Chapter 11: Development of Self and Identity
Racial and Ethnic Identity Development
The Ethnic and Racial Identity in the 21st Century Study Group undertook a comprehensive review and reconceptualization of racial and ethnic identity that resulted in the publication of a new integrative multidimensional conceptualization (Umaña-Taylor et al., 2014). This new perspective includes the multiple dimensions of both identity content and developmental processes, and is applicable to both racial and ethnic categories. An important contribution of the 21st Century Study Group was to combine the concepts of ethnic identity and racial identity into a single hyphenated construct, referred to as ethnic-racial identity. Historically, the concept of race has been applied to the study of US-born blacks and whites, but it has become clear that racial categories are socially constructed when specific characteristics and group affinities are “racialized.” Ethnicity, on the other hand, is a concept applied to a multitude of groups of people with shared cultural heritage, values, and traditions, and sometimes language, and is transmitted across generations.
Both race and ethnicity have consequences for social experience and psychological development. They are often overlapping and interdependent. The hyphenated term, ethnic-racial identity, indicates that both race, as racialized categories within society, and ethnicity, as cultural heritage, are relevant, and that they are closely related in terms of similar processes and outcomes. This perspective underscores the principle of intersectionality, in that it highlights the specificity of ethnic-racial identities as particular combinations of racialized characteristics, ethnicity, cultural background, and immigration status (Crenshaw, 1989). It would suggest, for example, that Black adolescents night have very different identities (along with experiences and treatment) if they come from families who have lived in the US for centuries, compared to recent Jamaican or Haitian immigrants. This perspective encourages researchers to acknowledge and examine the wide heterogeneity inside groups that up to now may have been combined into categories like “Black,” “Latinx,” or “Asian American.”
Video 11.13 Demographic Structure of Society–Race and Ethnicity provides more information on the structures of race and ethnicity and how minority and majority identity is constructed.
Minority Identity Development
According to the U.S. Census (2020), more than 52.7% of Americans under the age of 18 are ethnic minorities. At this point, you are probably aware of the cultural groups to which you belong (i.e., “I am a Latino, middle-class, (almost) college-educated male”). Do you remember the process of coming to awareness of your cultural identity—when did you know you were white and what that meant? Was it during childhood, as a teenager, or reading this chapter? Has your understanding, or acceptance, of your racial heritage changed during your lifetime?
For most people, it does. Just as Piaget organized the growth of children according to various stages of development, cultural scholars have similarly organized racial awareness along models and stages. Before explaining the various models, let us make a couple of general comments about models. One, a model is not the thing it represents. Is the model car you played with as a child the same as the actual automobile? What were the differences? Size, time, maneuverability, details? These same kinds of differences exist between the model of racial identity development and the actual personal process. However, just like the car model gives a relatively accurate picture of the actual automobile, so do the racial identity models. Two, these models are general and not meant to fit perfectly to every individual’s experience. With that said, let us examine the process of coming to an understanding of our racial identity.
Ethnic identity refers to how people come to terms with who they are based on their ethnic or racial ancestry. “The task of ethnic identity formation involves sorting out and resolving positive and negative feelings and attitudes about one’s ethnic identity” (Phinney, 2006, p. 119). When groups differ in status in a culture, those from the non-dominant group have to be cognizant of the customs and values of those from the dominant culture. The reverse is rarely the case. This makes ethnic identity far less salient for members of the dominant culture. In the United States, those of European ancestry engage in less exploration of ethnic identity, than do those of non-European ancestry (Phinney, 1989).
Phinney’s model of ethnic identity formation is based on Erikson’s and Marcia’s model of identity formation (Phinney, 1989). Through the process of exploration and commitment, individuals come to understand and create an ethnic identity. Phinney suggests three stages or statuses with regard to ethnic identity:
Unexamined Ethnic Identity: Adolescents and adults who have not been exposed to ethnic identity issues may be in the first stage, unexamined ethnic identity. This is often characterized by a preference for the dominant culture, or where the individual has given little thought to the question of their ethnic heritage. This is similar to diffusion in Marcia’s model of identity. Included in this group are also those who have adopted the ethnicity of their parents and other family members with little thought about the issues themselves, similar to Marcia’s foreclosure status (Phinney, 1989).
Ethnic Identity Search: Adolescents and adults who are exploring the customs, culture, and history of their ethnic group are in the ethnic identity search stage, similar to Marcia’s moratorium status (Phinney, 1990). Often some event “awakens” a teen or adult to their ethnic group; either a personal experience with prejudice, a highly profiled case in the media, or even a more positive event that recognizes the contribution of someone from the individual’s ethnic group. Teens and adults in this stage will immerse themselves in their ethnic culture. For some, “it may lead to a rejection of the values of the dominant culture” (Phinney, 1990, p. 503).
