Introduction
The issue of equality is now of great importance across the globe. The governmental bodies of the US and European countries are trying to establish social justice on all the levels. Nowadays, it concerns not only religious and racial aspects but also any human element such as gender and ethnical identity. Speaking of the US, the Census serves as one of the major legal documents in terms of equality on the governmental level.
The categories defined there are automatically the ones that should be indisputably respected by the community. Since the US Independence, Census has undergone some drastic changes concerning its categories. The next year will be another milestone for the Census update, so researchers are now considering the modifications that might be applied in 2020. The purpose of this paper is to examine and compare the first Census created in 1790 and the latest one dated the year 2010 as well as to introduce its possible future modifications.
What the Census Might Have Called Me
Being a Dominican Hispanic female born and raised in the US, I cannot fully categorize myself according to the US Census. The 1790 Census would have categorized me as a white free female, while according to the latest one, I am defined as a white person of another Hispanic origin (“What Census calls us: A historical timeline,” 2015). Even though the 2010 Census is, by all means, more comprehensive, people of Hispanic origin should be recognized more in terms of ethnic groups as they constitute an impressive percentage of the population.
Social Constructs
The US is now regarded as the center of ethnic and religious diversity. Many people who come to the US no longer feel much pressure because of their skin color, religion, or gender identity. The question of tolerance towards all the social groups is now one of the most crucial among the state citizens. However, the country has made a long way to become as open as we know it today. One of the most vivid pieces of evidence is the Census categories used for the first time in 1790 (“What Census calls us: A historical timeline,” 2015).
Those categories included gender, racial, and freedom differentiation. In today’s world, any of these categorizations are reasonably considered offensive and inappropriate. Every ten years, with the appearance of the new Census, some minor modifications were introduced as well. The major changes appeared with the end of slavery in the 19th century and the introduction of ethnical Census categories (Schor, 2017).
The latest Census created in 2010 has already been modified according to all the standards. The most obvious modifications are the removal of gender identification and extended ethnic categorization. Such documents as the Census show people with rather conservative views that the absence of gender objectification as well as ethnic diversity are now issues promoted on the governmental level. Another important advantage is the ability to calculate the population and define the patterns of geographical citizen location (Walker, 2016).
It provides a better opportunity to deal with the overpopulation issue. The facts presented above reveal that the concepts of race, ethnicity, and gender are social constructs. The reason for it is that even the official documentation reflects the idea that people should not be treated differently based on these factors. The latest Census reveals that categorization has, indeed, become inappropriate in today’s world, as the division of society into groups is only beneficial for the dominant parts of the population.
It is obvious that drastic changes are appearing each decade, and these positive aspects should be encouraged even more in the future. However, the main issue concerning the Census is still present. Researchers claim that the problem is that the Census’ main goal is to separate citizens in multiple categories and not to create such groups to satisfy the criteria of every resident (Schor, 2017). Having checked the source reliability according to the textbook, it might be certainly concluded that Schor emphasizes the social construct of ethnic diversity acceptance (Hoeffner & Hoeffner, 2019).
People define socially acceptable ethnic categories according to their position in the country. If the government justifies the presence of an ethnic category, the residents have no right to act differently. For that reason, the voice of every citizen should be heard and accepted on the governmental level.
Better Future Census Categories
The US Census has been regarded as one of the most rapid-changing governmental tools. Each decade, the number of ethnic categories is growing bigger and bigger. However, not all people realize the importance of these modifications as they serve as an invaluable tool in terms of tracking inequality (Strmic-Pawl, Jackson, & Garner, 2017). The proper categorization shows what ethnic groups need more recognition in the state community as well as the patterns of these categories’ expansion.
For that reason, I think that some modifications to the patterns of Census 2020 creation could be implemented. First of all, it is vital to include the following categories to show the diversity of the American population: Hispanic or Latino, black or African American, Asian American, and Native American. These ethnic groups have been selected to be included into the 2020 Census, as they currently are some of the biggest minority groups in the US (Telles, 2018). Their proper representation is obligatory in terms of state recognition and revelation of vulnerable population segments. Thus, the explicit description of ethnic categories in general is of great importance in terms of 2020 update.
Second, the categories that reveal the segments of the population vulnerable to ethnic, racial, and gender inequalities or discrimination should be added. They include non-binary or gender non-conforming individuals, those coming from mixed cultural backgrounds, and people belonging to ethnic minorities, such as the ones presented above. It is crucial to include these categories because the Census should represent all of the groups of the population living in the U.S., and it is vital to include minority populations to avoid potential discrimination. Third, the 2020 Census should list the categories that show the differences between race and ethnicity.
Thus, it is vital to include not only “African American” for all black individuals and “Asian American” for people coming from the Eastern part of the world. It is crucial to be aware of the fact that people may not be engaged with the cultural practices of the place they or their parents were born at and identify with different ethnicity. Moreover, it is incorrect to call all black individuals “African American”, as they may come from a different country.
Finally, I believe that the overall frequency of Census modification should be reconsidered. The US is now the most diverse country that has a reputation for a respectful and tolerant state. Such status can only be maintained if the government is flexible and able to react quickly to any changes. Thus, it is possible to say that a five-year gap would be better in terms of rapid development awareness.
Conclusion
For many years, the US Census was one of the most important and controversial state documents. If to compare its first and latest editions, various drastic changes such as the removal of a gender category or the appearance of ethnic differentiations were introduced. However, they are certainly not exhaustive, and the 2020 document edition should bring to the state even more ethnic categories concerning every US citizen.
References
Hoeffner K., & Hoeffner L. (2019). Common places. Integrated reading and writing. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education.
Schor, P. (2017). Counting Americans: How the US Census classified the nation. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Strmic-Pawl, H. V., Jackson, B. A., & Garner, S. (2017). Race counts: Racial and ethnic data on the U.S. Census and the implications for tracking inequality. Sociology of Race and Ethnicity, 4(1), 1–13.
Telles, E. (2018). Latinos, race, and the U.S. Census. The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 677(1), 153–164.
Walker, K. (2016). Tigris: An R package to access and work with geographic data fro the US Census Bureau. The R Journal, 8(2), 231-242.
What Census calls us: A historical timeline. (2015). Web.