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The United States has a racially and ethnically diverse population. [1] At the federal level, race and ethnicity have been categorized separately. The most recent United States census recognized five racial categories (White, Black, Native American/Alaska Native, Asian, and Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander), as well as people who belong to two or more of the racial categories.
The Interagency Committee agreed, stating that "race" and "ethnicity" were not sufficiently defined and "that many respondents conceptualize 'race' and 'ethnicity' as one and the same underscor[ing] the need to consolidate these terms into one category, using a term that is more meaningful to the American people." [5] The AAA also stated:
Around 1900 and before, the primordialist understanding of ethnicity predominated: cultural differences between peoples were seen as being the result of inherited traits and tendencies. [73] With Weber's introduction of the idea of ethnicity as a social construct, race and ethnicity became more divided from each other.
Racial and ethnic demographics of the United States in percentage of the population. The United States census enumerated Whites and Blacks since 1790, Asians and Native Americans since 1860 (though all Native Americans in the U.S. were not enumerated until 1890), "some other race" since 1950, and "two or more races" since 2000. [2]
The Census Bureau also recognizes differences in ethnicity among the population, and it defines ethnicity as whether a person is of Hispanic origin or not. For this reason, ethnicity is broken out into two categories in its data, Hispanic or Latino and Not Hispanic or Latino. Hispanics may report as any race. [9]
Race is a categorization of humans based on shared physical or social qualities into groups generally viewed as distinct within a given society. [1] The term came into common usage during the 16th century, when it was used to refer to groups of various kinds, including those characterized by close kinship relations. [2]
Race and ethnicity often remain undifferentiated in health research. [ 2 ] [ 3 ] Differences in health status , health outcomes , life expectancy , and many other indicators of health in different racial and ethnic groups are well documented. [ 4 ]
Researchers have investigated the relationship between race and genetics as part of efforts to understand how biology may or may not contribute to human racial categorization. Today, the consensus among scientists is that race is a social construct, and that using it as a proxy for genetic differences among populations is misleading. [1] [2]