Case Study – Changing Demographics in the U.S.A

Case Study – Changing Demographics in the U.S.A

Choose one person to focus on in your case study (this person can be you, someone you know, or a public figure).

America’s former President, Barack Obama.

Explain how this person might have been categorized by the 1790 Census.

Supposing President Obama existed back in the year 1790, in the census used back then, he would have been classified as a slave.

Explain how this person would have been categorized by the 2020 Census.

According to the 2020 Census, Barack Obama would have been categorized as black or African American.

Compare and contrast the two potential categorizations. How does this demonstrate that the concepts of race, ethnicity, and even gender change over time as social constructs?

Purely due to his racial background, Obama would have been classified as a slave in 1790 because the legal and social systems intertwined with the concept of race, which basically justified and perpetuated slavery. Black people were equated to being subhuman, which meant that by being black, one automatically was dehumanized and regarded as property. This particular period in American history consists of a society whereby racial categories were used in order to enforce and legitimize systemic oppression so that black people could be exploited and controlled for the benefit of white people.

On the other hand, in a census in 2020, Barack Obama would be classified as a black person, which only reflects his racial identity in such a way that it recognizes his heritage as opposed to a social status like that used in 1790. This particular categorization is a social identifier but is not in any way associated with legal status or social hierarchy; it is about cultural or ethnic identity and is not in any way prejudistic.

The shift of race as a tool of oppression to being used as an identity demonstrates that race, as well as other concepts like ethnicity and gender, are social constructs heavily determined by societal values, which tend to change over time (Kendall, 2018). Societal values today emphasize human rights, justice, and fairness, concepts that reject a concept like racial hierarchy. Further, knowledge that is gained over time through research and observations, among other techniques, plays a huge role in debunking false theories like, in this case, the theory that black people were subhuman.

The same case applies to the concept of gender whereby, in the eighteenth century, society had rigid gender roles, and women had little to no rights. However, over time, women have fought, and through education, a society with more equality between men and women has been created.

To conclude, the different categorization in the 2020 and 1790 censuses of a black person highlights the fact that race is a social construct and, as such, is bound to the changes that come with time as societal values evolve.

In your view, what ethnic, racial, and/or gender categories, if any, would be best, in your view, for the 2030 Census, to most accurately show the diversity of the U.S. population, improve education about inequalities, and promote social justice? Explain your recommendations.

In my view, the inclusion of intersectional categories in the 2030 Census would be ideal in showing not only the diversity of America’s population but also in improving education about inequalities and promoting social justice. Intersectional categories would include categories whereby respondents are able to identify with more than one demographic altogether. This is especially useful, seeing how gender categories have expanded the rich diversity in race, disabilities, and ethnicities.

America is now filled with people who have multiple dimensions of identity, all of which interact, shaping their experiences of either oppression, privilege, or both. An example of this is demonstrated by Root (2016), who exemplifies how a black woman of both black parents may face different challenges than a black woman whose only one parent is black and the other of another race. By allowing respondents to identify intersectional identities, the census can provide more nuanced data that better inform policies aimed at addressing complex social inequalities.

 References

Kendall, D. (2018). Sociology in our times: The essentials (11 ed.). United States: Cengage Learning.

Root, M. P. (2016). Mixed-race women. In Race/Sex (pp. 157-172). Routledge.

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Required Resources

Read/review the following resources for this activity:

Textbook: Chapter 9
Lesson
In the article below, review the two columns comparing the 1790 Census categories with the 2020 Census categories
Pew Research Center. (2020, February 6). What Census calls links to an external site.. https://www.pewresearch.org/interactives/what-census-calls-us/

Instructions
This week, you learned about the U.S. Census Bureau’s most recent racial and ethnic categories. For this assignment, you will complete the attached case study worksheet that guides you through analyzing the concepts of race, ethnicity, and gender as social constructs, just as sociologists do. You will apply racial and ethnic categories used in the 2020 Census with the four racial, ethnic, and gender categories used in the 1790 Census: Free white males, free white females, all other free persons, and slaves (Pew Research Center, 2020).

*This assignment is adapted from Glaser (2018).

Questions:

1. Choose one person to focus on in your case study (this person can be you, someone you know, or a public figure).
2. Explain how this person might have been categorized by the 1790 Census.
3. Explain how this person would have been categorized by the 2020 Census.
4. Compare and contrast the two potential categorizations. How does this demonstrate that the concepts of race, ethnicity, and even gender change over time as social constructs?
5. In your view, what ethnic, racial, and/or gender categories, if any, would be best, in your view, for the 2030 Census, to most accurately show the diversity of the U.S. population, improve education about inequalities, and promote social justice? Explain your recommendations.
6. References