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Kristin Frye GEOG 237
Demographics of the Mind:
A Look into the Changing Ethnic Identity of Austin City, Texas
“Keep Austin Weird,” reads the bumper sticker motto on the trunk of a car driving
through downtown Austin, Texas. The whole city is a reflection of this slogan, encouraging
residents and visitors to embrace the eccentric quirks and cultural diversity that infects the city
around them. The atmosphere of Austin encourages individuality and unique identity. It is a
creative hub, fostering innovation though exposure to a multifaceted cultural environment.
According to Author Richard Florida, Austin is one of only a few cities that uniquely integrates
culture, creativity and technology to form a distinctive source of economic vibrancy (Grodach
2013). The diverse landscape of Austin is a direct result of the people who compose it. It has
been a melting pot of culture since its inception in 1839, and still retains this fervor over 150
years later.
The composition of Austin’s community is largely speculative because the U.S. Census,
which is used to numerically represent the various races and ethnicities that configure a certain
city, is not fully representative. For example, in the 1790 U.S. Census, race was literally written
in “black” and “white,” and it was only 60 years later in the 1850 U.S. Census when they
branched out to add Asian as a racial differentiation. The U.S. Census did not even contain a
category for ethnic origins until the 1970s. (Gibson and Jung 2005). Therefore, although the U.S.
Census seems to give a look into the atmosphere of a certain location over time, the question
arises as to whether the U.S. Census reflects the demographics of the United States, or whether
people have historically been incorrectly categorized by the limited selection on the U.S. Census.
It is clear that demographics are changing and varying, with every new U.S. Census, all over the
United States, and Austin is no exception.
The U.S. Census demographic data collected from the city of Austin in the period 1970 to
2010 shows a drastic change in both the race and ethnicity categories. In only 10 years (1970 to
1980), the number of people that identified themselves as “Other” on the U.S. Census increased
from one percent to eleven percent in Austin, echoing the trend across America for people to
identify themselves by something other than their outer appearance (Gibson and Jung 2005) (See
Figure 1). The number of individuals who identified themselves using the new category of
Hispanic in the 1980 U.S. Census composed 19 percent of Austin’s total population.
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The inclusion of the Hispanic category on the questionnaire highlights the changing
American understanding of their racial and ethnic heritage. Since 1980, the number of residents
in Austin that identify themselves as of Hispanic origin has risen by 16 percent, and by 2010 this
category composed 35 percent of Austin’s population (See Figure 2). This trend is partially due
to a new wave of immigration from Latin American countries and migration of Hispanic
residents from other regions in the U.S. However, a significant portion of this trend is also due
census respondent’s reclassification of their identification over time. Between 2000 and 2010,
“more than a million Americans switched from non-Hispanic white to Hispanic white” on the
U.S. Census (Cohn 2014).
Austin is titled a minority-majority city due to its lack of a predominant racial majority
group (See Figure 4). This diverse minority-majority tends to promote “more frequent intergroup
associations and greater tolerance” and social flexibility, which tends to increase multiracial and
ethnic reporting (Guzmán and McConnell 2002, 111-113). In Austin, the ethnic and racial
diversity that already exists continues to foster a loosening of racial and ethnic boundaries and
increases the propensity for this varied reporting (Humes, Jones, and Ramirez 2011).
Between 2000 and 2010, the number of the population to identify themselves as “Two or
More Races” has increased by one third (Humes, Jones, and Ramirez 2011). This number has
and will continue to escalate due to the rise in the number of interracial marriages in the United
States. Interracial marriage was legalized in all states in 1968, and now comprises 13 percent of
all marriages (Lee and Bean 2004, 227). As racial divisions become less distinctive and thus less
indicative as a self-identifier, ethnic origins and cultural affinity become a more important part of
how a person sees themselves in relation to their society (Gutierrez 1999, 490-493). Multiracial
individuals who are straddled between two divisions tend to “respond to these imposing social
forces by not identifying with any race” and instead identify with their ethnic origins (Doyle and
Kao 2007, 405-407) (See Figure 3).
