Michael C. Thornton

African American, Black Caribbean, and Non-Hispanic White Feelings of Closeness Toward Other Racial and Ethnic Groups

This study examines African Americans’, Black Caribbeans’, and non-Hispanic Whites’ perceptions of closeness to other racial and ethnic groups. The study uses data from a national probability sample, the National Survey of American Life (N = 6,082), and provides the first investigation of this topic among Black Caribbeans. Study findings reveal both similarities and significant differences between African Americans and Black Caribbeans in their levels of closeness to other groups. African Americans and Black Caribbeans were similar in their levels of closeness to Whites, American Indians, and Asian Americans. African Americans felt significantly closer to Black people in the United States than did Black Caribbeans. Conversely, Black Caribbeans felt significantly closer than African Americans to Black people from the Caribbean, Spanish-speaking people, and Black people in Africa. Non-Hispanic Whites felt significantly closer to Asian Americans than did either African Americans or Black Caribbeans. These and other findings are discussed in detail and reaffirm the continued importance of race in American life and intergroup relations.

African American and Black Caribbean Mutual Feelings of Closeness Findings From a National Probability Survey

African American and Black Caribbean relations are described as strained. Standard portrayals of Black Caribbeans as a “model minority” that has effectively assimilated into the American landscape often make explicit their distinctiveness from and enmity toward African Americans. Analysis using National Survey of American Life data (N = 6,082), exploring the nature and correlates of intergroup perceptions, reveals that both groups characterize their mutual relationships as being close. Gender and region of residence influence African American feelings of closeness toward Black Caribbeans, while for Black Caribbeans, perceived discrimination was significantly associated with feelings of closeness to African Americans. Black Caribbean immigrants from Spanish-speaking countries and Haiti felt closer to African Americans than did Jamaicans. In addition, foreign-born Black Caribbeans (first generation) felt closer to Black people from the Caribbean than second-generation Black Caribbeans. These and other findings are discussed in relation to research on intergroup closeness among African Americans and Black Caribbeans.

African American and Black Caribbean feelings of closeness to Africans

ABSTRACT African American and Black Caribbean relations dominate research on interactions across black ethnic divides. Using National Survey of American Life data, we explore a different aspect of black interethnic attitudes: how close these groups feel towards Africans. African Americans and Black Caribbeans were largely similar in their feelings of closeness to Africans. For Black Caribbeans, younger and male respondents, those reporting higher levels of financial strain, living in the northeast and persons who immigrated to the US at least 11 years ago, report feeling especially close to Africans. Being male was the only significant correlate among African Americans. The findings are discussed in relation to how race, ethnicity and national origin shape personal identities within the US and their significance for intergroup perceptions. These broader issues warrant further consideration in light of assertions that race as a defining feature of American life and intergroup relations is obsolete.