How will the majority-minority demographic shift impact a specific aspect of the economy? Why is this significant?
Mixed Company
BACKGROUND
The majority-minority shift: a phrase on the edge of many Americans’ minds and on the lips of many more, as the ethnic makeup of the United States begins to dramatically swing. In short, people of color (as a whole) will become the majority demographic of the U.S. – exactly when varies, but probably between 2032 and 2042. Specific states have already fully undergone the shift.
Notions of diversity that were considered “established” are proving to now be fluid: “third culture kids”, interracial relationships, and increased birth rates of minority populations led to this change. (Immigration rates have not caused this current change, but may impact future rates.) Young minorities are becoming the majority.
In May of 2012, the US Census Bureau officially announced that White births were no longer a majority in the United States. Senior demographer at the Brookings Institution William H. Frey characterized this shift as “an important tipping point”, describing it as a “transformation from a mostly White baby boomer culture to the more globalized multi ethnic country that we are becoming” (Tavernise 1). Even before this historic moment, analysis of the 2010 Census had commented on the “browning” and “graying” of America, trends that affect our understanding of the very notion of diversity.
The shift will change political priorities, particularly around issues of education and immigration. Research finds that majority groups tend toward conservatism when their numbers are threatened; historically, this can lead to more virulent racism and xenophobia. In addition, people in fields as various as medicine, entertainment, media, and education have all joined in the chorus of utilizing this new data to call for changes in their professions. (Consider the call for more ethnic diversity in Hollywood.) Members of the President’s Cancer Panel succinctly summarized this impulse in their letter to former President Obama, stating, “The nation’s changing sociocultural composition has implications for virtually every aspect of American life” (Reuben et al 1), and went on to detail what is necessary to battle cancer for a changing American population.
The workforce is becoming more diverse; business owners are more diverse; the policies that are important to a diverse population are different and will change the economic landscape.
So as the majority-minority shift changes the population, each aspect of society will be impacted – change the people, change the culture. Your job for this paper is to argue how this change in people and culture will in turn change the economy. If the entire population demographic will be new, with different priorities and policies, how will the economy be impacted? And why should we be paying attention to that impact?
PROMPT
Answer the following prompt in a 5 to 7-page thesis-driven essay:
How will the majority-minority demographic shift impact a specific aspect of the economy? Why is this significant?
(Note: Many of the sources you will be reading take the same basic numerical data and interpret it in different ways, and you will be doing the same in making your argument. As such, be cognizant of how and why you are using numbers in your final paper. You will need to be adept at contextualizing quantitative data and refuting it in your sources if you feel it is being misused.)
Things to consider
- You can talk about any majority-minority shift: it doesn’t have to be the ethnicity one (e.g., age, gender, religion, etc.).
- Immigration rates did NOT cause this current change in demographics
- What are the economic issues that minority populations are most concerned with?
- The impact of anxiety on economy
- The impact of racism/xenophobia/stereotypes on the economy
- You can argue that the demographic shift will not have a significant impact on a particular aspect of the economy (but this will be a more difficult paper)
- You don’t have to focus on the U.S.! If you know about another country undergoing a majority-minority shift, please feel free to write about them.
- Whichever country you choose, I recommend that you narrow your focus to a specific state or region.
- California, Nevada, New Mexico, Arizona, Texas, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Mississippi, and Maryland have already undergone the majority-minority shift. (And London!)
- You can combine a racial demographic shift with some other trend evident in the census or in American culture more broadly and suggest that the combination of the two trends will have a particular influence.
- Think about the time frame for your prediction. For example, if you are looking at birth rates, they may not have an effect for decades.
- Remember: you’re making an ARGUMENT. It’s not enough to list out how things are being impacted; you’re trying to convince your readers of something.
