Euro-American
Euro-American, also referred to as European American, is a panethnic identity encompassing individuals in the United States who have European ancestry, including groups such as English, German, Irish, Italian, and Polish descendants. This demographic represents the largest ethnic group in the U.S., comprising descendants from early colonizers to more recent immigrants. The identity has evolved due to the decline of specific ethnic affiliations and the formation of a shared narrative surrounding immigration and social mobility, particularly in response to challenges from diverse racial and ethnic communities.
Despite its significance, the term "Euro-American" is often less recognized compared to other panethnic identities like Asian American or Hispanic, which may indicate the dominant status of the group in societal interactions. Competing labels such as White, Caucasian, and Anglo-American further complicate the understanding of this identity, with Anglo-American specifically highlighting the historical influence of British Americans. The future of the Euro-American identity is likely to be shaped by both internal dynamics within the group and external societal forces influencing ethnic categorizations.
On this Page
Subject Terms
Euro-American
Euro-American (or European American) is a panethnic identity that includes Americans of European ancestry (English, German, Irish, Italian, Polish, and so on), ranging from descendants of the earliest colonizers to recent immigrants. Euro-Americans remain the largest ethnic group in the United States. As Richard Alba observed in Ethnic Identity: The Transformation of White America (1990), the emergence of a Euro-American group has been shaped by the decline of individual European ethnic affiliations, the creation of a common historical narrative of immigration, struggle, and mobility, and the increasing Euro-American reaction to political challenges from peoples of color and post-1965 immigrants.
As a group label, “Euro-American” is problematic in that it is less widely used than other panethnic identities (including Asian American, Hispanic, and Native American). Dominant identities tend to be “hidden” in intergroup interactions, and the lack of awareness or use of the Euro-American label reflects the dominant status of the group in the United States. This process is compounded by the existence of competing labels for Euro-Americans: White, Caucasian, and Anglo-American—the latter term reflecting the historical dominance of British Americans within the group. The future role of Euro-American group identity will be determined by both the political and social strategies of the group itself, and the external and structural forces that mold all panethnic identities.
Bibliography
Alba, Richard D. Ethnic Identity: The Transformation of White America. New Haven: Yale UP, 1990.
Anderson, Charles H. White Protestant Americans: From National Origins to Religious Group. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice, 1970.
Brindley, Erica F. "Encountering the Euro-American Hegemonic Past." Verge: Studies in Global Asias, vol. 7 no. 1, 2021, p. 112-117, dx.doi.org/10.5749/vergstudglobasia.7.1.0112. Accessed 12 Nov. 2024.
Meinig, D. W. The Shaping of America: A Geographical Perspective on Five Hundred Years of History. New Haven: Yale UP, 2006.
Murray, Charles A. Coming Apart: The State of White America, 1960–2010. New York: Crown Forum, 2012.
Robbins, Albert. Coming to America: Immigrants from Northern Europe. New York: Delacorte, 1981.
Sauer, Carl. Sixteenth Century North America: The Land and the People as Seen by the Europeans. Berkeley: U of California P, 1971.