European American

Encyclopedia : E : EU : EUR : European American

A European American, or a Euro-American, is an American of European descent. They are classified as White in the United States Census, 2000, along with Americans of Middle Eastern and North African ancestry.

Contents

0.1 Use
0.2 Origin

1 Notes
2 See also

Use

The term European American has begun to see fairly widespread use in the mainstream since 2000, with both pollsters (notably Harris Poll's online division) and even major academic journals now often using it to distinguish between European-descent White Americans and other White Americans (especially Latin Americans). For use in population history and genetics, for example, see

Carlson et al. (2005). [Genomic regions exhibiting positive selection identified from dense genotype data]. Genome Res 15: 1553–1565.
Stajich et al. (2005). [Disentangling the effects of demography and selection in human history]. Mol Biol Evol 22: 63–73.
Akey et al. (2004). [Population history and natural selection shape patterns of genetic variation in 132 genes]. PLoS Biol 2: e286.The term European American is more specific than White American in that these terms in their official usage include Americans of European, North African, Southwest Asian, and Middle Eastern ancestry. The term also has a more neutral point of view than either White American or Caucasian-American since both of these terms include a larger group of people than is acknowledged in Europe. Also, whereas White American and Caucasian American vary in the peoples they include and are politically charged, European American has a more stable definition and scope. It also may be preferred over Anglo, a term commonly used in the southwestern US, because of that term collapses a number of distinct ethnicities under a single rubric with origins in England.

Origin

The term was coined in response to the increasing racial diversity of the United States, as well as in recognition of this demographic diversity moving more into the mainstream of the society in the latter half of the 20th century. As a linguistic concern, the term is often meant to discourage a dichotomous view of the racial landscape, in which "Whites" are conceived as separate from the rest of the racial groups, which have dual-name terms denoting ancestry, such as African Americans or Asian Americans. Use of the term also represents a shift from the socioethnic disunity among Americans of different European ancestry (e.g. Irish Americans, Italian Americans) partially caused by increasing numbers of non-European Americans, including the homogenization of culture and intermarriage that took place during the 20th century. Although it should be noted that one can be a European American and still belong to a specific ethnic group.

Notes

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European American

Use

Origin

Notes

See also