Exploring Multiracial identity, demographics, and the first period identity crisis: the role of the 2020 United States Census in promoting monocentric norms

ABSTRACT

Guided by Multiracial critical theory and actor-network theory, this study examines how the United States Census options for ethnicity and race reinforced monocentric norms (the assumption that everyone should fit into a distinct racial-ethnic category) and White Supremacy for Multiracial individuals. Five hundred and thirty-nine Multiracial young adults answered open-ended questions about the 2020 United States Census, including why they chose specific ethnic-racial categories and how they felt about the choices provided. Overall, we found that the U.S. Census stabilized monocentric norms and White Supremacy by (1) stabilizing monoracial assumptions, (2) stabilizing the exclusion of racialized groups, and (3) stabilizing Asian American stereotypes. However, Multiracial participants could challenge and destabilize these norms by filling out the Census strategically. Finally, we discuss policy implications and how social scientists, researchers, and data collection agencies can measure race and ethnicity more compassionately and comprehensively to reduce Multiracial stigma.

KEYWORDS:

• MultiCrit
• actor-network theory
• Multiracial identity
• United States Census
• White Supremacy

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

1 The American Psychological Association provides guidelines for capitalizing racial groups. We view Multiracial as a group that has been uniquely racialized, and therefore, we use capitalization.

2 Hypodescent, also known as the one-drop rule, refers to the belief that one ‘drop’ of minority blood, traditionally in reference to Black and White Multiracial individuals, means that person should identify as their minority identifying ancestor (Ho et al., 2011).