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AMoreInformativeSetofRaceandEthnicityQuestionsfortheUnitedStatesCensus

MIT Student17.269RaceandEthnicity

14March2017

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WhyRaceandEthnicity?

TheUnitedStateshashadmanymotivesformeasuringraceandethnicityinthe

populationacrossitsshorthistory.Thethree-fifthscompromiseofthelate1780scalledforrace

tobemeasuredtodeterminerepresentationinCongress—withslaves(blacks)countingas3/5

ofawhiteperson.Astimehaspassed,raceshavebeenaddedandremovedonthecensusfor

variousreasonsrangingfromchangingconceptsofracialmakeup(delineatingsouthern

EuropeansfromNorthernEuropeansinthe1880stoconsideringallEuropeansaswhitetoday),

racistandmal-intentionedmotives(deportation),andevenexperimentation(measuring

fertilityofmixed-raceindividualtodeterminethetruthofthesuperiorityof“biologicallypure”

races)(DesmondandEmirbayer,2015;Sollors,2002).

Today,raceismeasurednotbecauseresearchersbelieveittobeabiologicalreality(the

foundationuponwhichracewasfirstconceptualized)butrather,asTukufuZuberiapproaches

it,asasocialconstructwhichhasinfluencedthelivesofAmericansthroughhistoryandwhich

continuestohaveimplicationsformoderndayAmericans(Zuberi,2001).Individualshavebeen

deniedopportunitiesandrightsrangingfromciviltosocialtopoliticalandeducationalbasedon

theirraceandethnicity(Blanketal.,2004),andthereforeaskingaboutraceisnecessaryto

understandcumulativediscriminationandthelastingimpactofthesehistoricaleventsaswell

ascurrentdiscriminatorypolicies,suchasNewYork’s“Stop-and-Frisk”policy(Gelmanetal.,

2007).

TheCurrentUSCensus

ThecurrentUnitedStatescensusemploystwoquestionstogaindataabouttheoverall

racialandethnicmake-upoftheUnitedStatespopulation.Thefirstquestion(Figure1question

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8)asksthecensustakerabouttheir

ethnicity.Ratherthangivingawide

rangeofoptionsforthisquestion,the

censusonlyallowsindividualstoidentify

ashavingHispanic,Latino,orSpanish

ethnicrootsornot.BecauseHispanic

originsarenotclassifiedasracesinthis

census,thisisanopportunityfor

individualswhoaretypicallyconsidered

raciallywhitetobeabletodifferentiate

themselvesfromotherwhite

populationssuchasthoseofNorthern

Europeandescent.Thisrequiresthat

researchersmustusebothofthesequestionsintandemtoformmeaningfulgroupsandto

comparethosegroupsacrossavarietyofvariablessuchaslifeexpectancy,averageincome,

homeownership,andothers.

Thesecondquestiononthistopic(Figure1,question9)askstheindividualtoselectone

ormultipleraces.Theoptionofselectingmultipleracesisamorerecentdevelopmentforthe

census,originatingonthe2000census.Individualsaregivenaselectionof12raceswiththe

optionofwritinginanynotlisted.Acommonoccurrenceonthisquestionisforindividualswho

markedthattheyhaveHispanicorLatinooriginsinquestion8towriteinHispanicorLatinofor

Figure1CurrentformatofUnitedStatesCensusquestionsonraceandethnicity.

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theirraceaswell.Thisbegsthequestionofwhetheritisnecessarytohavetwoseparate

questionsonraceandethnicitywhenindividualsseemtoconsiderthemasthesame.

Thereareseveralprosandconstothecurrentwaythatthecensusasksaboutraceand

ethnicity.ThecurrentcensusassumesthatonlyHispanic,Latino,orSpanishethnicitiesare

significantenoughtobeworthaskingabout.Everyotherethnicgroupislumpedintothe

categoryof“notofHispanic,Latino,orSpanishorigin”andthoseindividualsareassumedtobe

primarilydefinedbytheirrace—whateverthatmeanstothem.Thismeansthatanyvariations

inincome,homeownership,orotherinformationgatheredbythecensuscannotbedelineated

byanyotherethniclines.Thisstronglylimitstheusefulnessoftheethnicdatabyitselfanddoes

notallowustomeaningfullyanswerhowethnicityingeneralaffectsthelivesofAmericans.

