. Shades of Citizenship: Race and the Census in Modern Politics. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Norton, Eleanor Holmes. 1997. Statement at Hearings on “Federal Measures of Race and Ethnicity and the Implications for the 2000 Census”. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office. 259–61.Google Scholar
Novkov, Julie. 2008. Racial Union: Law, Intimacy, and the White State in Alabama, 1865–1954. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.Google Scholar
Office of Management and Budget. 1977. Statistical Policy Directive Number 15: Race and Ethnic Standards for Federal Statistics and Administrative Reporting. Washington DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.Google Scholar
Office of Management and Budget. 1997. Revisions to the Standards for the Classification of Federal Data on Race and Ethnicity. Washington DC: Executive Office of the President, OMB Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. (http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/fedreg/1997standards.html).Google Scholar
Pascoe, Peggy. 2009. What Comes Naturally: Miscegenation Law and the Making of Race in America. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Pew Research Center for the People and the Press. 1999. Millenium Survey. April 6–May 6.Google Scholar
Pew Research Center for the People and the Press. 2007. “Racial Attitudes in America.” Pew Research Center. (http://pewsocialtrends.org/assets/pdf/Race.pdf).Google Scholar
Portes, Alejandro, and Rumbaut, Rubén. 1991–2006. Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Study (CILS) [Computer file]. ICPSR20520-v1. Ann Arbor, MI: Interuniversity Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor].Google Scholar
Powell, Brenna. 2009. Grey Area: Defining Race and the Struggle for Equality in Brazil. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University, Government and Social Policy Program.Google Scholar
Prewitt, Kenneth. 2001. “Census 2000 and the Fuzzy Boundary Separating Politics and Science.” Bulletin of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences 54(4): 32–40.Google Scholar
Qian, Zhenchao, and Lichter, Daniel. 2007. “Social Boundaries and Marital Assimilation: Interpreting Trends in Racial and Ethnic Intermarriage.” American Sociological Review 72(1): 68–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Quillian, Lincoln, and Redd, Rozlyn. 2009. “The Friendship Networks of Multiracial Adolescents.” Social Science Research 38(2): 279–95.Google Scholar
Rockquemore, Kerry, Brunsma, David, and Delgado, Daniel. 2009. “Racing to Theory or Retheorizing Race? Understanding the Struggle to Build a Multiracial Identity Theory.” Journal of Social Issues 65(1): 13–34.Google Scholar
Rodriguez, Gregory. 2007. Mongrels, Bastards, Orphans, and Vagabonds: Mexican Immigration and the Future of Race in America. New York: Pantheon Books.Google Scholar
Roediger, David. 2005. Working Toward Whiteness. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Sawyer, Mark. 2005. Racial Politics in Post-Revolutionary Cuba. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Schor, Paul. 2005. “Mobilising for Pure Prestige? Challenging Federal Census Ethnic Categories in the USA (1850–1940).” International Social Science Journal 57(183): 89–101.Google Scholar
Schuck, Peter. 2009. “Immigrants' Incorporation in the United States after 9/11: Two Steps Forward, One Step Back.” In Bringing Outsiders In: TransAtlantic Perspectives on Immigrant Political Incorporation, ed. Hochschild, Jennifer and Mollenkopf, John. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Scott, James. 1998. Seeing Like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Shelby, Tommie. 2005. We Who Are Dark: The Philosophical Foundations of Black Solidarity. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Shih, Margaret, Bonam, Courtney, Sanchez, Diana, and Peck, Courtney. 2007. “The Social Construction of Race: Biracial Identity and Vulnerability to Stereotypes.” Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology 13(2): 125–33.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shklar, Judith. 1991. American Citizenship. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Sidanius, Jim, Peña, Yesilernis, and Sawyer, Mark. 2001. “Inclusionary Discrimination: Pigmentocracy and Patriotism in the Dominican Republic.” Political Psychology 22(4): 827–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Siegel, Jacob, and Passel, Jeffrey. 1979. Coverage of the Hispanic Population of the United States in the 1970 Census: A Methodological Analysis. Washington, DC: U. S. Bureau of the Census.Google Scholar
Simmons, Tavia, and O'Connell, Martin. 2003. Married-Couple and Unmarried-Partner Households: 2000. Washington, DC: U.S. Bureau of the Census.Google Scholar
