9.3 Inclusion and Exclusion

LO 9.3: Discuss how racial boundaries are created and maintained.

Race, ethnicity, immigration status, and citizenship are all means by which groups of people are included or excluded. They are categorized legally by governments and socially as in-groups and out-groups (see Chapter 3). Boundaries between in-groups and out-groups can be strictly enforced or more fluid, and they can take several forms. In general, the United States has long practiced various forms of exclusion toward people who are Black, Asian American, Indigenous, Latina/o/x, and multiracial, with some periods of tentative inclusion. Overall, racial boundaries are created and maintained through assimilation, pluralism, genocide, expulsion, and segregation (see Section 9.5 Segregated Lives). Dominant groups often use racism and violence to justify and keep racial boundaries (Combs, 2022).