Caucasian American
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Caucasian American is a term that is sometimes used in the United States to describe white people who reside in that country.[1]
The term may be used interchangeably with European American, White American, and Anglo American. In the United States, Caucasian is frequently used to describe non-Hispanic European Americans.[2] According to one social scientist, fewer people have been using the term Caucasian American, and more people have been using the terms White American and European American.[3]
Although the term Caucasian is not used in official US government racial tallies, some independent agencies use this term as an ethnic/racial label. The Institute of Food Technologists consider Caucasian to be synonymous with white people, so they use the category White/Caucasian.[4]
Many times on forms, people are asked to mark only one ethnic/racial label, preventing someone from marking Caucasian and Asian American or Caucasian and Hispanic. Since these forms usually prevent someone from marking Caucasian with the addition of Hispanic, South Asian American and Middle Eastern American, these three groups perceived to lie outside of the Caucasian group. By this definition, Caucasian American includes non-Hispanic European Americans, although some people who identify as Hispanic also consider themselves to be Caucasian.[5] Additionally, Indian Americans and other South Asian Americans are not considered to be included in the American usage of the word Caucasian.[6]
In Europe (especially Russia and the surrounding area) most people use the term Caucasian to refer exclusively to individuals who are from the Caucasus region, or speak the Caucasian languages.
[edit] See also
- Caucasian peoples
- Caucasian race
- Caucasoid race
- Caucasus
- European American
- Languages of the Caucasus
- Race (U.S. Census)
- White American
- White people
[edit] References
- ^ Lee, Sandra Soo-Jin; Mountain, Joanna; Koening, Barbara A. (2001). The Meanings of Race in the New Genomics: Implications for Health Disparities Research. Yale University. Retrieved October 26, 2006. [1]
- ^ Painter, Nell Irvin. Yale University. Collective Degradation: Slavery and the Construction of Race. Why White People are Called Caucasian. 2003. October 9, 2006. [2]
- ^ Skirble, Rosanne. New Voice of America. 2001. September 4, 2006. [3]
- ^ Mermelstein, Neil H. 2005 IFT Membership Employment and Salary Survey. 2006. September 27, 2006. [4]
- ^ Martinez, Juan. Direction Journal. Hispanics in California Myth and Opportunity. 1987. October 26, 2006. [5]
- ^ Assissi, Frank. Desparades. Are Desis White? 2006. [6]
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