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What are race / ethnicity?. Shrinking White majority, U.S. Race / ethnicity. Poverty rate 8% 11% 21% 23% Infant mortality 5.7 4.9 5.6 13.6 U.S. Congress House 85% 1% 5% 9% Senate 95% 2% 2% 1% US Population 72% 4% 12% 13%. White Asian Latino Black. Race/ethnicity and health.
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Shrinking White majority, U.S. Source: U.S. Census Bureau.
Race / ethnicity • Poverty rate 8% 11% 21% 23% • Infant mortality 5.7 4.9 5.6 13.6 • U.S. Congress • House 85% 1% 5% 9% • Senate 95% 2% 2% 1% • US Population 72% 4% 12% 13% White Asian Latino Black Source: U.S. Census; NCHS; Ethnicmajority.com
Race/ethnicity and health U.S.: Percent of adults 18-64 reporting health “excellent,” by race/ethnicity, 2000 Source: Cohen's analysis of 2000 March Current Population Survey.
Infant mortality by ethnicity, 2000 Asian Latino National Center for Health Statistics, Health, 2002.
Race/ethnic inequality Incarceration rates Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics
U.S. Federal data collection • In recent Censuses: • Spanish / Hispanic / Latino is ‘ethnicity’ • White / Black / Indian / Asian are ‘races’ • Starting with Census 2000 • Still separate Hispanic and race questions • But now multiple race check-off option
Census 2000 questions: Hispanic Is the person Spanish / Hispanic / Latino? • No • Yes, Puerto Rican • Yes, Mexican, Mexican Am., Chicano • Yes, Cuban • Yes, other Spanish / Hispanic / Latino (print group)
Census 2000 questions: Race Mark one or more races to indicate what this person considers himself/herself to be: • White • Black, African Am., or Negro • American Indian or Alaska Native (print name of enrolled or principal tribe) Asian Indian Japanese Native Hawaiian Chinese Korean Guamanian or Chamorro Filipino Vietnamese Samoan Other Asian (print race) Other Pacific Islander (print race) • Some other race (print race)
Two or more races: 2.4% of total Source: 2000 Census.
Definitions: race • Common phenotypical traits (not) • Attempts to classify races biologically fail • Greater difference within than between • After lines drawn socially, traits are identified and labeled • E.g., African slaves becoming ‘black’
Definitions: race • Changing definitions over time • National origin as race • E.g., Italian, Jewish, English races (1900) • Asian nations as races? (2000) • Changing definition of black • One-drop rule (original legal definition) • mulattos, quadroons, octoroons, etc. (1800s) • Black nationalism or ethnicity (Afr. Am.)
Definitions: ethnicity • Cultural community • E.g., nationality, language or religion • Anglo, Mexican/Chicano, African-American • Israel: European Jew, Arab Jew, Palestinian • Varying degrees of identification • ‘Voluntary’ ethnic status • Changing identification over time • Success / assimilation undermines identity
Definition and counting • The politics of identification • Need to quantify grievances and power • So people need to be labeled • Political groups fight for labels • Counting creates, or reinforces, identity • Statistics become tools in conflicts • Conflict creates community and identity
Definitions: racial-ethnicity • Would drop term ‘race’ but we can’t • Recognizing that ethnicity is ‘racialized’ • Racial ideas imposed on ethnic groups • Racially-identified ethnic groups • Latinos, Whites, Black / African-Americans • Sometimes these are panethnic • European and Indian Latinos? • Africans and African-Americans?
Affirmative action • Not required by law • Except some government agencies (before) • Data collected by federal contractors, used in suits • Positive effort • E.g., advertise in new places, quantify and counter discrimination • Question ‘objective’ standards • What is the standard, and what does it serve? • ‘Diversity’ as an educational goal • Not necessarily by quota or ‘preference’
Michigan affirmation action case • White students denied admission in 1996 • 2003 decisions: • Grutter v. Bollinger • OK to consider race • Gratz v. Bollinger • No point system
Michigan’s undergraduate index • Race as one factor • Educational goal is ‘critical mass’ of minorities • Supreme Court said ‘No’
Effects of affirmative action • Effects too great? • Discriminating against the privileged • Lowering ‘standards’ (e.g., education) • Effects too limited? • Helps the top of subordinate groups • Exacerbates inequality • Allows inequality to persist