IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jscscx/v11y2022i4p160-d785566.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Mixed-Race Ancestry ≠ Multiracial Identification: The Role Racial Discrimination, Linked Fate, and Skin Tone Have on the Racial Identification of People with Mixed-Race Ancestry

Author

Listed:
  • Vanessa Gonlin

    (Department of Sociology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USA)

Abstract

Mixed-race identification may be complex, in that people with mixed-race ancestry may or may not identify as multiracial. Social experiences, such as experiencing racial discrimination, believing that your fate is connected with specific racialized others, and personal characteristics, such as skin color, all have been theorized to play a role in identification. The Mixed-Race Ancestry Survey (2019) conducted on Mechanical Turk allows me to ask unique questions with a large enough sample of this understudied population to disaggregate by racial ancestries. Only people with mixed-race ancestry are included in this study, but respondents may identify mono- or multiracially. Binary logistic regression models reveal that increased linked fate with a specific racial group is associated with greater odds of racially identifying, at least in part, with that group (e.g., among Asians, greater linked fate with Asians is associated with greater odds of identifying as mono- or multiracially Asian). Increased linked fate with multiracials as a group is also connected to greater odds of identifying as multiracial. In addition, personally experiencing racial discrimination is associated with a greater likelihood of identifying as Black and slightly lower odds of identifying as White or as Latinx. Finally, as skin tone darkens the odds of identifying as Black increase three-fold and the odds of identifying as multiracial increase by 1.3 times. I discuss these findings by racial ancestry groups, noting that being aware of having mixed-race ancestry does not in and of itself predict multiracial identification. Rather, in a social structure that uplifts Whiteness, feeling linked fate, experiencing discrimination, and having darker skin tone are important predictors of identification. These findings highlight the mechanisms connected to racial identification for a population that may feel tied to multiple racial groups and is navigating identification within a White-centric nation.

Suggested Citation

  • Vanessa Gonlin, 2022. "Mixed-Race Ancestry ≠ Multiracial Identification: The Role Racial Discrimination, Linked Fate, and Skin Tone Have on the Racial Identification of People with Mixed-Race Ancestry," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-21, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jscscx:v:11:y:2022:i:4:p:160-:d:785566
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/11/4/160/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/11/4/160/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Carolyn Liebler & Andrew Halpern-Manners, 2008. "A practical approach to using Multiple-Race response data: A bridging method for publicuse microdata," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 45(1), pages 143-155, February.
    2. Joni Hersch, 2006. "Skin-Tone Effects among African Americans: Perceptions and Reality," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 96(2), pages 251-255, May.
    3. Natalie Masuoka, 2006. "Together They Become One: Examining the Predictors of Panethnic Group Consciousness Among Asian Americans and Latinos," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 87(s1), pages 993-1011.
    4. Joni Hersch, 2008. "Profiling the New Immigrant Worker: The Effects of Skin Color and Height," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 26(2), pages 345-386, April.
    5. Natalie Masuoka, 2006. "Together They Become One: Examining the Predictors of Panethnic Group Consciousness Among Asian Americans and Latinos," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 87(5), pages 993-1011, December.
    6. Rodolfo Espino & Michael M. Franz, 2002. "Latino Phenotypic Discrimination Revisited: The Impact of Skin Color on Occupational Status," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 83(2), pages 612-623, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Hans Oh & Jinyu Du & Lee Smith & Ai Koyanagi, 2023. "Mental health differences between multiracial and monoracial college students in the United States: Emerging racial disparities," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 69(3), pages 744-751, May.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Erica B. Russell & James C. Garand, 2023. "Race, linked fate, and attitudes toward the police," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 104(2), pages 110-124, March.
    2. Jennifer Lopez & R. Michael Alvarez & Seo‐young Silvia Kim, 2022. "Latinos, group identity, and equal opportunity on the 2020 California ballot," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 103(7), pages 1572-1586, December.
    3. Matthew Hall, 2013. "Residential Integration on the New Frontier: Immigrant Segregation in Established and New Destinations," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 50(5), pages 1873-1896, October.
    4. Hersch, Joni, 2011. "Skin color, physical appearance, and perceived discriminatory treatment," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 40(5), pages 671-678.
    5. René Alejandro Rejón Piña & Chenglong Ma, 2023. "Classification Algorithm for Skin Color (CASCo): A new tool to measure skin color in social science research," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 104(2), pages 168-179, March.
    6. Randall Akee & Mutlu Yuksel, 2012. "The Decreasing Effect of Skin Tone on Women's Full-Time Employment," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 65(2), pages 398-426, April.
    7. Alexandra Filindra & Melanie Kolbe, 2022. "Latinx identification with whiteness: What drives it, and what effects does it have on political preferences?," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 103(6), pages 1424-1439, November.
    8. Danvy Le & Maneesh Arora & Christopher Stout, 2020. "Are You Threatening Me? Asian‐American Panethnicity in the Trump Era," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 101(6), pages 2183-2192, October.
    9. John Robst & Jennifer VanGilder & Corinne E. Coates & David J. Berri, 2011. "Skin Tone and Wages: Evidence From NBA Free Agents," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 12(2), pages 143-156, April.
    10. Raymundo M. Campos-Vazquez & Eduardo M. Medina-Cortina, 2019. "Skin Color and Social Mobility: Evidence From Mexico," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 56(1), pages 321-343, February.
    11. Julie Spencer-Rodgers & Kaiping Peng, 2014. "Perceiving Racial/Ethnic Disadvantage and Its Consequences for Self-Esteem among Asian-Americans," International Journal of Psychological Studies, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 6(2), pages 117-117, June.
    12. John Ishiyama & Andrea Silva, 2020. "Unpacking the Suitcase: Premigratory Experiences with Ethnic Violence and Descriptive Representation Among Asian Americans," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 101(4), pages 1534-1551, July.
    13. Jack Thompson, 2019. "A Review of the Popular and Scholarly Accounts of Donald Trump’s White Working-Class Support in the 2016 US Presidential Election," Societies, MDPI, vol. 9(2), pages 1-27, May.
    14. JooHee Han, 2020. "Does Skin Tone Matter? Immigrant Mobility in the U.S. Labor Market," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 57(2), pages 705-726, April.
    15. Joni Hersch, 2008. "Profiling the New Immigrant Worker: The Effects of Skin Color and Height," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 26(2), pages 345-386, April.
    16. Leigh, Andrew & Susilo, Tirta, 2009. "Is voting skin-deep? Estimating the effect of candidate ballot photographs on election outcomes," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 30(1), pages 61-70, February.
    17. Barbara Gomez‐Aguinaga, 2021. "One Group, Two Worlds? Latino Perceptions of Policy Salience Among Mainstream and Spanish‐Language News Consumers," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 102(1), pages 238-258, January.
    18. Jessica Inocencio-Gray & Dianna L. Stone, 2013. "The Relations Between Race, Differences in Cultural Values, and Experienced Discrimination of Immigrants in the U.S," Working Papers 0224mgt, College of Business, University of Texas at San Antonio.
    19. Sophia J. Wallace, 2014. "Examining Latino Support for Descriptive Representation: The Role of Identity and Discrimination," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 95(2), pages 311-327, June.
    20. Bismark Adu-Gyamfi & Rajib Shaw, 2021. "Characterizing Risk Communication and Awareness for Sustainable Society: The Case of Foreign Residents in the Tokyo Metropolitan Area of Japan," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-17, May.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jscscx:v:11:y:2022:i:4:p:160-:d:785566. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.