미국 사회에서 ‘복합인종’(multiracial)의 사회적 정체성

• 영문명: Social Identity of the Multiracial in American Society : Focusing on the Mixed Blood of Black and White
• 발행기관: 한국아메리카학회
• 저자명: 이현송 (Hyun Song Lee)
• 간행물 정보: 『미국학논집』제41집 2호, 197~230쪽, 전체 33쪽
• 주제분류: 인문학 > 기타인문학
• 파일형태: PDF
• 발행일자: 2009.09.30

영문 초록

The Multiracial were surveyed for the first time in the 2000 Decennial Census, in which they accounted for 2.4%, 680million people. They have been treated as just Blacks according to the 'One-drop rule' that have overruled the American society until recent times. The recent emergence of the multiracial, who do not belong to any of the existing racial categories, could serve as potential threat to the current racial order. By using the 2000 decennial census I fathomed the social significance of the newly emerging racial identity of multiracials by comparing the social status of the Black-White Multiracial to that of both African-American and Whites. By limiting the samples to the 25 years of older householders and wives, I made a comparison of the three groups of Black-White Multiracial, African-Americans and Whites with respect to their socioeconomic status, family formation, racial trait of their spouses, and racial composition of their residing community. The analyses told that the Black-White Multiracial approach the Whites in most characteristics except for family formation. The Black-White Multiracial turned out to be far more superior to Whites in educational attainment and occupational status, and to be almost equal to them in income. They also tend to choose a white partner for their spouse and live in the neighborhood where most residents are whites. On the other hand, their families look much similar to the African American families in terms of less proportion of coupled family, more proportion of extended family, and substantial frequency of single mother family. On the base of the analysis, I conclude that the multiracial could make a great stride in socio-economic status and almost adopt the life style of White mainstream, but that the heritage of Black ancestry still lingers on in their private life. It seems to be too soon to see whether they could obtain the social significance of independent racial group in American society in near future.

키워드

race multiracial biracial mixed race American society.