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Racial Identity

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences

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Synonyms

Racial categorization; Racial identification; Racial self-identification

Definition

The process of identifying oneself with a racial group (or groups) to derive social value, intergroup distinctiveness, intragroup connectedness, and reference for normative thoughts, feelings, and behavior.

Introduction

Rachel Dolezal, an American civil rights activist, Africana studies instructor, and president of the Spokane (Washington) chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), was revealed as White on June 15, 2015. Dolezal’s White parents publicly stated that Dolezal was their biological – and White – daughter. Many were outraged, alleging that Dolezal, who had presented herself as Black, lied about her racial identity. In defense, Dolezal maintained that although not based on ancestry, she identified as Black (Johnson et al. 2015). Her response sparked a public debate about the meaning of racial identity, demonstrating that racial identity is an...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada

    Cara MacInnis

  2. Brock University, St. Catharines, ON, Canada

    Gordon Hodson

Authors
  1. Cara MacInnis
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  2. Gordon Hodson
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Cara MacInnis .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Oakland University, Rochester, USA

    Virgil Zeigler-Hill

  2. Oakland University, Rochester, USA

    Todd K. Shackelford

Section Editor information

  1. Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

    Christian Jordan

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© 2017 Springer International Publishing AG

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MacInnis, C., Hodson, G. (2017). Racial Identity. In: Zeigler-Hill, V., Shackelford, T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_1151-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_1151-1

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  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-28099-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-28099-8

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