The Importance of Racial-Ethnic Identity and Social Setting for Blacks,Whites,and Multiracials

We explore racial-ethnic identity in three ways: (1) by assessing the importance of racial-ethnic identity for self-concept; (2) by comparing the importance of racial-ethnic identity in different settings (at home, in one's neighborhood, in public, at work); and (3) by contrasting the importance of racial-ethnic identity with other identities (gender, age, occupation, marital status, and social class). Data were gathered in a random national telephone survey. Results indicate that for blacks racial-ethnic identity is a more important component of self-concept than it is for multiracials and whites (both of whom say they place little importance on it). Other findings show that the importance of racial-ethnic identity varies across settings (e.g., it is most important for blacks at work and least important at home) and that in general the multiracials are not highly distinguishable from both blacks and whites. Moreover, an interesting and unexpected finding is that for all three groups, the single most important identity is sex/gender.