In this article, we discuss and expand on two novel concepts developed to better understand ethnoracial integration and variation: the ethnoracial core and the symbolic-to-consequential ethnoracial continuum . These concepts were derived from analysis of qualitative and quantitative data from the Mexican American Study Project, which showed a lasting ethnoraciality for many later-generation Mexican Americans and a high degree of within-group variation. To address the issue of ethnoracial maintenance, we introduced the concept of the ethnoracial core, which is comprised of structural and institutional forces that promote strong and enduring ethnoracial experiences. To better conceptualize within-group variation, we mapped individual experiences onto a symbolic to consequential ethnoracial continuum. While these two concepts have been well received, calls have been made to expand them to other cases and contexts. In this article, we provide an overview of these new conceptual tools and elaborate on them using diverse cases and contexts, with an eye to their broader applicability. We also provide concrete suggestions for their operationalization and measurement. With the introduction and expansion of these two concepts, our aim is to generate a more comprehensive and inclusive framework that bridges theories of immigrant integration and race/ethnicity. In doing so, we endeavor to avoid some of the weaknesses of prior theorizing, most notably the inattention to African Americans and contexts beyond the United States.

Racial identities can be complex for multiracials due to varied options, ambiguous appearances, and others’ perceptions. To date, sociology has focused little on understanding any agency multiracials perceive in identity choices—a concept psychologists call racial identity autonomy . Using qualitative data from interviews with 49 multiracial college students, I combine the sociological conceptualization of situational racial identities with psychology’s identity autonomy to illuminate distinct ways that multiracials experience and understand their racial identities. I find four patterns of identification: singular autonomous identities, multiple autonomous identities, singular forced choice identities, and multiple forced choice identities. These patterns capture individuals’ perceptions of available identity options and control over their identities across contexts, revealing important distinctions among those who perceive autonomy and those who view their racial identity as fluid. Considering autonomy alongside sociological conceptions of multiracial identities uncovers previously overlooked experiences with multiracial identities and potentially informs future research on health outcomes and identity development among this growing population.

We use data from the American National Election Study (ANES) collected between 1986 and 2020 to examine trends in colorblind frames, identifying cognitions that deny or downplay the persistence of racism. We use hierarchical age-period-cohort (HAPC) models to investigate whether ascription to colorblind frames varies across age, periods, and birth cohorts, examining period changes while controlling for changes in cohort composition. Following the Theory of Racial Ignorance’s (TRI) proposition that actors’ interests in promoting racial ignorance vary, we disaggregate our analyses by race and political affiliation. Our findings reveal little change across cohorts and small but substantial period changes. Specifically, our results show that colorblind frames increased during the Obama period and decreased in the Trump era. Separating trends by race and political affiliation, we observe that different groups drove the change observed in each period in a way aligned with the strategic interest of each group. These results reaffirm the value of TRI for understanding how the electoral cycle and key political events shape broad changes in racial ignorance frames.

While a great deal of research has considered racial disparities in the justice system, there has been a lack of research on Asian populations. This research addresses this omission by conducting a comprehensive examination of policing of Asian victims and suspects. To accomplish this, this study uses NIBRS data to examine variation in arrest for Asian-involved incidents of violent crime. Results indicate that incidents involving Asian victims are more likely to result in arrest than other incidents, but that incidents involving Asian suspects are also especially likely to result in arrest, with the critical exception of instances that involve Black victimization. Taken together, results suggest that the consequence of the unique social position of Asian people in American racial hierarchies is a punishment system that is not uniformly positive or negative, but partially dependent on the role of Asian people in a criminal incident, as either victim or offender.

