Spotlight on Heterogeneity The Federal Standards for Racial and Ethnic Classification (1996) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:
The Challenge of Classifying Heterogeneity
The Challenge of Classifying Heterogeneity
Pages 4-20
The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.
From page 4... ...
The challenge facing the federal government is to use a set of categories that is uniform and practical for administration while also acknowledging a diverse population and individual perceptions of identity. The motives for racial and ethnic classification are widely recognized to be in potential conflict: As retiring Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackrnun has stated, (New York Times, April 7, 1994:A131: "In order to get beyond racism, we iOn August 28, 1995, OMB issued a Federal Register notice (Vol.
|
From page 5... ...
Following the introduction of immigration restrictions, beginning in 1882 with the Chinese Exclusion Act and culminating in the Immigration Act of 1924 (which imposed national origin quotas on immigration) , the foreign born became a smaller and smaller portion of the white population, and the intensity of identity decreased for many white ethnic groups.2 2As the composition of the population has changed, so too have the criteria of classification.
|
From page 6... ...
population, and the relative size of the minority populations is projected to change significantly as Asian and Hispanic groups grow rapidly, with the black population projected to remain at about its current relative size. Projections for 2040 show the following population breakdown: Hispanics, 18 percent; blacks, 12 percent; and Asians and Pacific Islanders, 10 percent; and American Indians and Alaskan Natives, 1 percent (Edmonston and Passel, 19945.3 The current size of the minority population is not unprecedented.
|
From page 7... ...
Directive 15 has remained unchanged since it took effect in 1977.5 The basic race and ethnicity categories specified in Directive 15 are American Indian or Alaskan Native, Asian or Pacific Islander, black, Hispanic, and white. Four of these categories are regarded as "race" and one as "ethnicity." As shown in Table 1, the race and ethnicity categories can be separated into two formats or combined into one format with five categories.
|
From page 8... ...
not of Hispanic origin Asian and Pacific Islander Asian or Pacific Islander American Indian or Alaskan Native American Indian or Alaskan Native Ethnicity H1spanlc origin Not of Hispanic origin Hispanic dates a set of categories, but it allows any finer categorization that can be aggregated into the mandated categories (e.g., specific ethnic groups could be added to an agency's administrative records)
|
From page 9... ...
Researchers as well as federal administrators have repeatedly observed that Directive 15 has been influential far beyond its original intent. The directive itself states only the modest goal of fostering the creation of "compatible, nonduplicated, exchangeable racial and ethnic data by Federal agencies" for three
|
From page 10... ...
A process for facilitating the provisional adoption of such subcategories across federal agencies could be written into a new directive or instituted administratively in another way. A recurring theme in the debate about racial and ethnic classificationmirrored at the committee's workshop and in this report is the tension between a two-format approach like that in Directive 15 and a single-format approach.
|
From page 11... ...
Only a few agencies, including the National Center for Health Statistics and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, have added finer classifications, as permitted by the directive. Those subcategories have been consistent (after reaggregation)
|
From page 12... ...
Comparability of data across federal agencies is a key objective of Directive 15. Most federal agencies indicated that they use other data, primarily census data, but they did not provide details on comparability and limitations of such data sharing.
|
From page 13... ...
First, as noted above, race and ethnicity questions have been prominent in census data since the first census of 1790. Second, the Census Bureau not only collects data on many more racial and ethnic groups than the minimum mandated by Directive 15, but it also has an exemption that permits respondents to write in anything they wish, including "other." Census data are unique, for instance, in having information for subgroups of Asians and Hispanics (e.g., Laotians, Colombians)
|
From page 14... ...
Department of Heath and Human Services to encourage states to collect vital statistics for subpopulations that are significantly represented in a given state.7 According to workshop participants, private industry uses racial and ethnic data compiled according to Directive 15 to demonstrate compliance with equal employment opportunity laws. Moreover, racial and ethnic data, primarily those gathered in the decennial censuses are used as a demographic basis for marketing .
|
From page 15... ...
population, and by 2040 they are projected to account for about 41 percent (Edmonston and Passel, 19943. The proportions of Hispanic and Asian populations are projected to grow significantly, while those of black and American Indian and Alaskan Native populations are projected to remain roughly the same.
|
From page 16... ...
Write-in responses to the race question required more than 300 codes, those for American Indian tribes about 600 codes, and those for Hispanic origin another 70 codes. The 1980 and 1990 censuses included an open-ended ancestry question separate from the race and ethnicity questions; more than 600 unique codes were used in 1990.9 Racial and ethnic intermarriage introduces further heterogeneity and complication- to questions of racial and ethnic identification.
|
From page 17... ...
Two aspects of these issues are self-identification versus observer identification and the social construction of identity. Self-Identification Versus Observer Identification Workshop participants noted that, increasingly, self-identification has become the preferred means of statistical classification; individuals are acknowledged to be the best judge of their identity.
|
From page 18... ...
This view stands in marked contrast to the widespread popular perspective that race is biologically determined and permanent and that ethnicity is culturally determined and equally permanent. ~ ~ Although the social science perspective on race emphasizes its social construction, the process is rooted in historical experience.
|
From page 19... ...
EXPERIENCES OF OTHER COUNTRIES The United States is not alone in grappling with the challenge of measuring a racially and ethnically diverse population. Other nations with indigenous populations or new immigrant groups are also examining ways to improve their standards for racial and ethnic classification.
|
From page 20... ...
Participants noted that ethnicity is dynamic and may change over the lifetime of an individual. Thus, inconsistencies in data over time may be the result of this dynamic nature of racial and ethnic identity rather than flaws in data collection.
|
Key Terms
This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
More
information on Chapter Skim is available.