The Ethnic Responses of Whites: What Causes Their Instability, Simplification, and Inconsistency?

This article analyzes the pattern of reporting of ethnic ancestry in the U.S. by Whites through the 1980 census. The ethnic question introduced in the 1980 decennial census of the U.S. has generated surprising results. There is simplification, inconsistency, and instability in the ethnic origins reported. Simplification often occurs, for example, when we compare the origins of parents with the origins they. report for their children. Moreover, it is not uncommon for the ethnicity reported for one child in a family to be inconsistent with what is said about a sibling. Likewise, there is evidence of instability within a life span, particularly at the time of marriage and when leaving home. It is tempting to interpret these responses as merely reflecting enumeration errors; the new question that generates these results is not entirely clear in its verbal construction, its instructions to respondents, and its goals. This article has three main goals. First, after reviewing both the question and the surprising results reported thus far, we evaluate the competing interpretations for the inconsistent results obtained from the 1980 ethnic origins question.