Sociology Now, Census Update

screenwriters often made their villains “half-breeds” as a shorthand way of denoting
that they were morally depraved and not to be trusted.
The legal restrictions against intermarriage have been gone for nearly 40 years,
and popular support has shifted considerably: In 1958, 96 percent of Whites disap-
proved of Black–White intermarriage, but in 1997, 77 percent approved(Kristof,
2004) (Figure 8.1). Although they have increased in recent years, intermarriage and
interracial romantic relationships are still stigmatized. It is interesting that just as mag-
azine articles and dire warnings were given to White Americans at the turn of the last
century about “race suicide,” now some popular magazine articles and films suggest
that a Black person who dates or marries a White person is betraying his or her race.
On MTV’s The Real World: Philadelphia, Karamo, who is Black, is outraged when
a White guy and a Black girl start dating; he even threatens, “jokingly,” to cut the
White guy’s throat. But then he dates a Latino with impunity, perhaps thinking that
it is acceptable because they are gay and will not produce children.
In the 2000 census, there were at least 7 million of those children: Of the
population, 2 percent was identified as biracial and multiracial. Half were under the
age of 18, so it is evident that the population will grow. Perhaps biracialwill become
a new ethnicity. In the past, people of mixed races usually just “picked one.”

The Sociology of Race

and Ethnicity

Sociologists see race and ethnicity as two of the ways that many societies organize
the allocation of goods and resources. Some people are set apart for unequal treat-
ment, receiving more or less political power, economic resources, and social prestige.
Assumed physical or cultural characteristics called “race” or “ethnicity” are arbitrary
markers that serve to legitimate social inequality.

THE SOCIOLOGY OF RACE AND ETHNICITY 247

80

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0

Hispanic American

Indian

White Asian

MEN WOMEN

Black

80

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0

Hispanic American

Indian

White Black Asian

Married Cohabitating

FIGURE 8.1Percentage of Americans in Couples Married to or Cohabiting
with Someone of a Different Race

Source:U.S. Census, 2000.