The Great Demographic Illusion:
How America Is Really Changing as the Population Becomes More Diverse
Richard Alba, Professor of Sociology at the CUNY Graduate Center
Americans are under the spell of a distorted and polarizing story about their country’s future―the majority-minority narrative―which contends that inevitable demographic changes will soon create a fractured society with a majority made up of minorities for the first time in United States history. This narrative, which drives many whites toward white nationalism, nevertheless obscures a transformative development: the surging numbers of young Americans from ethno-racially mixed families, consisting of one white and one nonwhite parent.
Mixed parentage has an unprecedented significance in the twenty-first century United States. The talk will address where most young-adult mixed Americans seem to fit in American society and how they appear to be following patterns of assimilation similar to those of earlier immigrant groups like the Italians and Jews. But it will also discuss why individuals with black and white parentage have a very different experience. The need for social policies to ameliorate ethno-racial inequities remains great.
However, in contrast to the fractured society portrayed by the majority-minority narrative, the mainstream of American society is expanding and becoming more visibly diverse, just as it did in the decades following World War II. This event is free and open to the public but everyone must register to receive the zoom information.