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Using a special module (MEUS) of the 2000 General Social Survey, we investigate Americans' perceptions of the racial and ethnic composition of the United States. We show that, because of innumeracy, it is critical to gauge perceptions through relative, rather than absolute, group sizes. Even so, it appears that, as of 2000, roughly half of Americans believed that whites had become a numerical minority; such perceptions were even more common among minority-group members than among whites. Majority-group respondents' perceptions of the relative sizes of minorities affect their attitudes towards immigrants, blacks and Hispanics, with those having the most distorted perceptions holding the most negative attitudes. Although perceptions of group sizes in the nation are linked to the perceived racial/ethnic composition of the communities where respondents reside, the effects of the former on attitudes are largely independent of the latter. Our findings highlight the frequently overlooked value of an old bromide against prejudice: education.

Tracks the evolution of metropolitan ethnic economics between 1980-90, when most immigrant groups experienced explosive population growth. Uses census data to describe ethnic enclaves, entrepreneurial niches, and employment niches in metropolitan areas. Results suggest that initial successes of some groups (Whites, Cubans, Koreans, and Chinese) translate into a continuing pattern. Other ethnic groups remain highly dependent on other employment sectors. (SM)

Elliott Barkan's article offers a welcome change from much recent discussion of ethnicity in the United States, which rejects in a priori fashion assimilation as a major pattern (and the [...]

Assimilation has become America's dirty little secret. Although once the subject of avid discussion and debate, the idea has fallen into disrepute, replaced by the slogans of multiculturalism. At best, [...]

The relationship between urbanism and nontraditionalism predicted by Fischer's subcultural theory of urbanism is tested using data from the 1986 General Social Survey. The findings offer qualified support for propositions derived from subcultural theory. Although an association between urbanism and nontraditionalism is found, it does not have the predicted monotonic form. Places of intermediate urbanism, and suburbs most especially, exhibit the highest levels of nontraditionalism. Moreover, when compositional effects are taken into account, the relationship is weak and inconsistent in form.

Describes an empirical association between the ethnic homogeneity or heterogeneity of an individual's network of primary relations and his or her attitudes toward free speech and child rearing. (RL)

In this paper, data from the Catholic Americans study is used to test the hypothesis that there is a powerful ethnic factor in intermarriage and thus that considerable intermarriage will lead only to the emergence of new ethnic boundaries enclosing culturally and socially similar nationality groups. (Author/EB)

Cites the importance of computers and of mathematical graph theory in describing the key features of group structures and compares research based on these methods to research carried out by social psychologists in the 1940s and 1950s. Identifies major problems in the collection of network data about large groups whose boundaries are not well-defined. (DB)

Compares the probable success of completing a bachelor's degree between students who began at two-year colleges and those who began at four-year colleges. Findings suggest that two-year college students perceived themselves as less likely to succeed, and students transferring to four-year colleges were less likely to complete degrees. (AM)