Categorical Usages and Complex Realities: Race, Ethnicity, and Religion in the United States

This article compares and comments on the “two sociologies” that of the journals and monographs and that of the introductory textbooks. The principal concern is with the treatments of race, ethnicity, and religion. The principal argument is that the categorical usages found in the textbooks hide significant ongoing social changes. To address these questions we present data from the 1972-98 NORC General Social Surveys. The evidence presented does not support a range of standard claims found in the five leading textbooks. Those textbooks do not adequately reflect well-known findings reported in the discipline's specialties.