Although the number of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) graduates is increasing, few studies have examined the implications of STEM credentials for the well-being of children. Using data from the 2018–2022 American Community Survey, this study examines racial and ethnic inequalities in poverty among the children of STEM graduates, and whether these inequalities are shaped by foreign-born status. The results show several patterns of inequality in child poverty, which are conditional on ethno-racial differences and the occupational outcomes of STEM graduates. For example, Black and Hispanic children, who have the highest poverty rates, are the most likely to have parents with STEM degrees who are not employed in STEM jobs and parents with jobs with lower levels of prestige. The results also show higher levels of child poverty in foreign-born compared to U.S.-born STEM households. However, in U.S.-born STEM households, the employment of STEM graduates in occupations in the highest quartiles is associated with a greater poverty advantage among Whites than non-Whites. Conversely, the employment of STEM graduates in occupations in the lowest quartiles accentuates the disadvantage of Blacks compared to non-Blacks. Finally, the results indicate that in foreign-born STEM households, the poverty outcomes of Black children of STEM graduates are identical to those of White children whose parents never went to college.

Researchers have long critiqued the “model minority” stereotype for overlooking substantial achievement variations across Asian American ethnic groups. This study extends these critiques by analyzing how detailed Asian-origin groups differ in their rankings across four socioeconomic dimensions: education, employment, personal income, and homeownership. Using data from the 2017–2021 American Community Survey, we rank 20 Asian-origin groups, revealing four distinct achievement configurations. Only seven Asian-origin groups have consistently high, moderate, or low achievements. The rest are status-inconsistent: “traditional stability achievers” have high employment and homeownership but modest education and income; “educationally driven achievers” excel in education and earnings but have lower homeownership rates; and finally, two outliers, Chinese and Mongolian Americans, have mixed achievements that elude clear categorization. These findings demonstrate the need to consider multiple socioeconomic indicators to fully capture the diversity within Asian American communities. Future research should investigate how factors such as geographic clustering, household finances, and disparate returns to resources shape these multifaceted achievement patterns.

While microaggressions are common, they are rarely challenged in real time; in fact, the literature suggests that the most common response to experiencing/witnessing microaggressions is to not respond. In this article, we describe the process of using qualitative methods and participatory design to identify barriers to responding to racial microaggressions and inform the development of a virtual reality film that depicts different ways of responding to, or challenging, racial microaggressions. The goals in developing this research-based intervention and educational tool are 1) to use storytelling to highlight the consequences of not responding to racism, and 2) to demonstrate effective strategies for responding to racism in everyday situations, thereby challenging the racial status quo in a society that is purportedly colorblind, and where silence in the face of microaggressions is the norm.

In recent years, scholars have argued that biological ideas about Black people have returned to both the biomedical and social sciences. In this article, we extend such research by broadening its scope across time and disciplinary space, examining—through citation network, semantic, and qualitative content analyses—more than 50,000 articles about Black people in scholarly journals between 1900 and 2020. In so doing, we make two core contributions. First, we identify the mid-twentieth century as the highwater mark for social scientific thinking about Blackness, and show how deeply connected this thinking was to the Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) in which it was produced. Second, we demonstrate the ways in which the recent “return” of biological ideas about Black people differs from the accounts against which mid-twentieth-century social scientists argued. Compared to the early twentieth century, the line between biological and social scientific accounts of Black people has been blurred, making accounts in both at once less overtly racist and also potentially more difficult to challenge.

Emergent research on the platform economy shows how race and gender oppression shape economic roles and virtual marketplaces enabled by digital technologies. While digital platforms promise economic self-determination, they also reinforce inequalities through algorithmic bias, platform policies, and precarious work conditions, particularly for women of color. This study asks: In what ways does platform-dependent entrepreneurship reflect the intersectional stratification resulting from the dual racialized sexualization and feminization of body work? Centering Black exotic dancers, this article examines how they use Instagram for self-branding and market-making in pursuit of entrepreneurial opportunities. Analyzing user-generated content from 73 Black exotic dancers in the southeastern United States, this study explores how “erotic influencers” extend their work beyond strip clubs to connect marginalized consumers and proprietors. Their profiles facilitate an intraracial online network where they advertise Black cultural products and services in beauty, fashion, and rap music. These findings illustrate how these women navigate a racial enclave economy on Instagram to construct new economic roles shaped by platform constraints and racialized erotic capital. To conclude, this article argues that erotic influencers are key market actors, linking formal and informal Black economic activities while contending with racial capitalism’s structural constraints in a digital society.