Race Mixture: Boundary Crossing in Comparative Perspective

• Published in: Annual review of sociology Vol. 35; no. 1; pp. 129 - 146
• Main Authors: Telles, Edward E., Sue, Christina A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Palo Alto, CA Annual Reviews 01-01-2009; Annual Reviews, Inc
• Subjects: African American culture; African Americans; Black white relations; Classification; Comparative analysis; Cultures and civilizations; Discrimination; Ethnic Identity; Ethnic relations. Racism; Ethnicity; Identity; Ideologies; Ideology; Inequality; Intermarriage; Latin America; Mental stress; Miscegenation; Mixed race; Race; Race relations; Racial discrimination; Racial identity; Racism; Social inequality; Social Movements; Social Processes; Sociology; Stress; Twine; United States Of America; Latin America; Intermarriage; miscegenation; Race; multiracialism; Comparative analysis; Identity; classification; Racial identity; Inequality
• ISSN: 0360-0572; 1545-2115
• DOI: 10.1146/annurev.soc.34.040507.134657

In this article, we examine a large, interdisciplinary, and somewhat scattered literature, all of which falls under the umbrella term race mixture. We highlight important analytical distinctions that need to be taken into account when addressing the related, but separate, social phenomena of intermarriage, miscegenation, multiracial identity, multiracial social movements, and race-mixture ideologies. In doing so, we stress a social constructivist approach to race mixture with a focus on boundary crossing. Finally, we also demonstrate how ideologies and practices of race mixture play out quite differently in contexts outside of the United States, particularly in Latin America. Race-mixture ideologies and practices in Latin America have been used to maintain racial inequality in the region, thus challenging recent arguments by U.S. scholars that greater racial mixture leads to a decline in racism, discrimination, and inequality.