Choosing Your Ethnicity: A Longitudinal Analysis of Ethnic Identity Choice and Intra-Individual Ethnicity Change

Rademakers, Robbert and van Hoorn, Andre (2020): Choosing Your Ethnicity: A Longitudinal Analysis of Ethnic Identity Choice and Intra-Individual Ethnicity Change.

Abstract

This paper studies individuals’ possible choice to forgo their ancestral ethnicity and adopt a specific new ethnicity. We first use individual-level panel data for Indonesia as well as other countries (e.g., the U.S.) to document the pervasiveness of intra-individual ethnicity change and its coincidence with major life events, particularly, interethnic marriage. Next, we focus on individuals who have intermarried and exploit variation in deep-rooted community-level norms on matrilocality (co-residence with the wife’s family) to identify how differences in expected costs and benefits of ethnicity change causally affect newlyweds’ choice to adopt a specific ethnicity (i.e., their spouses’ ethnicity) or not. Results obtained using a three-wave panel comprising more than 13,000 Indonesians confirm the expected effect of matrilocality, as newly intermarried men (women) are significantly more (less) likely to adopt their spouses’ ethnicity when the couple lives in a matrilocal community compared to a non-matrilocal one. Because ethnicity change is a means to fit in, important implication of our findings is that in many countries key statistics on ethnic fractionalization and segregation are severely inflated.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Intra-individual ethnic fluidity; ethnic boundaries; ethnic options; intermarriage; post-marital residence norms; racial identity change
• Subjects: J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J1 - Demographic Economics > J12 - Marriage ; Marital Dissolution ; Family Structure ; Domestic Abuse; J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J1 - Demographic Economics > J15 - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants ; Non-labor Discrimination; Z - Other Special Topics > Z1 - Cultural Economics ; Economic Sociology ; Economic Anthropology > Z13 - Economic Sociology ; Economic Anthropology ; Social and Economic Stratification

References

Abrams, Dominic, and Michael A. Hogg. “Comments on the Motivational Status of Self-Esteem in Social Identity and Intergroup Discrimination.” European Journal of Social Psychology 18, no. 4 (August 1988): 317–34. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.2420180403. Akerlof, George A., and Rachel E. Kranton. “Economics and Identity.” Quarterly Journal of Economics 115, no. 3 (August 2000): 715–53. https://doi.org/10.1162/003355300554881. Alba, Richard D., Noura E. Insolera, and Scarlett Lindeman. “Is Race Really So Fluid? Revisiting Saperstein and Penner’s Empirical Claims.” American Journal of Sociology 122, no. 1 (July 2016): 247–62. https://doi.org/10.1086/687375. Alesina, Alberto, Arnaud Devleeschauwer, William Easterly, Sergio Kurlat, and Romain Wacziarg. “Fractionalization.” Journal of Economic Growth 8, no. 2 (2003): 155-194. Alesina, Alberto, Stelios Michalopoulos, and Elias Papaioannou. “Ethnic Inequality.” Journal of Political Economy 124, no. 2 (April 2016): 428–88. https://doi.org/10.1086/685300. Antman, Francisca, and Brian Duncan. “Incentives to Identify: Racial Identity in the Age of Affirmative Action.” Review of Economics and Statistics 97, no. 3 (July 2015): 710–13. https://doi.org/10.1162/REST_a_00527. Arrow, Kenneth J. “The Theory of Discrimination.” In In Discrimination in Labor Markets, 3–33. Princeton University Press, 1973. Atkin, David, Eve Colson-Sihra, and Moses Shayo. “How Do We Choose Our Identity? A Revealed Preference Approach Using Food Consumption.” Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research, March 2019. https://doi.org/10.3386/w25693. Balliet, Daniel, Junhui Wu, and Carsten K. W. De Dreu. “Ingroup Favoritism in Cooperation: A Meta-Analysis.” Psychological Bulletin 140, no. 6 (2014): 1556–81. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0037737. Barth, Fredrik, ed. Ethnic Groups and Boundaries: The Social Organization of Culture Difference. 