J. Kenneth Morland

Racial/Ethnic Identity of Preschool Children: Comparing Taiwan, Hong Kong, and the United States

Preschool children from four racial/ethnic groupings in three different sociocultural settings were compared on racial/ethnic identity with a picture interview. One of the settings, Taiwan, was relatively homogeneous in racial/ ethnic makeup; another, Hong Kong, nonstratified; the third, the United States, stratified. In Taiwan and Hong Kong the subjects were Chinese; in the United States they were Afro- and Euro-American. The major hypothesis was supported, for the Taiwan and Hong Kong children differed from the Afro- and Euro-American on racial/ethnic preference, self-preference, and self-perception; from Euro-American on classification ability; and from Afro-American on self-classification. It was concluded that a crucial factor in the development of racial/ ethnic identity was not so much whether the society was multiracial/ethnic or homogeneous, but whether racial/ethnic groupings in the multi-racial/ethnic society were stratified.

The development of racial bias in young children

Studies consistently show that racial bias develops early in life. The author discusses the source of bias, its implications, and the schools responsibility in combating it. Mr. Morland is chairman of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Randolph‐Macon Womans College.