About

René D. Flores is an Associate Professor and the Director of Undergraduate Studies in the Department of Sociology at the University of Chicago. He holds a B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley, an M.A. from Princeton University, and a Ph.D. in Sociology and Social Policy from Princeton University. His primary research interests include international migration, race and ethnicity, social stratification, and public policy. His work explores the emergence of social boundaries around immigrants and racial minorities across the world and how these boundaries contribute to the reproduction of ethnic-based social inequality. Flores’s research has been published in prominent journals such as the American Journal of Sociology, American Sociological Review, and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and has been profiled in major news outlets including The New York Times, The Washington Post, NPR, Fox News, USA Today, Newsweek, and FiveThirtyEight. He has received research support from organizations such as the National Science Foundation, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Paul and Daisy Soros Foundation, and others. At the University of Chicago, he serves on the editorial board of the American Sociological Review and is an Associate Editor at the American Journal of Sociology. Additionally, he co-directs the Immigration Workshop at the university.

Research topics

• Sociology
• Psychology
• Social psychology
• Computer Science
• Biology
• Business
• Geography
• Data science
• Epistemology
• Genetics
• Advertising
• Anthropology
• World Wide Web
• Demography
• Gender studies

Selected publications

• The “Rise” of Multiracials? Examining the Growth in Multiracial Identification in the 2020 U.S. Census

  RSF The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences · 2025-01-01 · 12 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  According to the U.S. Census, the multiracial population grew 276 percent between 2010 and 2020 and now represents 10.2 percent of the national population. Some believe that norms of hypodescent, which limited multiracial self-identification for most of U.S. history, are weakening. We explore two competing explanations: natural demographic growth and modifications in census methods and data processing. Through a cohort-level analysis of multiracial identification over time in the American Community Survey, we find that the multiracial population is growing naturally. However, most of the multiracial growth stems from changes in data processing enacted in 2020. Such changes doubled multiracial self-identification among the general population, which was fueled by a sevenfold increase among the Hispanic population. We confirm the absence of sharp cultural shifts in multiracial identification by examining data from the Current Population Survey, which did not implement data processing changes during this period, as a counterfactual data source.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• To Uncover Disparities, Collect and Disaggregate Self-Identification Data for Middle Eastern and North African Americans

  American Journal of Public Health · 2024-10-02 · 4 citations

  editorialSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• New OMB’s Race and Ethnicity Standards Will Affect How Americans Self-Identify

  Sociological Science · 2024-01-01 · 8 citations

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  In March 2024, the U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) approved major changes to the ethnic and racial self-identification questions used by all federal agencies, including the U.S. Census Bureau. These modifications include merging the separate race and Hispanic ethnicity questions into a single combined question and adding a Middle Eastern and North African category. Government officials and researchers have requested evidence on how Americans might react to these changes. We conducted a survey experiment with a nationally representative sample of 7,350 adult Americans. Participants were randomly assigned to answer either the existing separate race and ethnicity questions or a combined question proposed by the OMB. We find that the combined question decreases the percentage of Americans identifying as white and as some other race. We identify the key mechanism driving these effects: Hispanics decrease their identification in other categories when a Hispanic category is available in the combined question format. This results in statistically significant decreases in key minority populations, including Afro-Latinos and indigenous Latinos.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• New OMB's race and ethnicity standards will affect how Americans self-identify

  2024-09-10

  preprintOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  In March 2024, the U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) approved major changes to the ethnic and racial self-identification questions used by all federal agencies, including the U.S. Census Bureau. These modifications include merging the separate race and Hispanic ethnicity questions into a single combined question and adding a Middle Eastern and North African category. Government officials and researchers have requested evidence on how Americans might react to these changes. We conducted a survey experiment with a nationally representative sample of 7,350 adult Americans. Participants were randomly assigned to answer either the existing separate race and ethnicity questions or a combined question proposed by the OMB. We find that the combined question decreases the percentage of Americans identifying as White and as Some Other Race. We identify the key mechanism driving these effects: Hispanics decrease their identification in other categories when a Hispanic category is available in the combined question format. This results in statistically significant decreases in key minority populations, including Afro-Latinos and Indigenous Latinos.

  PublisherDOI

• Transitory versus Durable Boundary Crossing: What Explains the Indigenous Population Boom in Mexico?

  American Journal of Sociology · 2023-07-01 · 21 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding

  Ethnic boundary crossing takes two different forms that have distinct triggers, traits, and potential outcomes: transitory crossing, which is typically short-term, reversible, and triggered by microcontextual cues, and durable crossing, which is a longer-lasting, gradual process motivated by macropolitical forces such as social movements and government policies. This theoretical distinction helps explain the unexpected growth in the long stigmatized self-identified indigenous population in Mexico, which has tripled since 2000. Using a demographic projection model, the authors find that natural demographic processes contributed little to this sudden growth. Instead, using experimental and census data, they find that transitory crossing into the indigenous category was activated by phrasing changes to the 2010 census identification question. The authors theorize that durable crossing is being simultaneously activated by the growing salience of the indigenous movement and the Mexican government’s embrace of multiculturalism. These political factors appear to be shaping the social meaning of indigeneity itself.

  PublisherDOI

• Middle Eastern and North African Americans may not be perceived, nor perceive themselves, to be White

  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · 2022 · 185 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding
  • Sociology
  • Psychology
  • Geography

  People of Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) descent are categorized as non-White in many Western countries but counted as White on the US Census. Yet, it is not clear that MENA people see themselves or are seen by others as White. We examine both sides of this ethnoracial boundary in two experiments. First, we examined how non-MENA White and MENA individuals perceive the racial status of MENA traits (external categorization), and then, how MENA individuals identify themselves (self-identification). We found non-MENA Whites and MENAs consider MENA-related traits-including ancestry, names, and religion-to be MENA rather than White. Furthermore, when given the option, most MENA individuals self-identify as MENA or as MENA and White, particularly second-generation individuals and those who identify as Muslim. In addition, MENAs who perceive more anti-MENA discrimination are more likely to embrace a MENA identity, which suggests that perceived racial hostility may be activating a stronger group identity. Our findings provide evidence about the suitability of adding a separate MENA label to the race/ethnicity identification question in the US Census, and suggest MENAs' official designation as White may not correspond to their lived experiences nor to others' perceptions. As long as MENA Americans remain aggregated with Whites, potential inequalities they face will remain hidden.

  PublisherDOI

• Who are the “Immigrants”?: How Whites’ Diverse Perceptions of Immigrants Shape Their Attitudes

  Social Forces · 2022-10-06 · 16 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding

  Abstract Past scholars find that there is a public consensus in the United States on the traits of ideal immigrants. Nevertheless, is there also a consensus on the perceived traits of actual immigrants living in the country? Further, are these perceptions attitudinally consequential? We find no consensus among whites on the composition of the immigrant population in the United States. Further, the immigrant traits they perceive are correlated in specific stereotypical patterns we label “immigrant archetypes.” Using latent class analysis, we find five archetypes. Two of them are extreme—one represents a high-status, documented non-Latino immigrant, which is associated with the most positive immigration attitudes. The other extreme represents a low-status, undocumented Latino man, which is associated with the most restrictionist immigration views. Nevertheless, a second Latino archetype, a better-educated and documented Latina woman working to support her family, is correlated with more positive attitudes than her male counterpart. Archetypes do not seem entirely rooted in objective reality and are stronger predictors of immigration attitudes than most other independent variables. Their existence has significant implications for public opinion dynamics. When researchers, politicians, or journalists reference a single immigrant trait, they may knowingly or unknowingly conjure up entire archetypes in people’s minds.

  PublisherDOI

• ¿QUÉ CONSECUENCIAS SOCIALES TIENE EL USO QUE HACEN LAS ÉLITES POLÍTICAS DE LA INMIGRACIÓN COMO CHIVO EXPIATORIO?

  El Colegio de México eBooks · 2022-08-12

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Is Facebook’s Advertising Data Accurate Enough for Use in Social Science Research? Insights from a Cross-National Online Survey

  Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A (Statistics in Society) · 2022-11-06 · 18 citations

  articleOpen access

  Abstract Social scientists increasingly use Facebook’s advertising platform for research, either in the form of conducting digital censuses of the general population, or for recruiting participants for survey research. Both approaches depend on the accuracy of the data that Facebook provides about its users, but little is known about how accurate these data are. We address this gap in a large-scale, cross-national online survey (N = 137,224), in which we compare self-reported and Facebook-classified demographic information (sex, age and region of residence). Our results suggest that Facebook’s advertising platform can be fruitfully used for conducing social science research if additional steps are taken to assess the accuracy of the characteristics under consideration.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• <i>Organizing While Undocumented: Immigrant Youth’s Political Activism under the Law</i>. By Kevin Escudero. New York: New York University Press, 2020. Pp. 208. $89.00 (cloth); $27.00 (paper).

  American Journal of Sociology · 2022-01-01

  article1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Ariela Schachter

  Washington University in St. Louis

  6 shared

• Edward Telles

  University of California, Irvine

  5 shared

• Neda Maghbouleh

  University of British Columbia

  4 shared

• Ingmar Weber

  Saarland University

  4 shared

• Emilio Zagheni

  Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research

  4 shared

• Ilana Ventura

  3 shared

• Jorge Cimentada

  Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research

  2 shared

• André Grow

  Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research

  2 shared

Awards & honors

• National Science Foundation
• Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
• Paul and Daisy Soros Foundation
• Social Science Research Council
• American Sociological Association