Racial Classification Among Puerto Rican Men and Women in New York

Abstract

The research measures whether "race" was a significant stratifying variable within a multiracial ethnic group (Puerto Ricans) in New York City. Thze 1980 5% Public Use Microdata sample, which consisted of 27, 799 men and women, was used. ANOVA and chi-square were used to analyze socioeconomic variables by racial self-classification. The results indicate that the way Puerto Ricans classified themselves was significantly related to their socioeconomic position. Puerto Ricans identifying as "Other" (and writing in a Spanish desciptor) laggedfar behind those identifying as "VWhite. " On some variables, the group identifying as "Black" fared about the same as the "White" group, while in other areas, it was similar to the "Other-Spanish" group. Within each "race" group, Puerto Rican women were found to be worse off thani men.