Identity Theory and Multiracial Identification: Toward Fixed and Fluid Categorical Identities

• In Event: Joint Roundtables: Social Psychology Section and Sociology of Emotions Section
  In Refereed Roundtable (90 minute): Table 6 - Identity & Race

Abstract

Sociological Social Psychology’s identity theory holds that categorical identities, like race, are ascribed by society and determined through in-groups and out-groups, requiring verification to be enacted (Burke and Stets 2023; Stets and Burke 2025). This conception of race does not fully account for the diverse ways that multiracial individuals perceive and experience their racial identities, particularly those identities that change across contexts and do not align with the perspectives and expectations of others in interactions. The experiences of multiracial people who either claim multiple racial identities or maintain racial identities despite lack of verification from others challenge identity theory’s conception.
Multiracial people hold a unique social position between traditional racial categories, distinctly positioned with multiple racial identity options and the potential for fluidity between them across time and space (Kramer et al. 2015; Rockquemore and Brunsma 2002). Thus, the process of racial identification can be particularly complex for multiracial individuals because of their multiple options and changing social dynamics across contexts (Daniel 1996; Khanna 2004, 2010). A multiracial individual may identify with different racial categories across time and space (e.g., as Asian in one space and as white in another), with multiple racial categories simultaneously (e.g., as Asian and white at the same time), or (3) with one racial category across time and space (e.g., as “mixed” in every situation).
In this paper, I use the case of multiracial identification to bring into question how identity theory considers race and other categorical identities. Qualitative data leads me to suggest a new conceptualization of different types of categorical identities, what I call “fixed” and “fluid” categorical identities. By examining multiracial people’s various reactions to racial identity non-verification, this work shows how identity theory’s categorical identities may shift across contexts and have the potential to remain stable without verification from others.

Author

• Deja Marie Goodwin, University of California-Los Angeles