Skerry, Peter. 2000. Counting on the Census? Race, Group Identity, and the Evasion of Politics. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press.Google Scholar
Skrentny, John David. 2002. The Minority Rights Revolution. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Smith, James, and Edmonston, Barry, ed. 1997. The New Americans: Economic, Demographic, and Fiscal Effects of Immigration. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.Google Scholar
Smith, Rogers. 2007. “Studies in American Racial Development: An Interim Report.” Perspectives on Politics 5(2): 325–33.Google Scholar
St. James, Phillip. 2007. “Letter to the Editor” Ebony. 62: 31.Google Scholar
Stanfield, Rochelle. 1999. “The Blending of the United States.” U.S. Department of State, International Information Programs. (http://usinfo.state.gov/journals/itsv/0699/ijse/stanfld.htm).Google Scholar
Stephenson, Gilbert. 1910. Race Distinctions in American Law. New York and London: D. Appleton and Company.Google Scholar
Survey by Newsweek and Princeton Survey Research Associates International, January 14–January 15, 2009. Retrieved June 15, 2009 from the iPOLL Databank, The Roper Center for Public Opinion Research, University of Connecticut. (http://www.ropercenter.uconn.edu/ipoll.html).Google Scholar
Survey by Newsweek and Princeton Survey Research Associates, February 1–February 3, 1995. Retrieved June 15, 2009 from the iPOLL Databank, The Roper Center for Public Opinion Research, University of Connecticut. (http://www.ropercenter.uconn.edu/ipoll.html).Google Scholar
Tafoya, Sonya. 2000. “Check One or More … Mixed Race and Ethnicity in California.” Public Policy Institute of California. (http://www.ppic.org/content/pubs/cacounts/CC_100STCC.pdf).Google Scholar
Telles, Edward. 2004. Race in Another America: The Significance of Skin Color in Brazil. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
U. S. Bureau of the Census. 2001. The Two or More Races Population: 2000. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Commerce.Google Scholar
U. S. Bureau of the Census. 2002. Measuring America: The Decennial Censuses From 1790 to 2000. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Commerce.Google Scholar
U. S. Bureau of the Census. 2009 Annual Estimates of the Resident Population by Sex, Race, and Hispanic Origin for the United States: April 1, 2000 to July 1, 2008. Washington, DC: U.S. Census Bureau.Google Scholar
U. S. Census Office. 1895. Report on Population of the United States at the Eleventh Census: 1890. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.Google Scholar
U. S. Department of Education. 2007. “Final Guidance on Maintaining, Collecting, and Reporting Racial and Ethnic Data to the U. S. Department of Education.” Federal Register. 72(202): 59266–79.Google Scholar
U.S. Department of Justice. 2001. “Guidance Concerning Redistricting and Retrogression under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, 42 U.S.C. 1973c.” Federal Register 66(12): 5412–5414.Google Scholar
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. 2005. “Agency Information Collection Activities: Notice of Submission for OMB Review, Final Comment Request.” Federal Register 70(227): 71294–303.Google Scholar
Valle, Victor, and Torres, Rodolfo. 2000. Latino Metropolis. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.Google Scholar
Vasconcelos, José. 1979 [1925]. The Cosmic Race: A Bilingual Edition. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
Wallman, Katherine. 1998. “Data on Race and Ethnicity: Revising the Federal Standard.” American Statistician 52(1): 31–33.Google Scholar
Washington Post Kaiser Family Foundation, and Harvard University School of Public Health. 2001. Race and Ethnicity in 2001: Attitudes, Perceptions, and Experiences. Menlo Park, CA: Kaiser Family Foundation.Google Scholar
Waterston, Adriana. 2004. The Dawning of Multicultural America. Larchmont, NY: Horowitz Associates Inc. Market Research & Consulting. (www.horowitzassociates.com/dawning.pdf).Google Scholar
“Why the Census is Important to You.” 2000. Ebony. April, 31ff.Google Scholar
Williams, Diana. 2006. Family Drama: The Political Economy of Interracial Inheritance in Nineteenth Century Louisiana. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University, Program in the History of American Civilization. (www.dianairenewilliams.com).Google Scholar
Williams, Kim. 2006. Mark One or More: Civil Rights in Multiracial America. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.Google Scholar
Wilson, James Q. 1989. Bureaucracy: What Government Agencies Do and Why They Do It. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Yen, Hope. 2009. Multiracial Americans Become Fastest Growing US Group. June 4, 2009 (www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/05/29/).Google Scholar
Zackondik, Teresa. 2001. “Fixing the Color Line: The Mulatto, Southern Courts, and Racial Identity.” American Quarterly 53: 420–51.Google Scholar