Estimating the stability of census-based racial/ethnic classifications: The case of Brazil

This study presents a method of estimating the degree to which people change their racial/ethnic identity from one census enumeration to another. The technique is applied to the classification of skin colour in Brazil (white, black, brown, yellow). For the period 1950-80, the findings show a deficit...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Population studies 2004-11, Vol.58 (3), p.331-343
Main Authors: Carvalho, José Alberto Magno de, Wood, Charles H., Andrade, Flávia Cristina Drumond
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Brazil
Census
Censuses
Classification
Continental Population Groups - classification
Cultural identity
Demography
Emigration
Estimation methods
Ethnic Groups - classification
Ethnic Identity
Ethnicity
Female
Humans
identity
International migration
Male
Men
Migration
Minority Groups
minority population
Models, Statistical
Mortality
Population Dynamics
Population estimates
Population migration
Public policy
Race
racial classification
Skin
Skin colour
Skin Pigmentation
Social Closure
social exclusion
Stability
stability of census racial categories
Taxonomic revisions
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Summary:This study presents a method of estimating the degree to which people change their racial/ethnic identity from one census enumeration to another. The technique is applied to the classification of skin colour in Brazil (white, black, brown, yellow). For the period 1950-80, the findings show a deficit of 38 per cent in the black category and a gain of 34 per cent in the brown category, suggesting that a large proportion of individuals who declared themselves black in 1950 reclassified themselves as brown in 1980. Estimates for 1980-90, adjusted for the effects of international migration, reveal a similar pattern, although the magnitude of colour reclassification may have declined somewhat during the 1980s. Procedures to determine the stability of racial/ethnic identity produce data useful to recent policy initiatives that rely on demographic censuses to measure changes in the status of minority groups in less developed countries.
ISSN:0032-4728
1477-4747
DOI:10.1080/0032472042000272375