A new study by Princeton sociologists challenges the widely held belief that the dramatic rise in the number of multiracial Americans since 2010 reflects genuine shifts in racial identity. The researchers argue that the increase is largely due to changes in how the U.S. Census Bureau categorizes individuals based on write-in responses regarding family origins.
A significant rise in the number of people identified as multiracial in the United States since 2010 has been largely attributed to changes in the Census Bureau's data categorization rather than genuine shifts in racial or ethnic identity. Two Princeton sociologists, Paul Starr and Christina Pao, published a paper last month arguing that the increase was primarily due to the Census Bureau's new approach to handling write-in responses regarding family origins.
Previously, individuals could only select a single race on the census form. However, the 2020 census allowed for write-in responses, which were then used by a computerized algorithm to reclassify individuals. For example, someone who identified as Black or white on the form but also wrote that they had Latin American origins was automatically categorized as multiracial, even though they had initially chosen a single race. This same reclassification appeared to occur for individuals who identified as white but listed their origins as African countries. The share of the U.S. population identified as two or more races jumped from 2.9% to 10.2% between 2010 and 2020, with the most notable increase observed among Hispanic people. This surge led to a decrease in the white alone population from 72.4% to 61.6%, sparking concerns among some conservative commentators about the decline in white power. The Princeton researchers, however, contend that these demographic shifts are largely an artifact of the new data categorization methods and not indicative of fundamental changes in racial or ethnic identities
Multiracial Census Demographics Algorithm Race Ethnicity Identity
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