The Durability of Racial Reclassifications and Possible Population Whitening in the U.S.

• In Event: 2166 - Section on Racial and Ethnic Minorities Refereed Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable 100min: Table 6: Understanding Trends in Racial Identity

Abstract

Are changes in the ways that individuals are racially classified by others over time short-lived “blips” that are quickly reversed in subsequent racial classification events? Or, when such racial reclassifications occur, do these changes mark durable shifts in the ways that others perceive them racially? Building on empirical work suggesting that racial reclassification is a fixture of social processes of racial classification in the U.S., this research examines the durability of shifts in the ways that people are racially classified over time in the U.S. This study uses a longitudinal sample of racial classification events from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, 1997. Results suggest that racial reclassifications from Other to White last longer than reclassifications from White to Other. Due to this imbalance in duration, the number of reclassifications from Other to White exceeds the number of reclassifications from White to Other. This disparity in the duration of racial classification suggests a mechanism by which the racial composition of the U.S. population may be changing.

Author

• Andrea Kauffman-Berry, University of Pennsylvania