Thecurrentcensusquestionsarealsovagueintermsofwhattheyareaskingfor.What

makesupraceandracialidentityisanever-changingandill-definedsubject.Racehastiesto

geography,personalidentity,skincolor,culturalidentity,andmore.Askingasinglequestion

aboutraceleavestherespondenttodefinethetermontheirown.Eachcensustakermaytake

differentvariablesintoaccountastheyselectwhichracetheybelongto.Becauseofthis,itis

questionabletowhatdegreeoneperson’sanswercanbemeaningfullycomparedtoanother’s

asindividualsareunlikelytoplacethesameweightoneachcomponentthatcanmakeupracial

identity.

Thesequestionsalsopresentraceandethnicityasfacts,ratherthanmalleableconcepts

thathavethepotentialtochangeovertime.Sincethecensushasbeenshowntohavebroad

implicationsastohowAmericansviewrace(Sollors,2002),thiswordinghasthepotentialto

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giveindividualstheideathatraceisabiologicalfactorwell-definedtruth—ahistorically

dangerousconcept.

ProposedModificationstotheCensus

Questions

Thispaperproposesreplacingthecurrentcensusquestionswithsixalternative

questions,presentedinfullinAppendix1.Eachoftheproposedquestionsisformulatedtoask

aboutaslightlydifferentaspectofraceandethnicity.Whencombined,thesequestionswill

formamoreholisticcharacterizationofnotonlywhatracialandethnicgroupsmakeuptheUS,

buthowAmericansthemselvesviewraceandethnicity.Theseproposedquestionsare:

Question1Person1considersthemselvesasfrom…(selectoneormorecountry)

Question2Person1hasancestryin…

(selectoneormoreregion)Question3Person1describestheirraceas…

(selectoneormorerace)Question4Othershave(rightlyorwrongly)describedPerson1’sraceas…

(selectoneormorerace)Question5Person1describestheirethnicityas…

(selectoneormoreethnicity)Question6Ofthepreviousquestions(1-5),Person1’sexperiencesaremoststronglyshapedby…

(selectoneanswer)

Eachofthesequestionsapproachesraceand/orethnicityfromaslightlydifferent

perspective.Becauseraceandethnicityaresuchvagueconcepts,askingaboutspecificaspects

ofraceandethnicityallowsustogatherdatathatismoreself-consistentinthatrespondents

knowmoreclearlywhatthequestionisasking.Thisapproachislessambiguousinwhatitis

askingfromtherespondentineachquestionandallowsamoreexpansiveexplorationofthe

individual’sidentitybyisolatingmanypossibledefinitionsofraceandethnicity.

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Thefirstoftheproposedquestionsisdesignedtotouchonanindividual’scultural

upbringing.Whichpresent-daycountry(s)theindividualmoststronglyidentifieswithis

exploredhere.Thisquestionprobesanaspectofethnicity—onethatseekstocapturebroad

present-dayinfluencesontheindividualthatstemfromthesociety(s)thattheyconsidermost

formativeforthemasanindividual.

Thesecondquestionasksabouttheindividual’sancestry.Companiessuchas

ancestry.comand23andmeareparticularlydrawntothisconceptionofraceasbeing

delineatedbyearlypopulationsofdifferentgeographicregions.Thisquestionmaybeusefulto

tracktheimplicationofhavingacertaingeographicancestryintheUnitedStates.Whatis

importanttonoteaboutthisquestion,however,isthatitisnotnecessarilyareflectionofan

individual’sphysicalappearance.TheremaybeanindividualwhomarksthattheyhaveNative

Americanrootswhohaslightskinandfreckles.Additionally,theterm“ancestry”suggestsa

longtimescale,butexactlyhowlongisuptoeachrespondenttodetermine.Oneindividual

whoputsNorthernAmericanancestrymaymeanthattheyhaveNativeAmerican(Navajofor

example)ancestry,whileanothermaymeantheirparentsorgrandparentslivedintheUnited

States.

Thethirdquestionexplicitlyasksaboutrace.Thisquestionallowstheindividualto

answerbasedupontheirpersonalconceptionofrace.Thisquestiondiffersfromthecurrent

censusquestiononraceinthatitfollowstwootherquestionsthattouchonracialideals.

