Multiracial Race Self-Labeling Decisions: The Influence of Gender, Social Class, and Political Party Affiliation

Sarah Elizabeth Castillo

doi:10.3390/socsci11020087

Sarah Elizabeth Castillo

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci11020087

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Abstract

The growing prominence of the multiracial population in the United States is prompting new questions about the importance of social identities on race self-labeling decisions. I review and expand on a growing body of research on this population that focuses on identifying and describing nonracial categories important to shaping racial identities. Specifically, I utilized a national survey of U.S. adults administered by the Pew Research Center to investigate how social identities defined by nonracial categories such as gender, social class, and political party affiliation impact the race self-labels of multiracial people. In addition, I consider factors of racial identity, discrimination, and social pressure and their potential influence on race self-labeling decisions. The findings indicate that gender, social class, and political party affiliation are potential predictors of race self-labeling decisions of multiracial people. After adding the factors of racial identity, discrimination, and social pressure, the results remain significant. In addition, the results for social class and political party affiliation reinforce the actuality that a pervasive racial hierarchy and social stratification system, situated in the context of White supremacy, is embedded within U.S. society.

Highlights

The results of this study indicate that the nonracial categories of gender, social class, and political party affiliation predict differences between people that claim a single minority or multiracial race self-label
The results of the present study indicate that the nonracial categories of gender and political party affiliation remain independent predictors of race self-labeling even after taking into consideration the additional factors of racial identity, discrimination, and social pressure
I utilized a national survey of U.S adults administered by the Pew Research Center to investigate how social identities defined by nonracial categories, such as gender, social class, and political party affiliation, influence the race self-labels chosen by multiracial people in the United States

Summary

Introduction

In 2000, the federal government allowed people to select more than one race category on their US Census forms (Jones and Smith 2001). Approximately 2.4 percent of the US population self-identified with two or more races, and a decade later that number grew to 2.9 percent (Jones and Smith 2001; Jones et al 2021). Fast forward another decade to the 2020 census, and the multiracial population had grown to an astounding 10.2 percent (33.8 million people) of the total population. Race reporting on the US Census has significant implications for government funding and social support systems. The US Census determines the distribution of congressional seats to states and how states and communities allocate funding for neighborhood improvement, education, and public health

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