how do racial categories shape our identities and social status? course hero

To a greater extent, racial classifications shape people’s perceptions through stereotypes. Stereotypes habitually lead to assigned different meanings on social roles within various ethnic groups (Bell, 2017).

Full Answer

What does Penner and Saperstein argue about race?

Did the subjects change their racial identity?

About this website

What does Penner and Saperstein argue about race?

To Penner and Saperstein, the study contradicts the idea that races, and the differences between them, are dominated by biological differences between groups of people. They see race not as a fixed entity that is purely determined from birth, but a flexible one, settled by a tug-of-war between different possible classifications.

Did the subjects change their racial identity?

And it wasn’t just the interviewers whose opinions changed. The subjects themselves had a tendency to switch their own racial identity depending on their status, and to the same degree as the interviewers did. For example, among people who described themselves as white in 1979, 97% of those that remained well-off felt the same way in 2002. But among those who had tasted poverty, just 93% still described themselves as white.

What does Penner and Saperstein argue about race?

To Penner and Saperstein, the study contradicts the idea that races, and the differences between them, are dominated by biological differences between groups of people. They see race not as a fixed entity that is purely determined from birth, but a flexible one, settled by a tug-of-war between different possible classifications.

Did the subjects change their racial identity?

And it wasn’t just the interviewers whose opinions changed. The subjects themselves had a tendency to switch their own racial identity depending on their status, and to the same degree as the interviewers did. For example, among people who described themselves as white in 1979, 97% of those that remained well-off felt the same way in 2002. But among those who had tasted poverty, just 93% still described themselves as white.