Racial Identity, Group Consciousness, and Attitudes: A Framework for Assessing Multiracial Self‐Classification

Multiracial self-classifiers are the fastest-growing racial population in the U.S. While their rise signals a departure from norms of hypodescent, little is known about the sociopolitical meanings attached to multiracial labels. Here, we develop a theoretical framework for understanding multiracials’ sense of racial group identity, linked fate, and racial attitudes. Examining a national opinion survey that samples more than 1000 multiracial adults, we compare the identity and attitudinal profiles of the two largest multiracial groups in the U.S.—White-Asians and WhiteBlacks—with those of their component monoracial groups. We find that while White-Asians and White-Blacks often distinguish themselves from their component races, on balance, the assertion of dual racial membership signals greater solidarity and/or affect toward the minority race. These findings suggest that members of these multiracial populations are likely to align themselves relatively more with their minority background than with Whites on political issues that are racial in nature. Replication Materials: The data and materials required to verify the computational reproducibility of the results, procedures, and analyses in this article are available on the American Journal of Political Science Dataverse within the Harvard Dataverse Network, at: https://dataverse.harvard.edu/dataset.xhtml?persistentId=doi:10.7910/DVN/HFXXEF. A full Code Ocean replication archive is also available at: https://codeocean.com/capsule/0071d269a531-44d5-8133-cefef619bb91/