Why do various racial and ethnic categories of the u.s. population have different social standing?

Abstract

This article considers the ways in which race/ethnicity and socioeconomic status (SES) relate to each other and combine to affect racial variations in health status. The author reviews a number of methodological issues concerning the assessment of race in the United States that importantly affect the quality of the available data on racial differences in health. These issues include the discrepancy between self-identification and observer-reported race, changing racial classification categories and racial identification, the difficulties in categorizing persons of mixed racial parentage, and census undercount. In discussing the complex interactions between race and SES, the author first describes the relationship between race and SES and assesses the role of SES in accounting for racial differences in health, then shows how the failure of SES to completely account for racial variations in health status emphasizes the need for health researchers to give more systematic attention to the unique factors linked to race that affect health. These factors include racism, migration, acculturation, and the comprehensive assessment of SES.

Journal Information

The International Journal of Health Services delivers articles on health and social policy, political economy and sociology, history and philosophy, ethics and law in the areas of health and well-being. JOH provides analysis of developments in the health and social sectors of every area of the world, including relevant scholarly articles, position papers, and stimulating debates about the most controversial issues of the day. The journal is of interest to health professionals and social scientists interested in the many different facets of health, quality of life, and wellbeing of populations.

Publisher Information

Sara Miller McCune founded SAGE Publishing in 1965 to support the dissemination of usable knowledge and educate a global community. SAGE is a leading international provider of innovative, high-quality content publishing more than 900 journals and over 800 new books each year, spanning a wide range of subject areas. A growing selection of library products includes archives, data, case studies and video. SAGE remains majority owned by our founder and after her lifetime will become owned by a charitable trust that secures the company’s continued independence. Principal offices are located in Los Angeles, London, New Delhi, Singapore, Washington DC and Melbourne. www.sagepublishing.com

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Background

The 2020 Census used the required two separate questions (one for Hispanic or Latino origin and one for race) to collect the races and ethnicities of the U.S. population — following the standards set by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) in 1997.

Building upon our research over the past decade, we improved the design of the two separate questions and updated our data processing and coding procedures for the 2020 Census.

This work began in 2015 with our research and testing centered on findings from our 2015 National Content Test and the designs were implemented in the 2018 Census Test.

In this America Counts story on racial and ethnic diversity, we cross-tabulate the race and Hispanic origin statistics, as data users often do, such as with the 2020 Census redistricting tables.

Here, we see results that are not as impacted by the race reporting patterns of Hispanic or Latino respondents. Thus, we are confident that the changes we are seeing from 2010 to 2020 in the diversity measures, which rely on mutually exclusive Hispanic origin by race groups, likely reflect actual demographic changes in the population over the past 10 years as well as improvements to the question designs, data processing and coding.

We are also confident, as shown in our research over the past decade, that using a single combined question for race and ethnicity in the decennial census would ultimately yield an even more accurate portrait of how the U.S. population self-identifies, especially for people who self-identify as multiracial or multiethnic.

Today’s companion America Counts story on the overview of race and ethnicity explains that differences in overall racial distributions are largely due to design improvements in the two separate questions for race data collection and processing, as well as some demographic changes over the past 10 years.

The improvements and updates enabled a more thorough and accurate depiction of how people self-identify, yielding a more accurate portrait of how people report their Hispanic origin and race within the context of a two-question format. These improvements reveal that the U.S. population is much more multiracial and diverse than what we measured in the past.

How does race affect social status?

The relationship between SES, race and ethnicity is intimately intertwined. Research has shown that race and ethnicity in terms of stratification often determine a person's socioeconomic status (U.S. Census Bureau, 2009). Furthermore, communities are often segregated by SES, race, and ethnicity.

How does race and ethnicity affect society?

Racial and ethnic prejudices affect the distribution of wealth, power, and opportunity, and create enduring social stratifications. Racial pride can foment racial prejudice, as in the case of white supremacists.

How do race and ethnicity differ quizlet?

How do race and ethnicity differ? Race is used to describe biological differences between groups of people (physical) while ethnicity is used to distinguish groups of people based on their culture and heritage (cultural).

What's difference between race and ethnicity?

Race refers to the concept of dividing people into groups on the basis of various sets of physical characteristics and the process of ascribing social meaning to those groups. Ethnicity describes the culture of people in a given geographic region, including their language, heritage, religion and customs.