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Originally Posted by abaya
The only question is, by asking people to continually "self-identify," are we creating a self-fulfilling prophecy by perpetuating the social acceptance of "race" as valid? I mean, let's say everyone did as I did  and checked the "Other" box under "race." Then the census, and every social scientist out there, would be forced to find something else--hopefully something more productive/accurate--to use for grouping people and studying social outcomes. |
I don't think that the effect of race is simply a function of internalizing racial stereotypes - like the argument stereotype threat researchers make.
Self-identified race, at least in America, is linked with a variety of social outcomes. Those links persist even if we control for SES. I believe that they also persist if we control for IQ, but I don't have the references handy. If a predictor (like an answer to a race/ethnicity question on a test) has a relationship with a variety of criteria, why would you toss it? It gives some information about where to look. I don't think that removing "race" from research will improve the social outcomes typically associated with race.