Ever Changing Race

Do races affect the future?

Currently within the US, Hispanic and Asian immigration rates rival those of European immigration rates of the 1900s. In 2011, the US immigration population was the highest in the world at a little more than 40 million immigrants. According to the Migration Policy Institute, 20% of all international migrants reside within the US. The US's population is only 5% of the world population. Of these 40 million immigrants, 18 million cite as being of Hispanic or Latin heritage, while 25% of immigrants stated they were of an Asian descent. 

The rate at which Hispanics and Asians are migrating to America today is comparable to the rate in which Europeans immigrated to America in the 1960s. However, unlike today, no ethnicity or culture represented more than 15% of the total immigrant population in the 1960s, as stated by the Migration Policy Institute (2011).  

The immigration statistics of the US Census Bureau and the Migration Policy Institute in concordance with Anthony Perez and Charles Hirschman help to show the trend of a decrease white majority. 

In 2008 the US Census Bureau released a report that projected "non-Hispanic whites would no longer be a majority of the population by 2042" (Perez & Hirschman, 2009). This projection shows the decreased white majority due to both increased Hispanic and Asian immigration and more interracial marriages. 

From the interactionist's point of view, the former stigma of being of a mixed-race couple has declined significantly. Due to the decreased "anti-interracial couple" perception, people of different races or ethnicity are more likely to birth mixed-race offspring. In society today, being in an interracial marriage is not uncommon. Due to the genetics of Hispanics and Asian, any offspring between a member of Asian or Hispanic origin and a white individual will be predominantly of the Asian or Hispanic persuasion. 

According to Perez & Hirschman, immigrants of Latin and Asian roots commonly claim their original race/ethnicity than a white or black American. These American's often notice little ethnic or racial difference. While the Asians and Hispanics will categorize themselves as "Asian American" or "Hispanic" (2009). This is another form of the race and ethnic perception within the US and can be attributed to the trend of increased intermarriages and decreased white majority.  The table below depicts the self-proclaimed ethnic identity of those in the United States. Perez and Hirschman state that only 8% of American's do not fit into the list of these racial categories.  The 8% don't fit into the racial categorize because they wish to further distinguish their race/ethnicity. 42% of Hispanics marked themselves SOR or of "some other race." 15.4 million Americans regularly identify as of an "other race," 97% of those 15.4 million being Hispanic (Perez & Hirschman, 2009). The trend of increased Hispanic or Asian race is demonstrated within the table.

Functionalists would look at interracial marriages as being functional for the current minority populations as their offspring will be more of the minority ethnicity than of the white race. Intermarriages will eventually allow for the minority groups to become the majority with whites becoming more of a minority. The trend of increased immigration would be considered useful to society because many immigrants provide necessary labor for many institutions within the US and therefore an increase in Asian and Hispanic immigration rate will only further supplement the current immigrant workforce, therefore strengthening the economy. 

As more immigration and intermarriages occur, the distinction between the white and Hispanic and Asian races/ethnicity will decrease. Eventually the population will reach a point where the Hispanic and Asian genes will be the dominant phenotypes within society. Interactionism will explain how the perceptions of mixing races and ethnicity will no longer be considered taboo. Functionalists may be able to explain that the mixing of heritages will help the current minorities to gain status within society because more individuals of these current minorities will be more active in the advancing society.   

Works Cited

Britz, Emma., & Jeanne Batalova. January 2013. "Frequently Requested Statistics on Immigrants and Immigration in the United  

         States." Migration Policy Institute. Retrieved from: http://www.migrationinformation.org/USfocus/display.cfm?id=931

Perez, Anthony D. & Charles Hirschman. March 2009. "The Changing Racial and Ethnic Composition if the US Population:   

         Emerging American Identities." Popul Dev Rev 35(1), 1-51. DOI: 10.1111/j.1728-4457.2009.00260.x

US Census Bureau. "An Older and More Diverse Nation by Midcentury." 2008. Internet Press Release. Retrieved from:  
          http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/population/012496.html