Institutional Culture and Racial Identity Change: A Mixed-methods Study on Three College Campuses

• In Event: 2352 - Racialization and Colorblindness: Intersection of Institutions and Identities

Abstract

Researchers have documented that racial identities in the United States can change over time, whether measured as switching of racial self-categorization across longitudinal surveys, or as changes in the content of racial self-understanding as captured in qualitative interviews. These studies have provided evidence or racial fluidity, but explanations for racial switching have been somewhat limited. In particular, the influence of institutions has been under-explored, although the literature on racial formation has indicated that institutions are where individuals in fact learn the meanings of racial categories in everyday life. This study examines the variable influence of institutional cultures on racial identity using original survey and interview data at three culturally distinct public universities. Results show that roughly one third of survey respondents report some degree of change to racial self-classification since high school, and that over half of survey respondents report change in the salience of race for their identities. Interviews indicate that students’ racial identification is especially sensitive to campus cultures relating status to sociability and academic achievement, whereas campus diversity cultures have complex effects.

Author

• Karam Hwang, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill