Demographic change and assimilation in the early 21st-century United States

Abstract

Significance The contemporary intellectual landscape, dominated by theories about race and racism, has engendered the majority–minority conception of the American future, in which White people are outnumbered by Americans of color by midcentury. But assimilation, as a set of processes with societal ramifications, is still potent, driven by demographic dynamics that generate opportunities for minority mobility, and is linked to increasing family mixing between White and non-White people. The children of these families offer the best window into ongoing assimilation. The binary vision of the majority–minority society needs major modification because of the emergence and growing size of this bridging group. In addition, racism-focused theories need to be complemented by assimilation ideas to grasp the implications of demographic change.