2. repr. Oslo: Universitetsforlaget, 1969. Bauer, Thomas K., Magnus Lofstrom, and Klaus F. Zimmermann. “Immigration Policy, Assimilation of Immigrants and Natives’ Sentiments Towards Immigrants: Evidence from 12 OECD-Countries.” IZA Discussion Paper, no. 187 (2000). Bazzi, Samuel, Arya Gaduh, Alexander D. Rothenberg, and Maisy Wong. “Unity in Diversity? How Intergroup Contact Can Foster Nation Building.” American Economic Review 109, no. 11 (November 1, 2019): 3978–4025. https://doi.org/10.1257/aer.20180174. Becker, Gary S. The Economics of Discrimination. 2. ed., 6. Economics Research Studies of the Economics Research Center of the University of Chicago. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press, 1995. Bergami, Massimo, and Richard P. Bagozzi. “Self-Categorization, Affective Commitment and Group Self-Esteem as Distinct Aspects of Social Identity in the Organization.” British Journal of Social Psychology 39, no. 4 (December 2000): 555–77. https://doi.org/10.1348/014466600164633. Berry, John W. “Conceptual Approaches to Acculturation.” In Acculturation: Advances in Theory, Measurement, and Applied Research., edited by Kevin M. Chun, Pamela Balls Organista, and Gerardo Marín, 17–37. Washington: American Psychological Association, 2003. https://doi.org/10.1037/10472-004. ———. “Immigration, Acculturation, and Adaptation.” Applied Psychology 46, no. 1 (January 1997): 5–34. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1464-0597.1997.tb01087.x. Bertrand, Jacques. Nationalism and Ethnic Conflict in Indonesia. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003. http://ebooks.cambridge.org/ref/id/CBO9780511559341. Bertrand, Marianne, Dolly Chugh, and Sendhil Mullainathan. “Implicit Discrimination.” American Economic Review 95, no. 2 (April 2005): 94–98. https://doi.org/10.1257/000282805774670365. Beugelsdijk, Sjoerd, Robbert Maseland, and André van Hoorn. “Are Scores on Hofstede’s Dimensions of National Culture Stable over Time? A Cohort Analysis: Are Hofstede’s Culture Scores Stable over Time?” Global Strategy Journal 5, no. 3 (August 2015): 223–40. https://doi.org/10.1002/gsj.1098. Bisin, Alberto, and Thierry Verdier. “‘Beyond the Melting Pot’: Cultural Transmission, Marriage, and the Evolution of Ethnic and Religious Traits.” Quarterly Journal of Economics 115, no. 3 (August 2000): 955–88. https://doi.org/10.1162/003355300554953. Chiswick, Barry R., and Paul W. Miller. “International migration and the economics of language.” Handbook of the economics of international migration. Vol. 1. North-Holland, 2015. 211-269. Bourhis, Richard Y., Lena Celine Moise, Stephane Perreault, and Sacha Senecal. “Towards an Interactive Acculturation Model: A Social Psychological Approach.” International Journal of Psychology 32, no. 6 (December 1997): 369–86. https://doi.org/10.1080/002075997400629. Bowie, Katherine. “Standing in the Shadows: Of Matrilocality and the Role of Women in a Village Election in Northern Thailand.” American Ethnologist 35, no. 1 (February 2008): 136–53. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1548-1425.2008.00010.x. Brubaker, Rogers. Ethnicity without Groups. Harvard Univ. Press paperback ed. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard Univ. Press, 2006. Card, David, and Alan Krueger. “Would the Elimination of Affirmative Action Affect Highly Qualified Minority Applicants? Evidence from California and Texas.” Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research, March 2004. https://doi.org/10.3386/w10366. Cassan, Guilhem. “Identity-Based Policies and Identity Manipulation: Evidence from Colonial Punjab.” American Economic Journal: Economic Policy 7, no. 4 (November 2015): 103–31. https://doi.org/10.1257/pol.20130290. Chandra, Kanchan. “What Is Ethnicity and Does It Matter?” Annual Review of Political Science 9, no. 1 (June 2006): 397–424. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.polisci.9.062404.170715. Chiswick, Barry R. “Differences in Education and Earnings Across Racial and Ethnic Groups: Tastes, Discrimination, and Investments in Child Quality.” The Quarterly Journal of Economics 103, no. 3 (August 1988): 571. https://doi.org/10.2307/1885546. Cohen, Sheldon, Michael L.M. Murphy, and Aric A. Prather. “Ten Surprising Facts About Stressful Life Events and Disease Risk.” Annual Review of Psychology 70, no. 1 (January 4, 2019): 577–97. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-psych-010418-102857. Dahis, Ricardo, Emily Nix, and Nancy Qian. “Choosing Racial Identity in the United States, 1880-1940.” Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research, November 2019. https://doi.org/10.3386/w26465. Davenport, Lauren. “The Fluidity of Racial Classifications.” Annual Review of Political Science 23, no. 1 (May 11, 2020). https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-polisci-060418-042801. Deai, Sonalde, Reeve, Vanneman and National Council of Applied Economic Research, “India Human Development Survey (IHDS)”, New Delhi ICPSR22626-v8. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (2005). ———. “India Human Development Survey-II (IHDS-II)”, 2011-12. ICPSR36151-v2. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (2012). http://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR36151.v2 Easterly W., and R. Levine. “Africa’s Growth Tragedy: Policies and Ethnic Divisions” The Quarterly Journal of Economics 112, no. 4 (November 1, 1997): 1203–50 https://doi.org/10.1162/003355300555466. Eilenberg, Michael, and Reed L. Wadley. “Borderland Livelihood Strategies: The Socio-Economic Significance of Ethnicity in Cross-Border Labour Migration, West Kalimantan, Indonesia.” Asia Pacific Viewpoint 50, no. 1 (April 2009): 58–73. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8373.2009.01381.x. Erikson, Erik H. Identity, Youth and Crisis. New York: Norton, 1994. Ewens, Michael, Bryan Tomlin, and Liang Choon Wang. “Statistical Discrimination or Prejudice? A Large Sample Field Experiment.” Review of Economics and Statistics 96, no. 1 (March 2014): 119–34. https://doi.org/10.1162/REST_a_00365. Fortunato, Laura. “The Evolution of Matrilineal Kinship Organization.” Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 279, no. 1749 (December 22, 2012): 4939–45. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2012.1926. Gneezy, Uri, Kenneth Leonard, and John List. “Gender Differences in Competition: Evidence from a Matrilineal and a Patriarchal Society.” Econometrica 77, no. 5 (2009): 1637–64. https://doi.org/10.3982/ECTA6690. Giuliano, Laura, and Michael R Ransom. “Manager Ethnicity and Employment Segregation.” ILR Review 66, no. 2 (April 2013): 346–79. https://doi.org/10.1177/001979391306600203. Goldsmith, Arthur H, Darrick Hamilton, and William Darity. “Shades of Discrimination: Skin Tone and Wages.” American Economic Review 96, no. 2 (April 2006): 242–45. https://doi.org/10.1257/000282806777212152. Government of India. “Census of India 2011 ‘Towards a Bright Future,’” 2011. Gruijters, Rob J., and John Ermisch. “Patrilocal, Matrilocal, or Neolocal? Intergenerational Proximity of Married Couples in China.” Journal of Marriage and Family 81, no. 3 (June 2019): 549–66. https://doi.org/10.1111/jomf.12538. Guan, Lee Hock. “Affirmative Action in Malaysia.” Southeast Asian Affairs, 2005, 211–28. Guilmoto, Christophe Z. “Mapping the Diversity of Gender Preferences and Sex Imbalances in Indonesia in 2010.” Population Studies 69, no. 3 (September 2, 2015): 299–315. https://doi.org/10.1080/00324728.2015.1091603. Hanna, Rema N, and Leigh L Linden. “Discrimination in Grading.” American Economic Journal: Economic Policy 4, no. 4 (November 2012): 146–68. https://doi.org/10.1257/pol.4.4.146. Hellerstein, Judith K., and David Neumark. “Workplace Segregation in the United States: Race, Ethnicity, and Skill.” Review of Economics and Statistics 90, no. 3 (August 2008): 459–77. https://doi.org/10.1162/rest.90.3.459. Helms, Janet E., ed. Black and White Racial Identity: Theory, Research, and Practice. Contributions in Afro-American and African Studies 129. Westport, Conn.: Praeger, 1993. Hofstede, Geert. Culture’s Consequences: Comparing Values, Behaviors, Institutions, and Organizations across Nations. 2. ed., [Nachdr.]. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage Publ, 2001. Hogg, Michael A., and Deborah J. Terry. “Social Identity and Self-Categorization Processes in Organizational Contexts.” The Academy of Management Review 25, no. 1 (January 2000): 121. https://doi.org/10.2307/259266. Holden, C. “Matriliny as Daughter-Biased Investment.” Evolution and Human Behavior 24, no. 2 (March 2003): 99–112. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1090-5138(02)00122-8. Holden, Clare Janaki, and Ruth Mace. “Spread of Cattle Led to the Loss of Matrilineal Descent in Africa: A Coevolutionary Analysis.” Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B: Biological Sciences 270, no. 1532 (December 7, 2003): 2425–33. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2003.2535. Hoon, Chang-Yau. “Assimilation, Multiculturalism, Hybridity: The Dilemmas of the Ethnic Chinese in Post-Suharto Indonesia 1.” Asian Ethnicity 7, no. 2 (June 2006): 149–66. https://doi.org/10.1080/14631360600734400. Hornsey, Matthew J. “Social Identity Theory and Self-Categorization Theory: A Historical Review.” Social and Personality Psychology Compass 2, no. 1 (January 2008): 204–22. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1751-9004.2007.00066.x. Hyde, Abbey. “Matrilocality and Female Power.” Women’s Studies International Forum 22, no. 6 (November 1999): 597–605. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0277-5395(99)00070-9. Jia, Ruixue, and Torsten Persson. “Individual vs. Social Motives in Identity Choice: Theory and Evidence from China.” Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research, June 2019. https://doi.org/10.3386/w26008. Kanner, Allen D., James C. Coyne, Catherine Schaefer, and Richard S. Lazarus. “Comparison of Two Modes of Stress Measurement: Daily Hassles and Uplifts versus Major Life Events.” Journal of Behavioral Medicine 4, no. 1 (March 1981): 1–39. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00844845. Kertzer, David I., and Dominique Arel, eds. Census and Identity: The Politics of Race, Ethnicity, and Language in National Censuses. 1st ed. Cambridge University Press, 2001. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511606045. Kramer, Rory, Robert DeFina, and Lance Hannon. “Racial Rigidity in the United States: Comment on Saperstein and Penner.” American Journal of Sociology 122, no. 1 (July 2016): 233–46. https://doi.org/10.1086/687374. Liebler, Carolyn A., Sonya R. Porter, Leticia E. Fernandez, James M. Noon, and Sharon R. Ennis. “America’s Churning Races: Race and Ethnicity Response Changes Between Census 2000 and the 2010 Census.” Demography 54, no. 1 (February 2017): 259–84. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13524-016-0544-0. Lim, Mah Hui. “Affirmative Action, Ethnicity and Integration: The Case of Malaysia*.” Ethnic and Racial Studies 8, no. 2 (April 1985): 250–76. https://doi.org/10.1080/01419870.1985.9993485. Lottum, Jelle van, and Daan Marks. “The Determinants of Internal Migration in a Developing Country: Quantitative Evidence for Indonesia, 1930–2000.” Applied Economics 44, no. 34 (December 2012): 4485–94. https://doi.org/10.1080/00036846.2011.591735. Lowes, Sara. “Kinship Structure & Women: Evidence from Economics.” Daedalus 149.1 (2020): 119-133. Mays, Vickie M., Susan D. Cochran, and Namdi W. Barnes. “Race, Race-Based Discrimination, and Health Outcomes Among African Americans.” Annual Review of Psychology 58, no. 1 (January 2007): 201–25. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.psych.57.102904.190212. Musgrave, Simon. “Language Shift and Language Maintenance in Indonesia.” In Language, Education and Nation-Building: Assimilation and Shift in Southeast Asia, edited by Peter Sercombe and Ruanni Tupas, 87–105. London: Palgrave Macmillan UK, 2014. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137455536_5. Pahl, Kerstin, and Niobe Way. “Longitudinal Trajectories of Ethnic Identity Among Urban Black and Latino Adolescents.” Child Development 77, no. 5 (September 2006): 1403–15. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2006.00943.x. Petersen, Emily E., Nicole L. Davis, David Goodman, Shanna Cox, Carla Syverson, Kristi Seed, Carrie Shapiro-Mendoza, William M. Callaghan, and Wanda Barfield. “Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Pregnancy-Related Deaths — United States, 2007–2016.” MMWR. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 68, no. 35 (September 6, 2019): 762–65. https://doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm6835a3. Phinney. Jean S. “Ethnic Identity and Acculturation.” In Acculturation: Advances in Theory, Measurement, and Applied Research, 63–81. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, 2003. Rammohan, Anu, and Peter Robertson. “Do Kinship Norms Influence Female Education? Evidence from Indonesia.” Oxford Development Studies 40, no. 3 (September 2012): 283–304. https://doi.org/10.1080/13600818.2012.711303. Reynolds, Katherine J., John C. Turner, S. Alexander Haslam, and Michelle K. Ryan. “The Role of Personality and Group Factors in Explaining Prejudice.” Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 37, no. 5 (September 2001): 427–34. https://doi.org/10.1006/jesp.2000.1473. Roth, Wendy D. “Racial Mismatch: The Divergence Between Form and Function in Data for Monitoring Racial Discrimination of Hispanics*: Racial Mismatch.” Social Science Quarterly 91, no. 5 (December 2010): 1288–1311. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-6237.2010.00732.x. Rubinstein, Yona, and Dror Brenner. “Pride and Prejudice: Using Ethnic-Sounding Names and Inter-Ethnic Marriages to Identify Labour Market Discrimination.” The Review of Economic Studies 81, no. 1 (January 1, 2014): 389–425. https://doi.org/10.1093/restud/rdt031. Ruggles, Steven, Flood, Sarah, Goeken, Ronald, Grover, Josiah Meyer, Erin, Pacas, Jose, and Sobek, Matthew. IPUMS USA: Version 9.0 [CPS2005-2012] Minneapolis, MN: IPUMS, 2019. https://doi.org/10.18128/D010.V9.0 Rumbaut, Ruben G. “The Crucible Within: Ethnic Identity, Self-Esteem, and Segmented Assimilation among Children of Immigrants.” International Migration Review 28, no. 4 (December 1994): 748–94. https://doi.org/10.1177/019791839402800407. Sam, David L., and John W. Berry. “Acculturation: When Individuals and Groups of Different Cultural Backgrounds Meet.” Perspectives on Psychological Science 5, no. 4 (July 2010): 472–81. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691610373075. Saperstein, Aliya, and Andrew M. Penner. “Racial Fluidity and Inequality in the United States.” American Journal of Sociology 118, no. 3 (November 2012): 676–727. https://doi.org/10.1086/667722. Shayo, Moses. “A Model of Social Identity with an Application to Political Economy: Nation, Class, and Redistribution.” American Political Science Review 103, no. 2 (May 2009): 147–74. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003055409090194. Sillander, Kenneth, and Jennifer Alexander. “Belonging in Borneo: Refiguring Dayak Ethnicity in Indonesia.” The Asia Pacific Journal of Anthropology 17, no. 2 (March 14, 2016): 95–101. https://doi.org/10.1080/14442213.2016.1152882. Spierings, Niels, Jeroen Smits, and Mieke Verloo. “Micro- and Macrolevel Determinants of Women’s Employment in Six Arab Countries.” Journal of Marriage and Family 72, no. 5 (September 29, 2010): 1391–1407. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-3737.2010.00772.x Statistics Indonesia. “2010 Population Census,” 2010. Strauss, John, Firman Witoelar, and Bondan Sikoki. “The Fifth Wave of the Indonesia Family Life Survey: Overview and Field Report: Volume 1.” RAND Corporation, no. Volume 1 (2016). ———. “The Fourth Wave of the Indonesia Family Life Survey: Overview and Field Report: Volume 1.” RAND Corporation, no. Volume 1 (2009). ———. “The Third Wave of the Indonesia Family Life Survey: Overview and Field Report: Volume 1.” RAND Corporation, no. Volume 1 (2004). Sukamdi, and Mujahid. “UNFPA Indonesia Monograph Series: No.3, Internal Migration in Indonesia.” UNFPA Indonesia Monograph Series (2015). Tajfel, Henri, and John C. Turner. “The Social Identity Theory of Intergroup Behavior.” In Political Psychology, edited by John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, 0 ed., 276–93. Psychology Press, (2004). https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203505984-16. U.S. Bureau of the Census. US Census Bureau, the American Community Survey Design and Methodology Report”, US Census Bureau, Washington, DC, USA, (2013) Wajdi, Nashrul, Clara H. Mulder, and Sri M. Adioetomo. “Inter-Regional Migration in Indonesia: A Micro Approach.” Journal of Population Research 34, no. 3 (September 2017): 253–77. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12546-017-9191-6. Ward, Christopher, and Styles, Irene. “Culturing Settlement Using Pre- and Post-Migration Strategies.” Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing 12, no. 4 (August 2005): 423–30. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2850.2005.00853.x. Waters, Mary C. Ethnic Options: Choosing Identities in America. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1990. Weber, Max. Economy and Society: An Outline of Interpretive Sociology. Vol. 2. Nachdr. Berkeley: Univ. of California Press, 1921 [1978]. Wimmer, Andreas. Ethnic Boundary Making Institutions, Power, Networks. New York; Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013.