Becausetheindividualhasalreadyprovidedtwoanswersthatcouldcontributetotheir

definitionofrace—geographicancestryandgeographicidentification—theydonotneedto

wonderiftheirdefinitionofrace“needs”toberootedineitherofthesethings.Iftheirpersonal

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conceptionofraceliesintheirgeographicancestry,theiranswertothisquestionwillbethe

sameastheiranswertoquestion2.However,ifracefortheindividualismoreafunctionof

theirpersonalexperiencesorotherfactors,theycanfeelfreetoanswerthequestioninthat

mannerastheyhavealreadyprovidedtheirgeographicalancestryandwillnotfeellikethey

needanswerinthatwaybecauseitmightbewhatthesurveyormeans.

Thefourthquestionattemptsgetattheindividual’svisualappearanceandpossible

discrepanciesinlifeoutcomethatmaybearesultofexplicitculturalandsystematicracism.

Askingwhatraceothershaveclassifiedthepersonasallowsresearcherstoexplorewhether

raceasself-identificationismostimportantforlifeoutcomeorifraceasothersperceiveitis

mostimportant.Doesbeingclassifiedbyothersasblackormiddleeasternputindividualsata

fiscaldisadvantageascomparedtoindividualswhotendtobeclassifiedbyothersaswhite?

Thefifthquestionallowstheindividualtoprovidetheirethnicidentity.Thisquestion

willincludemoreresponseoptionsthanthecurrentcensus’ethnicityquestion(seeAppendix

1),butthelistofethnicidentitiesprovidediscertainlynotexhaustive.Severaloptionsaregiven

toallowthesurveyrespondenttounderstandwhatcouldbeconsideredanidentity.Ifthe

respondentfeelsstronglyabouthavingaculturalidentitythatisnotincludedonthelist,they

arefreetowriteitinthe“other”option.Iftheydonotfeelstronglyabouttheirethnicity,they

canselect“none”orsimply“American.”Thisquestionvariessignificantlyfromthecurrent

ethnicityquestioninthatitisnotabinarychoicebetweenHispanicorLatinoandnot,allowing

foramorefine-grainedanalysisofthepossibleeffectsofculturalidentificationintheUnited

States.

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ThesixthquestionhelpstoidentifyAmericanattitudestowardsraceandethnicity.If

askedeverycensus,aclearerperceptionofwhatcomponentsofracialidentityaresignificant

forindividualsatdifferenttimepointsintheUnitedStatesandacrossdifferentracialandethnic

groupswillbeavailable.

Answers

Theanswerchoicesrespondentsaregivencanaffectbothresponserateandqualityof

data.Havingmorechoiceshasbeenshowntodecreasetheresponserateonquestions

(Tugend,2010).Question1errsonthesideofmoreoptionsratherthanfewer.Thehopeisthat

thenatureofthesurvey(theUSCensus)willencourageindividualstoresponddespitethat

largeamountofquestions.However,ifalowerresponserateisobserved,feweroptionsshould

begivenonfutureiterations.Withthemultitudeofoptions,morefine-graineddatacanbe

obtained.Additionally,simpledataregressionscanstillbeperformedbygroupinganswersinto

largercategories(suchasusingNorthAmericaninsteadofAmericanandCanadianseparately).

Forquestion1,countriesaredividedintosubregionsbasedontheUNSDdefinition.Only

countrieswithpopulationsover1millionareincludedaspossibleanswers,howeverindividuals

arefreetowriteinothercountriesinaregionunderthe“other”optioninthatregion.The

answerstoquestion2aredividedintothesamesubregionsasarepresentinquestion1.

Conclusion

ThecurrentquestionsonraceandethnicityontheUSCensus,thoughelegantlysimple,

misspotentiallyimportantandworthwhileaspectsofraceandethnicityintheUnitedStates.By

usingamorethoroughsetofquestions,theproposedcensusquestionswillbeabletocreatea

moreaccuratepictureoftheUnitedStatespopulationwithoutcompromisingthepotentialfor

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simpledata.Thissetofdatawillnotonlyallowresearchintohowlifeoutcomesvarywithrace,

butalsowillallowthemtoanswerwhataspectsofracecontributemoststronglytodisparities

inoutcomes.Withraceandethnicitybeinghazysubjectsintheirexactdefinition,collecting

moredetaileddatawillallowresearcherstounderstandhowAmericansconceptualizeraceand

ethnicity,andhowthischangesovertime.

