Multiracial Identification and Racial Gaps: A Work in Progress

Abstract

For nearly 20 years, the U.S. Census has allowed respondents to report multiple races, offering new opportunities to assess the well-being of multiracial groups. Multiple-race reporting provides much-needed nuance for assessing the racial stratification of social outcomes as the distinctions between racial groups is less clear. Here, I explore the promises and the pitfalls of working with multiple-race data in studies of race inequality. I begin with a discussion of prior work using multiple-race data, showing how they inform our understanding of race-based patterns, and also consider issues raised by the conceptual and methodological fuzziness inherent in using multiple-race responses. I then provide a brief picture of current racial differences in adult poverty rates for single- and multiple-race groups, revealing that some multiracial groups experience parity with single-race groups while others occupy a space in between. While these patterns are meaningful, multiple interpretations are possible given the nature of multiple-race data.

Black and Indigenous Inequality in Mexico: Implications for Multiracialism and Intersectionality Research

“…These findings should serve as a caution to scholars who use single or implicit dual-category approaches in their analyses of inequality. Our findings build on nascent conversations regarding how to account for multiraciality in analyses of inequality (Bratter 2018; Bratter and Gorman 2011; Campbell 2009; Shiao 2019) and contribute to understandings of how population growth can affect estimates of inequality, discussions which are increasingly relevant given the increase in minority and multiracial identification in many national contexts.…”

“…A recent set of U.S.-based studies examines the important question of whether and how incorporating multiracials improves analyses of ethnoracial inequality (Bratter 2018; Bratter and Gorman 2011; Campbell 2009; Shiao 2019). In general, separating specific multiracial combinations into their own categories often nuances understandings of the degree of inequality and the mechanisms which reproduce it.…”

“…In general, separating specific multiracial combinations into their own categories often nuances understandings of the degree of inequality and the mechanisms which reproduce it. In her study of household poverty, Jenifer L. Bratter (2018) finds that multiracials are not easily collapsible into broader single racial categories or a combined multiracial category, given the variation in how different multiracial categories fare relative to their parent categories. Relatedly, Jenifer Bratter and Bridget Gorman (2011) find that the health of multiracials diverge considerably from those in their parent category when using a single “best-race” selected by respondents, because multiracials may identify with a single-race category but not have the same experience (e.g., racial stratification) as monoracials in that category.…”

The Neighborhood Attainment of Mixed-Race Couples across the Black/White Spectrum

“…Counter to the growing research on mixed-race couples, minimal research has been conducted on the neighborhood attainment of multiracial individuals (Bennett 2011). The lack of understanding of the neighborhood attainment of multiracial individuals is partly due to the limited number of publicly available datasets that allow respondents to identify themselves as more than one race (Bratter 2018). In a creative response to this limitation, some scholars have focused on multiracial children whose racial status can be determined through their parents’ combined racial status (Brunsma 2005; Qian 2004).…”

Color, Culture, or Cousin? Multiracial Americans and Framing Boundaries in Interracial Relationships

“…Some scholars suggest that multiracial populations in the United States introduce new dynamics to these markets, with some mixed‐White multiracial people having a greater ability to classify themselves as White and thus blurring boundaries or inflating levels of interracial marriage with Whites (Qian & Lichter, ). Aside from illuminating details about shifts in partner selection norms, data on multiracials provide nuance for assessing racial stratification boundaries (Bratter, ).…”