American Diversity: A Demographic Challenge for the Twenty-first Century

10. Rethinking American Diversity: Conceptual and Theoretical Challenges for Racial and Ethnic Demography

Chapter 10 Rethinking American Diversity: Conceptual and Theoretical Challenges for Racial and Ethnic Demography Hayward Derrick Horton 261 Introduction The increasing racial and ethnic diversity in the United States raises many issues for demographers and for society in general. Racial and ethnic identification, accurate enumeration, and cultural adaptation are clearly important topics that demographers have been addressing over the last two decades. However, one issue that has not been fully addressed is racism in the context of population and structural change. Accordingly, the purpose of this chapter is to discuss the implications of increasing diversity on the nature and magnitude of American racism in the Twenty-first century. Specifically, the following questions are addressed: (1) What is the relationship between increasing population diversity and racism in the United States? (2) What are the conceptual and theoretical implications of the incorporation of racism as a concept of analysis for future studies of racial and ethnic demography? and (3) What are the policy implications of this change in population composition for American racism? The preceding chapters have highlighted many of the key issues that concern demographers. Without question, the changes in the definitions of racial categories, and the problems associated with intermarriage, self-identity, and immigration patterns are highly pertinent. Differentials in fertility and mortality by race are expected to continue well into the Twenty-first century. Racial segregation in housing and differences among the elderly by race are likewise expected to be problematic for many years to come. However, all of these issues bring to mind a discussion that occurred in my undergraduate social demography course. At the end of a lecture on the dramatic increase in America’s minority populations, a White student frantically raised his hand. He asked me a question that until that time had never been asked in any course that I had taught: How many White people were there in the United States? Sensing his dismay, I allayed his fears. I told him that there were approximately 200 million Whites in America; and, that Whites are likely to be the majority for the foreseeable future. The student let out a loud sigh that brought a roar of laughter from the entire class. Interestingly enough, the student did not ask why Whites will continue to be the majority. If he had, I would have said that this majority status is likely to be maintained irrespective of whether Whites are a numerical minority (which in itself is highly unlikely) because of the racism that is inherent to the American social structure. This is because the White population controls the wealth, status, and power in America. Accordingly, this chapter addresses racism in the context of population and structural change in the United States. The Social Demography of American Racism Racism Defined As noted in the preceding chapters, race is a social construction. Thus, the meaning of race varies across time and space. Similarly, the term racism has so many common and political uses that it is often confused with race, racial prejudice, and racial inequality. Sociologists who use the term are quite specific in its meaning however: racism is a multilevel and multidimensional system of dominant group oppression which scapegoats the race of one or more subordinate groups (van den Berghe, 1967; Blauner, 1972; Wilson, 1973; Feagin and Vera, 1995; Bonilla-Silva, 1997). One of the ironic implications of the systemic nature of racism is that in contemporary America, most members of the dominant population are not racist. Yet, they benefit from a system that differentially rewards and punishes society’s members based upon race (Ture and Hamilton, 1992). Applying the concept of racism to the study of racial and ethnic demography necessitates the usage of two accompanying terms: population control and population power. In this context, population control is not limited to the attempts to obtain or maintain an optimal population size (Bouvier, 1992; Cohen, 1995). Population control also means deliberate efforts by the dominant population to limit the size, inhibit or force the geographic mobility of, and/or deny citizenship to one or more subordinate or foreign populations. Population power refers to the ability to exercise population control, and to change the social structure so as to maintain the advantages of the dominant population1 . It is important to note that population control and population power are not inherently racist concepts. It is the why and the how of the usage Hayward Derrick Horton 262 of...