Constructivist views of race enable mixed-race identity mobility

Evidence

One important interindividual difference may be the previously discussed belief system encompassing a constructivist view of race that enables mobility across racial–ethnic groups (Rothbart and Taylor 1992). Although to our knowledge the relationship between views of race and identity shifting has only been investigated for bicultural individuals so far (Chao et al. 2007), this idea is consistent with qualitative findings (Renn 2000) showing that accepting race as a social construction provided some mixed-race participants with freedom and flexibility in identification. Additional indirect support can be derived from the observation that lower endorsement of essentialism is related to higher flexibility in social perception and intergroup relations among Mixed individuals (Pauker et al. 2018). For example, Pauker and Ambady (2009) showed that Asian/White Mixed individuals with less essentialist views of race had better recognition of both Asian and White faces than mono-racial participants, who had more essentialist views of race and showed a distinct outgroup recognition deficit. — Anna X. Huang, Jacqueline M. Chen, and Juliane Degner, Being One or the Other, Both or Neither, 104

Categorization

• XREF: Connects directly to reading purpose: essentialism/entitativity pressures on mixed-identity members — constructivism as the cognitive escape valve from homogenizing category pressure. — connects to: Intersectionality struggles with fluid racial identity despite its anti-essentialist aims — Cyra Akila Choudhury, Racecraft and Identity in the Emergence…, 76; Fitness ambiguity pushes mixed-race people toward constructivist views or identity dissonance — Anna X. Huang, Jacqueline M. Chen, and Juliane Degner, Being One or the Other, Both or…, 47; Essentialist beliefs about race incline mixed individuals toward a single distinct mixed identity — Anna X. Huang, Jacqueline M. Chen, and Juliane Degner, Being One or the Other, Both or…, 79 (+6 more)
• QUESTION: Does constructivist flexibility survive when ingroup protective solidarity demands essentialist category commitment?

Broader Connections

• Essentialist beliefs about race incline mixed individuals toward a single distinct mixed identity #contradicts (0.82) — Anna X. Huang, Jacqueline M. Chen, and Juliane Degner, Being One or the Other, Both or Neither, 79
• Shifting racism’s targets exposes the social construction of race itself #corroborates (0.80) — Hamid Dabashi, Brown Skin, White Masks, 639
• Fitness ambiguity pushes mixed-race people toward constructivist views or identity dissonance #qualifies (0.78) — Anna X. Huang, Jacqueline M. Chen, and Juliane Degner, Being One or the Other, Both or Neither, 47
• Racial identity functions as practice and intention, not just appearance #expands (0.76)
• Beliefs about race map onto SIT social change versus social mobility belief systems. #expands (0.75) — Anna X. Huang, Jacqueline M. Chen, and Juliane Degner, Being One or the Other, Both or Neither, 85
• Mixed members treat racial-ethnic identities as context-switchable need satisfiers #expands (0.74)
• Perceived similarity to a racial category drives self-categorization among mixed-race people #qualifies (0.72) — Anna X. Huang, Jacqueline M. Chen, and Juliane Degner, Being One or the Other, Both or Neither, 37