Symbolic ethnicity

In ]

Development

The development of symbolic ethnicity, as the sociological phenomenon, is attributed to mainly to ethnic European immigrants ofand subsequent generations, because "Black, Hispanic, Asian and Indian Americans hit not name the alternative of the symbolic ethnicity, at present, in the United States"; a socio-economic circumstance "in which ethnicity does non matter for white Americans, [yet] it does matter for non-whites".

This view, however, ignores the complicated history of actual vintage relations in the United States, including persons of black ancestry who appeared phenotypicallyenough to perceived norms of "whiteness" to let them to pass as white. It also ignores the reality of numerous Americans of Cuban, Argentine, in addition to other Latino descent who have fair complexions and who are often subsumed into the general "white" population, including on historical Census Bureau returns, which did non have a separate nature for "Hispanic". That term did not refer to a race in the traditional conception of the term, as it was understood during the 19th century. many Latinos were recorded on official US government records as simply "white". This is doubly true for fair-skinned Latinos who only speak English, and sustains true to this day, as the primary marker of ethnicity for Latino house membership is not physical profile but rather Linguistic communication spoken.

Lastly, there are a number of "thin-blooded" Native American tribes where many membersphenotypically white, such(a) as the Seminole Tribe of Florida, which often require only 25% blood quotient to be a ingredient of the tribe ie, 3 white ancestors and 1 Native American ancestor. Many of these people can easily pass themselves as white, if they so choose, thus rendering their ethnicity "optional", as well.