Everything about White American totally explained
White American (often used interchangeably with "Caucasian American" and within the
United States simply "white") is an
umbrella term officially employed by the
United States Census Bureau,
Office of Management and Budget and other U.S. government for the classification of
American citizens or
resident aliens "having origins in any of the original peoples of
Europe, the
Middle East, or
North Africa". Included in the category are
White Hispanics representing 7.73% of the total US population in 2006. Sociologist Ruth Frankenberg points out that Whiteness, though seemingly raceless for Whites themselves is visible among minorities, stating that "it is safe to suggest that whiteness remains quite visible to men and women of color even when ‘cultural micro-climates’ make it possible for the concept to disappear into false universality from the purview of some white people.” As the cultural boundaries separating white Americans from other racial categories are contested and fluid, this broad official definition includes people who might not be considered white by others and who might not consider themselves white.
Historical and present definitions
Today, the term "white American" can encompass many different ethnic groups. Although the
United States Census purports to reflect a social definition of race, the social dimensions of race are more complex than Census criteria.
Current U.S. Census definition
The 2000 U.S. census states that
racial categories "generally reflect a social definition of race recognized in this country. They don't conform to any biological, anthropological or genetic criteria." It defines "white people" as "people having origins in any of the original peoples of
Europe, the
Middle East, or
North Africa. In U.S. census documents, the designation
white overlaps, as do all other official racial categories, with the term
Hispanic, which was introduced in the
1980 census as a category of ethnicity, separate and independent of
race.
Hispanicity, which is independent of race, is the only ethnic category, as opposed to racial category, which is officially collated by the
U.S. Census Bureau. The distinction made by government agencies for those within the population of any official race category, including "white American", is between those with
Hispanic ethnic backgrounds and all others of non-Hispanic ethnic backgrounds. In the case of White Americans, these two groups are respectively termed
"White Hispanics" and
"non-Hispanic Whites"; the former having at least one ancestor from the people of
Spain or
Spanish-speaking Latin America, and the latter consisting of an ethnically diverse collection of all others who are classified as white American who are of non-Hispanic ethnic backgrounds.
Many Americans who are treated as part of minority groups are included in the census category "white." This is true for many Hispanic Americans, 47.9% of whom identified racially as white. The 2000 Census separated the question on Hispanics from the
question on race, the latter being divided into the 5 categories of white,
black or African American,
American Indian and Alaska Native,
Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander,
Asian American, plus "other", with the respondent having the ability to mark more than one category. It is also true for many
Arab and other Middle Eastern Americans and North African Americans, as well as non-European
Jewish Americans, since the 2000 Census conflates race and geographic/national origin:
white is defined to include people with original origins in Europe, the Middle East and North Africa.
In cases where individuals don't self-identify, the
U.S. census parameters for race give each national origin a racial value. Additionally, people who reported
Muslim (or a sect of Islam such as
Shi'ite or
Sunni),
Jewish,
Zoroastrian, Mexican, or
Caucasian as their "race" in the "Some other race" section, without noting a country of origin, are automatically tallied as white.
Social definition
According to race scholars such as Karen Brodkin, in the United States, essentially anyone of European descent is considered white and Jews (presumably those of European origin, that is,
Ashkenazi Jews) are also today considered white. However, while the census asserts that "race" and "ethnicity" are separate, some
Hispanics of primarily European descent may not consider themselves white and may not be considered white by others, possibly because of the long-held stereotype of Hispanics being given a non-white racial value. Likewise, while people of Middle Eastern and North African descent are included in the white category in the census, studies have found that Arab American teenagers may sometimes construct identities that distinguish themselves from "white society."
Some American white people, mainly those of distant descent from multiple European countries, tend to see themselves as belonging to no ethnic group at all, but just "generic American".
The cultural boundaries separating white Americans from other racial or ethnic categories have changed significantly over the course of American history. Even among Europeans, those not considered white at some time in American history are the
Irish,
Germans,
Ashkenazi Jews,
Italians,
Spaniards,
Slavs,
Greeks and other European
Mediterranean peoples. David R. Roediger argues that the construction of the white race in the United States was an effort to mentally distance slave owners from slaves. The process of officially being defined as
white by law often came about in court disputes over pursuit of
citizenship.
Position within society
As whites are the dominant racial and cultural group; according to sociologist
Steven Seidman writing about the most prominent perspective among researches, "White culture constitutes the general cultural mainstream, causing non-White culture to be seen as deviant, in either a positive or negative manner. Moreover, Whites tend to be disproportionately represented in powerful positions, controlling almost all political, economic and cultural institutions." Yet, according to Seidman, Whites are most commonly unaware of their "privilege" and the manner in which their culture has always been dominant in the US, as they don't identify as members of a specific racial group but rather incorrectly perceive their views and culture as "raceless," when in fact it's ethno-national (ethnic / cultural) specific with a racial base component.
Geographic distribution
According to the Census definition, white Americans are the majority racial group in almost all of the United States. They are not the majority in
Hawaii, many
American Indian reservations, parts of the
South known as the
Black Belt, and in many urban areas throughout the country. In
California, Whites slipped from 80% of the state's population in 1970 to 43% in 2006.
Overall the highest concentration of those referred to as
white alone by the Census Bureau was found in the northern
Midwest,
New England, the
Rocky Mountain states,
Kentucky, and
West Virginia. The lowest concentration of whites was found in southern and mid-Atlantic states.
Although all large geographical areas are dominated by white Americans, much larger differences can be seen between specific parts of large cities.
Income and educational attainment
Some argue that because white Americans have faced the least
discrimination of any racial or ethnic group, they've had time to build up wealth, and that this is a major contributor to economic inequities among races today. White Americans have the second highest
median household income and
personal income levels in the nation. The median
income per household member was also the highest, since white Americans had the smallest households of any racial demographic in the nation. In 2006, the median individual income of a white American age 25 or older was $33,030, with those who were full-time employed between ages 25 and 64 earning $34,432. Since 42% of all households had two income earners, the median household income was considerably higher than the median personal income, which was $48,554 in 2005. Among whites,
Jewish Americans rank first in household income, personal income and educational attainment among white Americans. In 2005, white households had a median household income of $48,977, 10.3% above the national median of $44,389.
Cuban Americans with 85% classifying as white, have a higher median income and educational attainment level than most other whites.
Poverty rates for white Americans are the lowest of any racial group, with 8.6% of white individuals living below the poverty line (3% below the national average). However, due to whites' majority status, 48% of Americans living in poverty are white.
Whites'
educational attainment are the second-highest in the country, after Asian Americans'. Overall, nearly one-third of white Americans had a
Bachelor degree, with the educational attainment for whites being higher for those born outside the United States. Nearly forty percent, 37.6%, of foreign born and 29.7% of native born whites had a college degree. Both figures are above the national average of 27.2%.
Gender income inequality was the greatest among whites with white men outearning white women by 48%. Census Bureau data for 2005 reveals that the median income of white females was lower than that of males of all races. In 2005, the median income for white females was only slightly higher than that of African American females, indicating that income inequities seem to run along gender lines more so than along racial lines.
Admixture
» see also Race and genetics
According to a recent study, about 30% of all White Americans, approximately 66 million people, have between 2 and 20% of Native American or African admixture with an exact median of 2.3%, which means the median admixture percentage for all White population of the United State is 0.69.
Further Information
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