Gender studies

Physics

Sociology

Identity (music)

Genetic testing

Population

Biology

Gene

Demography

Ethnic group

Political science

Psychology

Acoustics

Anthropology

Privilege (computing)

Racialization

Genetic genealogy

Genetics

White (mutation)

Race (biology)

Social psychology

American Journal of Sociology

The rapid growth of genetic ancestry testing has brought concerns that these tests will transform consumers' racial and ethnic identities, producing "geneticized" identities determined by genetic knowledge. Drawing on 100 qualitative interviews with white, black, Hispanic/Latino, Asian, and Native Americans, the authors develop the genetic options theory to account for how genetic ancestry tests influence consumers' ethnic and racial identities. The theory maintains that consumers do not accept the tests' results as given but choose selectively from the estimates according to two mechanisms: their identity aspirations and social appraisals. Yet consumers' prior racialization also influences their identity aspirations; white respondents aspired to new identities more readily and in substantively different ways. The authors' findings suggest that genetic ancestry testing can reinforce race privilege among those who already experience it.

Genetic Options: The Impact of Genetic Ancestry Testing on Consumers’ Racial and Ethnic Identities