The ideas of Situational Ethnicity and Symbolic Ethnicity are also strong influences on
reports of ethnic status. Situational Ethnicity is the idea that the identity of a person is based on
the “loyalties” that person chooses to declare at a specific moment, and Symbolic ethnicity refers
to a subjective assessment of one’s ancestry that reflects “attachments to a specific culture or
experience” (Doyle and Kao 2007, 405-407). The population in Austin is subject to the influence
of these two forms of ethnic identity as citizens experience an association to Hispanic culture
Kristin Frye GEOG 237
through the unique history of Texas. Texas was a part of Mexico until its annexation to the U.S.
in 1849, and thus still retains cultural influence from Mexico which can be seen in Austin from it
architecture to its cuisine choices (Neu 2010). In a city like Austin, where the Hispanic
population has composed the largest minority group since the 1980’s (and potentially before),
there is a historical affinity to associate with the Hispanic population through ethnicity, be it
ancestral, symbolic or situational.
One study exemplifies this by correlating a consumer’s level of "felt ethnicity” and their
behavior in a market setting (Stayman and Deshpande 1989, 361-362). A consumer’s situational
and symbolic ethnicity determines what they choose to buy, and this association can change
depending on what the consumer is experiencing in a particular moment. This situationalspecific felt ethnicity, which changes as the environment around a person changes, is a form of
social identification. Social identification happens when someone associates on a “primary level”
with an ethnic group they are not a part of, facilitating new identities and social stances (Zmud
and Acre 1992, 444). Psychological understanding and association is the result of physical action
or performance in an event or activity (Sue et al. 1999). In other words, personal beliefs, bias,
and understandings are all shaped by the experiences we have, and the actions we take. Thus the
closer a person is to a culture, and the more frequently they actively participate and experience it,
the more they feel that they are part of it (Saffold 1988, 548-550).
In the writings of Social Scientists Lee and Bean (2004, 222-225), it is proposed that race
and ethnic identity are a result of social constructions that exist entirely as a form of selfidentification, and are thus dynamic concepts with the ability to change. As immigration from
Latin American countries has increased in recent years, communities like Austin are changing as
a result of the way in which Latin Americans are integrating into American society. When
immigrant groups begin to compose a sizeable portion of society, they either abandon their
culture and assimilate into the majority culture, or undergo what Lee and Bean call “selective
acculturation” as a way of distinguishing themselves from the society at large. In this model,
groups continue to embrace their cultural backgrounds and use their family and community
connections as a means to achieve social and economic mobility and as a “buffering mechanisms
to shield them from the spiral of downward mobility in the face of economic disadvantage” (Lee
and Bean 2004, 227). Thus, Latin American culture has remained outwardly apparent and over
time, slowly blends to fit into a niche in American society.
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In a city like Austin, Hispanic culture, and the blend of Hispanic-American culture, is
something that constantly stimulates the senses of its inhabitants through sight, smell, taste and
experiences. The predominant culture creates and idea of “Organizational Culture” where people
within an organized community setting tend to have collective values, beliefs and principles as a
product of history, market economy, and national culture (Schein 1984, 3-7). Texas is a state that
has always identified with a national culture of its own creation, blending American and
Hispanic influences, symbolized in products like its trademark food Tex-Mex. This national
identification with Hispanic culture allows people to be proud and vocal about their ancestral
background and the symbols, language, beliefs and habits that it encompasses (Cooke and
Rousseau 1988, 250-260). People with limited or no physical links to Mexico can get the
impression of being part of the Hispanic culture without feeling like a separate group within the
American community. Through their identification with Hispanic culture, they are even more
closely associated with the history, symbols and culture that make up Texan nationalism (Alonso
1994, 379-380).
Austin is a city that encourages its residents to embrace their cultural and individual
differences in order to stimulate the Creative Culture that encourages innovation and brings it
economic success. The influx of Hispanic immigrants reinvigorates a long history of Hispanic
culture that has always been a prevalent part of Austin. This stimulation encourages a culture
that, through participation, emboldens peoples feeling of membership with the Hispanic
community. As race becomes a social construct of self-identification, and as multiracial ties
grow as interracial marriage becomes increasingly more common, ethnic identity grows in
importance. Symbolic and Situational Ethnicity create ties within Austin’s community to the
history and national identity of Texas that emboldens a feeling of cultural ethnicity among
residents, allowing for open expression and associations for those related to, or who feel a part
of, the Hispanic community. This encouraging atmosphere and the shifting lines of selfidentification have caused the sharp increase in Austin’s Hispanic-identifying population as
exemplified in the U.S. Census. This trend is likely to increase as the factors that affect residents’
self-identification continue to evolve, allowing Austin, for the foreseeable future, to stay weird.
Kristin Frye GEOG 237
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