A first-of-its-kind U.S. survey shows there's more recognition of racial identity and of the social privileges that come with it than was thought.
The assumption behind prior scholarship and diversity training initiatives was that whites overlooked their own race.
"For some white Americans, racial identity is so fixed, so taken for granted, that 'race' becomes something other people have," said study co-author, University of Minnesota Associate Professor Doug Hartmann.
University researchers found a majority of whites polled (74 percent) said they believed their own racial identity was important to them, and a similar majority saw prejudice and discrimination as important in explaining white advantage.
At the same time, minorities were found more likely to see their racial identities as important and to see structural reasons for racial disparities.
"The fact of the matter is that people claim white identity for defensive as well as progressive reasons," said survey co-author Paul Croll, a University of Minnesota graduate student.
The telephone survey of 2,000 people nationwide was part of the American Mosaic Project, a 3-year study that looks at race, religion and cultural diversity in the contemporary United States.
Copyright 2006 by United Press International
Related stories:
Racial discrimination has different mental health effects on Asians, study shows
The first national study of Asians living in the United States shows that for some individuals, strong ties to their ethnicity can guard against the negative effects of racism. For others, strong ties to ethnicity can actually make the negative effects of discrimination worse. And the mental health effects of such discrimination may shift over a lifetime as Asian-Americans continue to examine their ethnic ties, say researchers.
U.S. union rates up substantially in 2008 for first time since 1970s, study shows
Buoyed by a rising tide in California in general and Southern California in particular, U.S. unionization levels rose substantially this year, defying a decades-long trend of decline, according to a report by UCLA's Institute for Research on Labor and Employment.
Campus diversity important predictor of interracial friendships
One of the hopes of having diverse campus environments is that the daily interaction with students from different backgrounds will promote interracial understanding and friendship. A new study in the journal
Social Science Quarterly found that campus racial and ethnic diversity is important in predicting friendship heterogeneity, and that minorities have higher predicted friendship diversity than whites.
Economic and social disadvantage can affect young citizens' voter turnout
A study recently published in the
Journal of Social Issues illustrates how certain disadvantages experienced in adolescence, such as early pregnancy, dropping out of high school, being arrested, or going to an underprivileged school, contribute to lower voter turnout in young adulthood. In addition, the types of disadvantage vary across racial groups.
Bulging prison system called massive intervention in American family life
The mammoth increase in the United States' prison population since the 1970s is having profound demographic consequences that disproportionately affect black males.
The kids most likely to go armed
A new analysis of a 2005 survey of American schoolchildren has identified factors that may be used to help improve school safety. The research, published in BioMed Central's open access journal
Annals of General Psychiatry, gives detailed information about the carrying of guns, blades and clubs.
Diversity in primary schools promotes harmony
For the first time, children as young as 5 have been shown to understand issues regarding integration and separation. The research, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), confirms that the ethnic composition of primary schools has a direct impact on children's attitudes towards those in other ethnic groups and on their ability to get on with their peers.
Negative perception of blacks rises with more news watching, studies say
Watching the news should make you more informed, but it also may be making you more likely to stereotype, says a University of Illinois researcher. In a pair of recently published studies, communication professor Travis Dixon found that the more people watched either local or network news, the more likely they were to draw on negative stereotypes about blacks.