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Interdisciplinary Series on Race, Ethnicity, and Inequality – Perspectives from Across the Midway with René D. Flores

Monday, May 1, 2023
Room V
12:15 PM - 1:20 PM

"The Social Construction of Race: Recent Experimental Evidence."

Historically, the U.S. legal system formally institutionalized ancestry and appearance as the foundations of racial membership. Yet evidence suggests informal classification logics based on cultural cues like religion or language may have also long been present. Using a conjoint survey experiment, we disentangle the underlying classification logics of U.S. observers and uncover three key norms: (1) ancestry strongly shapes classification, but there is little evidence of strict hypodescent; (2) skin color is a powerful signal that overrides ancestry when these signals conflict; and (3) sociocultural cues are especially important for “racial middle” categories such as Hispanic, Native American, MENA, and Asian. Our findings show that formal and informal racial classification logics can coexist in time and place. Further, the balance of these competing logics may depend on how state and nonstate actors establish and reinforce membership criteria. Our results hold methodological implications for studies that seek to operationalize race.

The University of Chicago Law School presents the Interdisciplinary Series on Race, Ethnicity, and Inequality – Perspectives from Across the City. This event series draws on the rich intellectual life of the broader city of Chicago to bring law students a sense of how questions of race, ethnicity, and inequality are understood and evaluated using other disciplinary tools. In each event, a different scholar will present their work in conversation with a member of the Law School faculty.

  • Catering provided by Bombay, including Gluten Free, Vegan, and Vegetarian options. Please contact José Luis Rodríguez (jlrodriguez@uchicago.edu) for assistance with event accessibility, including dietary requests.  

  • Please submit dietary requests 8 business days prior to the program. Although we will try to accommodate dietary needs , it is not guaranteed. 

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