Racial Form Follows Function: On Linking What We Measure to Why We Measure

1. Racial Form Follows Function: On Linking What We Measure to Why We Measure Wendy D. Roth Assistant Professor of Sociology University of British Columbia

2. Overview • The most important function of measuring race = monitoring discrimination • But race statistics are often drawn from self-identification • In U.S., a move from interviewer enumeration to self-completion • 1960 – Mail census sent to most urban areas • 1970 – 86% of US households • 1980 – 96% of US households

3. 2000 U.S. Census Questions

4. Overview • The assumption that individuals’ self-perception matches how they’re seen by others is often false (Campbell & Troyer 2007; Harris & Sim 2002; Itzigsohn et al. 2005; Rockquemore & Brunsma 2002; Rodríguez et al. 1991) • Shift in what is being measured • Data: Qualitative study of Dominicans and Puerto Ricans, focusing on migrants living in New York

5. Components of Race Concept • A fluid concept with multiple components (Harris & Sim 2002; Rockquemore & Brunsma 2002; Rodríguez 2000) Campbell & Troyer (2007): • “Internal” • “Expressed” • “Perceived” • “Observed”

6. Components of Race Concept • A fluid concept with multiple components (Harris & Sim 2002; Rockquemore & Brunsma 2002; Rodríguez 2000) Campbell & Troyer (2007): • “Internal” – Subjective self-identity • “Expressed” • “Perceived” • “Observed”

7. Components of Race Concept • A fluid concept with multiple components (Harris & Sim 2002; Rockquemore & Brunsma 2002; Rodríguez 2000) Campbell & Troyer (2007): • “Internal” – Subjective self-identity • “Expressed” – The race you say you are • “Perceived” • “Observed”

8. Components of Race Concept • A fluid concept with multiple components (Harris & Sim 2002; Rockquemore & Brunsma 2002; Rodríguez 2000) Campbell & Troyer (2007): • “Internal” – Subjective self-identity • “Expressed” – The race you say you are • “Perceived” • “Observed” – The race others assume you to be

9. Components of Race Concept • A fluid concept with multiple components (Harris & Sim 2002; Rockquemore & Brunsma 2002; Rodríguez 2000) Campbell & Troyer (2007): • “Internal” – Subjective self-identity • “Expressed” – The race you say you are • “Perceived” – The race you believe others see • “Observed” – The race others assume you to be

10. Research Design Home Country (Non-Migrant) New York (Migrant) • Dominicans • Puerto Ricans

11. Measuring Race Components • “Internal” – Open-ended self-identification • “Expressed” – 2000 U.S. Census questions • “Perceived” – “What race do the majority of Americans think you are?” • “Observed” – Interviewer classification

12. Bonifacio Puerto Rican, San Juan Internal: Puerto Rican Expressed: White Perceived: Black Observed: Black (maybe Hispanic) Raquel Dominican, New York Internal: Black Expressed: Black Perceived: Dominican Observed: White Two Cases

13. Developing Internal Race There was a confusion, at least for [me]...about what race is…So, for me, it was an experience like an epiphany one day when I found out that there are only three races…and you have to decide which you belong to. So not only by the color of the skin, but there are a lot of other factors…There would be your ancestry—you need to look at your grandparents, your great-grandparents. You need to look at the shape of your mouth, the size of your ears, how your nose is, the texture of your hair…In the Dominican Republic, as soon as you’re a little light or medium light, already you can’t say that you’re Black. No, that’s like a sin. So, after you educate yourself and after you accept that there are either three or…four [races], but you need to choose one of these three or four. You can’t invent a new one. So I don’t have any other option than choosing Black because I’m not White or Asian. So I must be whatever’s left. Q: Could you say a little about your epiphany? How did that happen? …I was in college...and one day I was taking a sociology class. I was reading in the book and it said that there were three races: Asian, White, and Black. I kept looking for my race because there wasn’t a race for me. And I was talking with my teacher and so, during the conversation, he explained it to me. Sincerely, I tell you, with all the experience that I had—before that day it was one thing and after that day is another. (Raquel, Dominican migrant, assistant principal)

14. Bonifacio Puerto Rican, San Juan Internal: Puerto Rican Expressed: White Perceived: Black Observed: Black (maybe Hispanic) Raquel Dominican, New York Internal: Black Expressed: Black Perceived: Dominican Observed: White Two Cases

15. Puerto Rican Race Measures Multiple responses coded; N=28

16. Dominican Race Measures Multiple responses coded; N=32

17. White, Black, Hispanic It’s a little disconcerting for us, people who were born in other places and were raised in other places, when we arrive here, and usually in our countries we think that there are people of Caucasian, Black, Asian race. And it’s the biggest surprise when you come to New York and see that you don’t qualify in any category that you thought you belong to… Q: Are you saying that they don't consider you White? [Yes.] I think it’s that there’s always a perception that Hispanics are another thing different than Caucasian.…I first realized [it] when I was… working as a teacher in a program in Brooklyn and in the summer we had assistants, students, and most of them were Black. And one day one of the girls told me “Ah, you’re the Puerto Rican that thinks he’s White.” And I was so surprised because until that moment I didn’t think that there were any differences between [them], and then I learned that each thing is seen different. (Miguel, Puerto Rican migrant, community liaison for a public corporation)

18. Consistency between Expressed & Observed Race

19. Conclusions • The shift toward racial self-identification makes Census race questions about “self-expression” • But self-expression is not a purpose for collecting racial and ethnic data • The form of race data need to be better represent the way that discrimination functions.

20. How can this be done? • National censuses could return to interviewer enumeration and adopt a variety of measures of race • Return to interviewer-enumeration for the Census 5% sample • Develop separate nation-wide surveys that focus on race and discrimination

21. How can this be done? • Develop new technologies to measure skin colour • Tailor research design to particular types of discrimination

22. Thank you wroth@interchange.ubc.ca

23. Photographic Instrument

24. Interview Context • Conducted in Spanish • Completed with a native Research Assistant • Discussions with RAs for their perspectives

25. “Folk” Racial Terms

26. Variants of Racial Schema