Context-dependence of race self-classification: Results from a highly mixed and unequal middle-income country

Ethnic-racial classification criteria are widely recognized to vary according to historical, cultural and political contexts. In Brazil, the strong influence of individual socio-economic factors on race/colour self-classification is well known. With the expansion of genomic technologies, the use of...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	PloS one Vol. 14; no. 5; p. e0216653
Main Authors:	Chor, Dóra, Pereira, Alexandre, Pacheco, Antonio G, Santos, Ricardo V, Fonseca, Maria J M, Schmidt, Maria I, Duncan, Bruce B, Barreto, Sandhi M, Aquino, Estela M L, Mill, José G, Molina, Maria delCB, Giatti, Luana, Almeida, Maria daCC, Bensenor, Isabela, Lotufo, Paulo A
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	United States Public Library of Science 16-05-2019 Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Subjects:	Analysis Biology and Life Sciences Brazil Census Censuses Cities - ethnology Cities - statistics & numerical data Classification Cohort Studies Composition Continental Population Groups - genetics Continental Population Groups - psychology Continental Population Groups - statistics & numerical data Dependence Economic factors Epidemiology Ethnic factors Genetics Genotype Hospitals Humans Income Longitudinal studies Male Medicine Mental depression People and places Pereira, Alexandre Phylogeny Physiology Political factors Population growth Public health Public policy Race Racism Research and Analysis Methods Segregation Social aspects Social factors Social Sciences Socioeconomic data Socioeconomic factors Socioeconomics Sociology Technology Brazil Cities United States New York Rio de Janeiro Brazil United States > US Latin America
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Summary:	Ethnic-racial classification criteria are widely recognized to vary according to historical, cultural and political contexts. In Brazil, the strong influence of individual socio-economic factors on race/colour self-classification is well known. With the expansion of genomic technologies, the use of genomic ancestry has been suggested as a substitute for classification procedures such as self-declaring race, as if they represented the same concept. We investigated the association between genomic ancestry, the racial composition of census tracts and individual socioeconomic factors and self-declared race/colour in a cohort of 15,105 Brazilians. Results show that the probability of self-declaring as black or brown increases according to the proportion of African ancestry and varies widely among cities. In Porto Alegre, where most of the population is white, with every 10% increase in the proportion of African ancestry, the odds of self-declaring as black increased 14 times (95%CI 6.08-32.81). In Salvador, where most of the population is black or brown, that increase was of 3.98 times (95%CI 2.96-5.35). The racial composition of the area of residence was also associated with the probability of self-declaring as black or brown. Every 10% increase in the proportion of black and brown inhabitants in the residential census tract increased the odds of self-declaring as black by 1.33 times (95%CI 1.24-1.42). Ancestry alone does not explain self-declared race/colour. An emphasis on multiple situational contexts (both individual and collective) provides a more comprehensive framework for the study of the predictors of self-declared race/colour, a highly relevant construct in many different scenarios, such as public policy, sociology and medicine.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist. These authors are shared first authors on this work.
ISSN:	1932-6203 1932-6203
DOI:	10.1371/journal.pone.0216653