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Recent work on the fluidity of race and shifting racial classifications and identities in the United States has cast significant doubt on the subjective and cultural adequacy of fixed categorization schemes. This paper uses data from a unique survey-based experiment in which respondents were asked to type in their own racial identifications in an open-ended field which we are able to compare with fixed, pre-defined racial categories assigned at an earlier time. The results of this experiment show that most people know and understand the common "fixed choice" categories of Black/White/Hispanic and we find that a majority of respondents sort themselves into these standard categories without any direct prompting to do so. Within these standard, self-reported racial categories, there are dominant racial identifications (e.g., White, Black, Hispanic) and less dominant alternatives (e.g., Caucasian, African-American, Latino/a). For people using one of these common racial categories, we find that there are important differences between subgroups based on how they specifically respond to the open-ended race question (e.g. "white" vs. "Caucasian"). The respondents who chose to provide more complex racial and ethnic identities when allowed to self-identify on the survey varies greatly by racial group. Additionally, a small but very interesting set of respondents (just under 5%) either leave the answer blank or deny that racial classifications mattered. These findings add to the growing body of literature demonstrating the fluidity of race and raise important questions about the nature, meaning, and purpose of standard racial classifications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Survey research on racial attitudes has played a key role in the study of race in America for the past several decades. However, recent work within whiteness studies has suggested that survey research may be limited in its ability to explore and understand the complexities of the racialized system that exists today. I believe that survey research can still be a useful tool by incorporating ideas from whiteness, specifically white privilege. Whiteness studies have addressed questions of white privilege, but these studies are lacking in strong, empirical evidence on a national level. The American Mosaic Project, a nationally representative telephone survey, provides new data and insights into white privilege. New survey questions were asked about whites and racial advantage, along with traditional questions about minorities and racial disadvantage. Preliminary results from this study show that a surprising number of Americans are aware of white privilege. A majority of Americans believe that whites have distinct advantages in our society. Results also show that there are significant differences in the levels of awareness of whiteness between whites, blacks, and Hispanics. These findings show that survey research can be used within a whiteness framework and provide important quantitative, empirical evidence for whiteness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]