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SourcesBlank,RebeccaM.Dabady,Marilyn.Citro,ConstanceF(2004).MeasuringRacialDiscrimination.NationalResearchCouncil,2004.Desmond,Matthew.Emirbayer,Mustafa(2015).RaceinAmerica.Norton,NewYork,2015.Gelman,Andrew.Fagan,Jeffrey.Kiss,Alex(2007).AnAnalysisoftheNewYorkCityPoliceDepartment’s“Stop-and-Frisk”PolicyintheContextofClaimsofRacialBias.JournaloftheAmericanStatisticalAssociation,September2007,Vol201,No.479.Tugend,Alina(2010).TooManyChoices:AProblemThatCanParalyze.NewYorkTimes26February,2010.Sollors,Werner(2002).WhatRaceareYou?.TheNewRaceQuestion:HowtheCensusCountsMultiracialIndividualsCh.11.RussellSageFoundation,2002.Zuberi,Tukufu(2001).ThickerthanBlood:HowRacialStatisticsLie.RegentsoftheUniversityofMinnesota,2001.

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APPENDIX1

ProposedCensusQuestions

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EasternAfrica� Burundi� Eritrea� Ethiopia� Kenya� Madagascar� Malawi� Mauritius� Mozambique� Rwanda� Somalia� SouthSudan� Tanzania� Uganda� Zambia� Zimbabwe� Other______________

MiddleAfrica� Angola� Cameroon� CentralAfricanRepublic� Chad� DemocraticRepublicof

theCongo� EquatorialGuinea� Gabon� RepublicoftheCongo� Other______________

NorthernAfrica� Algeria� Egypt� Libya� Morocco� Sudan� Tunisia� Other______________

SouthernAfrica� Botswana� Lesotho� Namibia� SouthAfrica� Swaziland� Other______________

NorthAmerica� Bermuda� Canada� Greenland� UnitedStates� Other_______________

CentralAmerica� CostaRica� ClippertonIsland� ElSalvador� Guatemala� Honduras� Mexico� Nicaragua� Panama� Other______________

SouthAmerica� Argentina� Bolivia� Brazil� Chile� Colombia� Ecuador� Paraguay� Peru� Uruguay� Venezuela� Other_______________

Caribbean� Cuba� DominicanRepublic� Haiti� Jamaica� PuertoRico� TrinidadandTobago� Other_______________

Oceana� Australia� Fiji� Micronesia� NewZealand� PapuaNewGuinea� Samoa� SolomonIslands� Tonga� Other______________� Polynesia� Micronesia� Melanesia

SouthernAsia� Afghanistan� Bangladesh� India� Iran� Nepal� Pakistan� SriLanka� Other______________

EasternAsia� China� Japan� Macau� Mongolia� NorthKorea� SouthKorea� Taiwan� Other______________

CentralAsia� Kazakhstan� Kyrgystan� Tajikistan� Turkmenistan� Uzbekistan� Other______________

SoutheasternAsia� Cambodia� Indonesia� Laos� Malaysia� Myanmar� Philippines� Singapore� Thailand� Timor-Leste� VietNam� Other______________

NorthernEurope� Denmark� Estonia� Finland� Ireland� Latvia� Lithuania� Norway� Sark� Sweden� UnitedKingdom� Other_______________

WesternEurope� Austria� Belgium� France� Germany� Netherlands� Switzerland� Other______________

EasternEurope� Belarus� Bulgaria� CzechRepublic� Hungary� Poland� RepublicofMoldova� Romania� Russia� Slovakia� Ukraine� Other_______________

SouthernEurope� Albania� BosniaandHerzegovina� Croatia� Greece� Italy� Macedonia� Portugal� Serbia� Slovenia� Spain� Other_______________

WesternAsia� Armenia� Azerbaijan� Bahrain� Georgia� Iraq� Israel� Jordan� Kuwait� Lebanon� Oman� Qatar� SaudiArabia� Palestine�

� Syria� Turkey� UnitedArabEmirates� Yemen� Other______________

1)Person1considersthemselvesasfrom…(selectoneormore)

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2)Person1asancestryin…(selectoneormore)3)Person1describestheirraceas… 4)Othershave(rightlyorwrongly)described

Person1’sraceas…

(selectoneormore)(selectoneormore)

5)Person1belongsdescribesthemselvesaswhichethnicity…(selectoneormore)

TheAmericas(NativePopulations)� NorthAmerica� CentralAmerica� SouthAmerica� Caribbean� UnknownRegion

Europe� NorthernEurope� WesternEurope� EasternEurope� SouthernEurope� UnknownRegion

Africa� NorthernAfrica� MiddleAfrica� EasternAfrica� SouthernAfrica� UnknownRegion

Asia� CentralAsia� EasternAsia� SouthernAsia� SoutheasternAsia� WesternAsia� UnknownRegion

� Oceana

� White� BlackorAfricanAmerican� AmericanIndianorAlaskaNative� Latino/a� MiddleEastern� AsianIndian� Chinese� Japanese� Korean� Filipino� Vietnamese� NativeHawaiian� GuamanianorChamorro� Samoan� OtherAsian________________________________� OtherPacificIslander________________________� Someotherrace____________________________

� White� BlackorAfricanAmerican� AmericanIndianorAlaskaNative� Latino/a� MiddleEastern� AsianIndian� Chinese� Japanese� Korean� Filipino� Vietnamese� NativeHawaiian� GuamanianorChamorro� Samoan� OtherAsian_________________________________� OtherPacificIslander_________________________� Someotherrace_____________________________

� American� AmericanIndianor

AlaskanNative� Arab� Armenian� British� Bulgarian� Catalan� Cornish� Chinese� Croat� Czech� Dutch� French� Greek� HispanicorLatino� Indian� Irish� Italian� Japanese� Jewish

� Kurd� Norwegian� Oromo� Pashtun� Persian� Punjabi� Russian� Scottish� Serb� Slovak� Spaniard� Swede� Tibetan� Ukranian� Uzbek� Welsh� Zulu� Other

___________________� None

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6)Ofthepreviousquestions(1-5)Person1’sexperiencesaremoststronglyimpactedby…(selectone)

� Question1:geographicaffiliation� Question2:ancestry� Question3:race� Question4:mistakenrace� Question5:ethnicity� Questions1-5equally� Noneofthesequestions

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APPENDIX2TheoreticalComparisonofQuestionSets

Toseehowtheproposedsystemcomparestothecurrentone,takeforexampleanIndianindividual

whowasbornintheUKandmovedtotheUnitedStateswhentheywereyoung.Let’scallthisindividualP1.In

answeringthecurrentcensusquestions,P1wouldlikelyrespond:

Table1.PossibleanswerstocurrentcensusquestionbyP1.

Question1 No,notofHispanic,Latino,orSpanishoriginQuestion2 AsianIndian

Whenaskingmanyindividualswithasimilarbackgroundthesetwoquestions,eachonewouldlikelyrespond

thesameway(perhapsalsoidentifyingasraciallywhite).Thisispositiveasitallowsforconsistencybetween

individualsofsimilarbackgrounds.However,italsolumpstogetherindividualsthatmayhavesignificantly

differentexperienceseventhoughtheysharethesamerace—whatifraceisnotthemostinfluentialfactor?A

raciallyIndianindividualborninIndiawouldmarkthesameresponsesasP1,butmaynothavethesame

experiencesandlifeoutcome.

Whenconfrontedwiththeproposedsetofsixquestions,P1mayanswerinavarietyofways,afewof

whichareexploredinTable2.Inthecurrentformat,theindividualisdefinedsolelybytheirracewithno

regardfortheirculturalupbringing(exceptforHispanicpopulations).IncolumnA(Table2),P1describestheir

raceasIndian,buttheirethnicityasBritish.IncolumnB,theydescribetheirethnicityasAmerican.These

differentwaysofansweringgiveresearchersinsightintohowAmericansidentifyintermsofraceandethnicity

andhowthatmightaffecttheirlife.Havingmultiplequestionsallowstheindividualtoexpressmultiplefacets

oftheiridentity,somethingthatasingle-questionresponsedoesnotallowfor.

Table2.PossibleanswerstoproposedcensusquestionsfromP1

A B CQuestion1 TheUK TheUS TheUKandtheUSQuestion2 IndiaandEurope IndiaandEurope IndiaandEuropeQuestion3 Indian White WhiteandIndianQuestion4 Indian Indian MiddleEasternQuestion5 British American IndianQuestion6 Question1 Question3 Question4

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Unlikethecurrentquestions,whicharemostaccuratewhenusedtogether,theproposedquestions

caneachstandaloneasanindividuallensthroughwhichtoviewotherdata.Moreinformationcanbe

exploredbyusingthequestionstogetherandcomparingthemagnitudeoftheeffectofeachofthequestions.

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