What Does "White" Mean? Interpreting the Choice of "Race" by Mixed Race Young People in Britain

• Published in: Sociological perspectives Vol. 53; no. 2; pp. 287 - 292
• Main Authors: Song, Miri, Hashem, Ferhana
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Los Angeles, CA University of California Press 01.06.2010; SAGE Publications; SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
• Subjects: British culture; Census agglomerations; Censuses; Choices; Colleges; England; Ethnic Groups; Ethnic Identity; Ethnicity; Great Britain; Identification; Intermarriage; Mixed race; Multiracial people; Public policy; Qualitative analysis; Race; Racial identity; Research Note; Respondents; Social construction; Social research; Survey sampling; Twine; United Kingdom; White people; Whites; Youth; United Kingdom > UK; East Asian/white; Britain; identification; race; white; multiracial

Despite the often cited idea that racial identities are socially constructed, and potentially fluid, much public policy is still based on surveys that elicit only one measure of racial identity. A number of U.S. studies have employed "best single race" questions on racial identification, i...