Change in the Singular Racial Concept of American Society*

Hyun Song Lee

International Area Studies Review, 2010, vol. 13, issue 3, 51-72

Abstract: In this paper key aspects concerning the emergence of multiracial identity are reviewed using previous researches and appropriate data. Three topics are examined; interracial marriage, racial classification scheme, and the racial designation of a child of mixed-race family. The emergence of multiracial people in official statistics provides the potential for capturing new forms of racial diversity that challenges well-established rules of identifying one's origins within one singular racial group. Overall, intermarriage and racial classification patterns show that while the racial demarcation between Asians and whites or American Indians and whites seems to blur, that between white and black remains relatively distinct. The rate of intermarriage is much smaller between white and black. However, when they have a child, it is noteworthy that they are prone to resist the One-drop rule, rather choose a neutral option of “multiracial†. When the black-white multiracial get married, half of them also choose “multiracial†for their child. This pattern of transferring the multiracial identity over generations suggests the possibility that the multiracial identity may develop into a racial category of some stability and significance. If race move closer to individual's choice and its categories become more complicated by adding many new breeds of combination, it is certain that the grip of race over Americans' lives will be weaker. The conception of singular race will be diluted with the wider adoption of multiracial along with the growth of interracial unions. It is certain that the enlarging complexity and confusion of race may move people's consciousness away from race-based frame.

Keywords: Multiracial; mixed-race; race; interracial marriage; American society (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2010
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:intare:v:13:y:2010:i:3:p:51-72

DOI: 10.1177/223386591001300303

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