Neither Black nor White? An empirical test of the Latin Americanization thesis

Abstract

Over the past four decades, demographic trends have provoked divergent perspectives concerning the future of race and ethnic relations in the United States. Despite the important implications of these differing interpretations of the future, social scientists have given them little empirical scrutiny. In this study, we systematically investigate one of these perspectives-Bonilla-Silva et al. [Research in Political Sociology 23 (2003) 111] Latin Americanization thesis. The Latin Americanization thesis posits that the United States is moving from a two-tier, White/non-White, racial stratification system toward a three-tier one that consists of the following categories: (1) White, (2) honorary White, and (3) collective Black. In this article, we empirically test one aspect of this thesis-the idea that members of the "White," "honorary White" and "collective Black" categories will express social attitudes that reflect their status position in the newly emergent three-tier racial stratification system. We use a large nationally representative sample of non-Hispanic Whites, non-Hispanic Blacks, Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, and Cubans to assess this question. Our results lend qualified support to the Latin Americanization thesis. We conclude by considering the implications of these results for future research on contemporary racial dynamics.

The Hidden Politics of Identity: Racial Self‐Identification and Latino Political Engagement

“…As is the case in many Latin American countries, respondents may self‐identify as “whiter” than their phenotype suggests because of the social benefits whiteness offers (Jones‐Correa 1998; Rodriguez 2000). Using the 1990 Latino National Political Survey, Forman, Goar, and Lewis (2002, 72‐4) found that while most Latinos self‐identified as “white,” interviewers’ assessments of the respondents’ skin color identified many Mexican, Puerto Rican, and Cuban respondents as having a dark complexion. With this data I am unable to gauge how many respondents are dark‐skinned and were reluctant to place themselves in same racial category as black Americans.…”

America's Shifting Color Line? Reexamining Determinants of Latino Racial Self‐Identification*

“…Thus, Latinos and Asian Americans will eventually join the white mainstream, becoming white as a result of cultural and structural assimilation. A third perspective suggests that existing racial hierarchy of white/nonwhite will evolve into a three‐tier model where Latinos will be an intermediate category between whites, the dominant group, and blacks who are assigned the lowest rank in the hierarchy (Forman, Goar, and Lewis, ; Duany, ; Bonilla‐Silva et al., ; Bonilla‐Silva, ).…”

Does Whitening Happen? Distinguishing between Race and Color Labels in an African-Descended Community in Peru

“…These issues are important for scholars to consider as there is an ongoing debate on how racial classifications work in the United States, and the extent to which the United States is becoming more like Latin America (see: Bonilla-Silva 2004;Forman et al 2004;Golash-Boza and Darity 2008;Sue 2009). These debates require a clear understanding of how race works in Latin America, and this article provides a model for analyzing how race and color classifications work in specific localities.…”