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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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