Psychosocial components of the U.S. African Caribbean ethnic project and contributing contextual factors

Abstract

ABSTRACT The ethnic project thesis contends African Caribbean immigrants to the U.S. summon ethnicity in defense against racial characterizations of their group. I examine the psychosocial components of the African Caribbean ethnic project – Caribbean cultural involvement and awareness and distancing from Black awareness and sense of shared fate. Defining the Caribbean ethnic project as a subjective state, I examine potential contributing contextual factors, including perceived discrimination, exposure to all Black contexts, and socioeconomic status (SES). Using the National Survey of American Life, I find increasing SES is positively associated with Black awareness, while increasing exposure to all Black contexts enhances Caribbean awareness and acculturation. However, as time in the U.S. increases, Caribbean awareness declines and a sense of shared fate with Black people grows, particularly among those at low levels of SES. These findings are discussed in terms of the influence of racialization on the U.S. Caribbean ethnic project.