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For Economic Advantage or Something Else? A Case for Racial Identification Switching

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  • Salvador Contreras

    (University of Texas Rio Grande Valley)

Abstract

The identity choices people take on serve as a filter for viewing the world. It is believed that race identity formation is in part a response to economic and social incentives. Using NELS 1988 dataset we evaluate at the individual level factors that affect changes in self-reported racial identity. We find that being multiracial, living in a non-affirmative action ban state, and relative income/education measures within race groups have an effect on racial identity switching. We find strong evidence that the social-political environments surrounding an affirmative action ban alters the likelihood that an individual will change race. Our results suggest that social factors when present dominate economic incentives to take on a different racial identity.

Suggested Citation

  • Salvador Contreras, 2016. "For Economic Advantage or Something Else? A Case for Racial Identification Switching," The Review of Black Political Economy, Springer;National Economic Association, vol. 43(3), pages 301-323, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:blkpoe:v:43:y:2016:i:3:d:10.1007_s12114-016-9238-5
    DOI: 10.1007/s12114-016-9238-5
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    1. Peter Arcidiacono & Esteban M. Aucejo & V. Joseph Hotz, 2016. "University Differences in the Graduation of Minorities in STEM Fields: Evidence from California," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 106(3), pages 525-562, March.
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    3. Andrew M. Francis & Maria Tannuri-Pianto, 2013. "Endogenous Race in Brazil: Affirmative Action and the Construction of Racial Identity among Young Adults," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 61(4), pages 731-753.
    4. Peter Hinrichs, 2012. "The Effects of Affirmative Action Bans on College Enrollment, Educational Attainment, and the Demographic Composition of Universities," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 94(3), pages 712-722, August.
    5. Cédric Gorinas, 2014. "Ethnic identity, majority norms, and the native–immigrant employment gap," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 27(1), pages 225-250, January.
    6. Mason, Patrick L., 2004. "Annual income, hourly wages, and identity Among Mexican Americans and other Latinos," MPRA Paper 11326, University Library of Munich, Germany.
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    Cited by:

    1. Patrick L. Mason, 2017. "Not Black-Alone: The 2008 Presidential Election and Racial Self-Identification among African Americans," The Review of Black Political Economy, Springer;National Economic Association, vol. 44(1), pages 55-76, June.

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    Keywords

    Racial identity; Race switching;

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