Achieved Ethnic Identity: Those who have actively explored their culture are likely to have a deeper appreciation and understanding of their ethnic heritage, leading to progress toward an achieved ethnic identity (Phinney, 1989). An achieved ethnic identity does not necessarily imply that the individual is highly involved in the customs and values of their ethnic culture. One can be confident in their ethnic identity without wanting to maintain the language or other customs.
The development of ethnic identity takes time, with about 25% of tenth graders from ethnic minority backgrounds having explored and resolved the issues (Phinney, 1989). The more ethnically homogeneous the high school, the less identity exploration and achievement (Umaña-Taylor, 2003). Moreover, even in more ethnically diverse high schools, teens tend to spend more time with their own group, reducing exposure to other ethnicities. “[The] transition to college may serve as a consciousness-raising experience that triggers exploration” (Syed & Azmitia, 2009, p. 618).
It is also important to note that those who do achieve ethnic identity may periodically reexamine the issues of ethnicity. This cycling between exploration and achievement is common not only for ethnic identity formation, but in other aspects of identity development (Stephen et al., 1992) and is referred to as MAMA cycling or moving back and forth between moratorium and achievement.
Do White People Possess an Ethnic-Racial Identity?
Researchers who study ethnic-racial identity often say that in the US, many white people are “un-racialized” in that their race is not a salient part of their identity, and they have not examined or explored their own experiences and treatment through a racial lens. Historically, many white Americans have focused on their ethnic identity– they or their ancestors are members of specific immigrant and religious groups, many of whom have experienced oppression and marginalization, including Jewish, Irish, Polish, and Italian immigrants. But white adolescents have typically thought much less about their racial heritage. Dominant groups, who assume that they are the default or prototype group in a given society, often racialize out-group members (i.e., non-white groups) while resisting the idea that they too have a racial identity. For example, you will notice that African-Americans and Asian-Americans are often referred to using a hyphenated label, whereas we read much less about European-Americans. Social movements today provide white European-Americans opportunities to reflect on and construct a racialized identity.
Today, there are a subgroup of white people who are experiencing a different kind of awareness of their ethnic-racial identity, based on perceived threats stemming from rapid social change and uncertainty about status and privilege. Although the source and nature of these experiences may not be readily apparent, we don’t want to underestimate their psychological and social consequences in the lived experiences of real people and those with whom they interact. Experiences of threatened evaluative status of personal and group identity are familiar to members of marginalized groups. This area has been studied by psychologists using several concepts and theoretical perspectives. One important concept is stereotype threat, which is a process by which people internalize (usually negative) messages from others about their own subgroups (i.e., stereotypes), then when their identity is made salient or they are faced with challenging tasks, those internalized evaluations are triggered. The mental activation of stereotypes (i.e., threat) can have adverse personal consequences, such as increased self-doubt, reduced performance, or giving up. Social psychologists have emphasized responses to threat by members of threatened or marginalized groups that take the form of increasing the status of one’s own group (ingroup) or derogating members of other groups (outgroup).
Threats to identity are particularly relevant in adolescence and early adulthood, when identity is crystallizing, and in times of change and transition, either personal or societal. Perceived threat is complex and challenging to study when it occurs in the experience of privileged groups. For example, a research literature has emerged focused on the study of threats to masculinity. Some of the research on white ethnic-racial identity comes under the heading of whiteness studies. Whiteness is a concept that attempts to capture the shared experience of the social and historical interpretations and consequences of being white in a particular society at a particular time. Recently, these lenses have been used to try to understand the appeal a white supremacist identity, which seems to attract some marginalized white youth, especially males who did not complete their education.
Bicultural and Multicultural Identity Development
Ethnic minorities must wrestle with the question of how, and to what extent, they will identify with the culture of the surrounding society and with the culture of their family. Phinney (2006) suggests that people may handle it in different ways. Some may keep their identities separate, others may combine them in some way, while others may reject some of them. Bicultural identity means the individual sees themself as part of both the ethnic minority group and the larger society. Those who are multiracial, that is whose parents come from two or more ethnic or racial groups, have a more challenging task. In some cases, their appearance may be ambiguous. This can lead to others constantly asking them to categorize themselves. Phinney (2006) notes that the process of identity formation may start earlier and take longer to accomplish in those who are not mono-racial.
Check Your Understanding
moving back and forth between moratorium and achievement
