Sociology

1. Explain how you might have been categorized by the 1790 Census and how you would have been categorized by the 2010 Census.


2. Compare and contrast the two potential categorizations and explain how this exercise shows that the concepts of race, ethnicity, and even gender change over time. Most importantly, explain how this exercise shows that the concepts of race, ethnicity, and gender are social constructs.


3. Determine and describe what ethnic, racial, and/or gender categories, if any, would be best, in your view, for the 2020 Census or the 2030 Census, to most accurately show the diversity of the U.S. population. What categories would be best to reveal the segments of the U.S. population most vulnerable to racial, ethnic, and/or gender inequalities or discrimination? What categories could be listed in the 2020 Census or the 2030 Census that might best educate the U.S. population on differences between race and ethnicity? Explain your decisions.

• Textbook: Chapter 9


• Lesson


• Link (website): Pew Research Center (Links to an external site.)
  
  
  
  • Click on the Social Trends tab.
  
  
  • Click on the Interactives tab.
  
  
  • Locate the following link: How Census Race Categories Have Changed Over Time
  
  
  • Click on "1790" to see two columns comparing the 1790 Census categories with the 2010 Census categories.
  
  
  
  


• Minimum of 4 outside scholarly sources

Instructions

In this week's lesson, you learned about the U.S. Census Bureau's most recent racial and ethnic categories. For this assignment, consider the racial and ethnic categories used in the 2010 Census with the four racial, ethnic, and gender categories used in the 1790 Census: Free white males, free white females, all other free persons, slaves (Pew Research Center, 2015). Analyze the concepts of race, ethnicity, and gender as social constructs, just as sociologists do, by addressing the following: