European American
From Freepedia
Image:USA 2000 white density.jpg A European American is an American of European descent, usually referred to as White or Caucasian.
Specificity
The term is more specific than White or Caucasian in that these terms in their official usage include Americans of European, Latin American, Southwest Asian, and Middle Eastern ancestry. "Non-Hispanic White" is an official term of the U.S. government that is also more specific, but covers slightly different ground than European American. Non-Hispanic White excludes Hispanics who are of European (especially Spanish) descent, and includes non-Europeans such as Arabs and Iranians. Nonetheless, when examining demographic data, the "Non-Hispanic White" category corresponds most closely to European Americans.
Origin
The term was coined in response to the increasing racial diversity of the US, as well as in recognition of this demographic diversity moving more into the mainstream of the society in the latter half of the 20th century. As a linguistic concern, the term is often meant to discourage a dichotomous view of the racial landscape, in which "Whites" are conceived as separate from the rest of the racial groups, which have hyphenated terms denoting ancestry, such as African Americans or Asian Americans. Use of the term also represents a general end to the socioethnic disunity among Americans of different European ancestry (e.g. Irish Americans, Italian Americans), including the homogenization of culture and intermarriage that took place during the 20th century.
