Biological Differences In America

In the article, “What We Mean When We Say ‘Race Is a Social Construct’,” Ta-Nehisi Coates asserts that the idea of race is that “puts hundreds pf millions under domination” (Coates, p. 3). The definition of race is “the classification of humans into groups based on physical traits, ancestry, genetics or social relations, or the relations between them.” Liberals often say “truly stupid things like race has to biological element” (Coates, p. 6). William Z. Ripley wrote a story which desired to “delineate racial difference through head type” (Coates, p. 4). Coates states that “race does not need biology. Race only requires some good guys with big guns looking for a reason” (Coates, p. 6). Race is just a social construct and “is an idea, not a

What is race? Scientists have argued this for quite some time. Is it a social construct, wherein groups of people are classified having similar heritage (i.e. African Americans having ancestry throughout the continent of Africa)? Or is it a way of classifying people based on biological factors, such as how one may or may not react to a form of medical treatment, or drug. Does it give insight to one group of people’s risk factor for contracting certain biological diseases? Ann Morning addressed this when she wrote, “Does Genomics Challenge the Social Construction of Race?” Ms. Mornings debates the findings of Shiao Et Al, in regard to the beliefs of “constructionists.” Such are described as not “up to date”, with an emphasis on an amendment.

Recent genetic research has made it clear that there is little difference on a cellular level between racially categorized people based on aspects such as place of origin, skin colour and personality traits (Fozdar, Hawkins & Wilding 2012, p.14). Furthermore genetic research has established that there is more genetic diversity between individuals within a race than between races as a group (Fozdar, Hawkins & Wilding 2012, p.15). Thus as Lentin states in ‘Race’, Race and Anti-racism: Challenging contemporary Classifications the concept of race can no longer be used to legitimately categorize humans (Lentin 2010,

In the book, National Colors: Racial Classification and the State in Latin America, author Mara Loveman examines the history of racial classification in Latin American nations, through the use of census records. There are three main questions that the author works to answer throughout the book. The first, is why did these nations historically classify populations by their race? Why did they eventually decide to stop using this method for some time and why was it brought back? The author also looks at the different ways these nations are influenced by other nations, and how this affects the recording of these populations over time.

A very controversial topic of discussion today involves the difference between the biological and social view of race. The biological view sees a population according to traits that are passed down biologically, this is where the term “race” comes from. It would be somewhat accurate to say that people from different parts of the world have some differences biologically. The issue in this argument is found when people see that there may be some differences biologically but try to segregate them into fixed categories. What is found by this is that by assessing this biology and peoples' appearance, you can categorize them into a specific race. I believe that this is a misguided view because race does not fall so easily into set categories, there

Professor Dorothy Roberts discussed her latest book Fatal Invention where she made references to how science, politics, and big business recreate race in the 21st Century. She discussed with Tavis Smiley the different incentives that are used in science, business as well as the Government to categorized race. Despite research that showed that the black race and the white race is only .1% genetically different from each other many are still making an argument that the races are very different and merit ongoing discussions

The concept of race was created by European imperialists and colonialists during the early 17th century, when the slave trade began. The white imperialists needed a system of categorization in order to justify the sharp uptick in the use of the African body as slaves. They needed a system

In the article, “How Race becomes Biology: Embodiment of Social Inequality” by Clarence C. Gravlee, Gravlee argues that race, and the assumption of race in everyday life, makes the difference in biology much more clear and affects the life cycles of people due to their perceived race (Gravlee, 51). The author provides, using both his research and others’, an argument against the complete notion that race is only a social construct (Gravlee, 53). Through a series of statements, Gravlee states that race shouldn’t simply be excluded from anthropological discussion, but incorporated into present views regarding healthcare and impacts on society.

Race and ethnicity are two terms which are used interchangeably in every day conversation, however, there is a distinction between the two. Race is a categorization of people who have been singled out as inferior or superior, often on the basis of phenotype – observable physical characteristics such as skin color, hair texture, eye shape, or other selective attributes. Race is a social construct and has been known to change with historical and political events. Contrarily, ethnicity does not necessarily provide visual clues, instead, ethnicity is categorized on the basis of a shared common culture and includes elements such as language, norms, customs, religion, music, art, literature. Ethnic Groups are developed by their unique history

Historically, race has been divided into four categories: black/African American, white, Asian/Pacific Islander, Native American/Alaskan Native. This type of categorization is based on skin color. By categorizing people in this way, most of the information that is gathered is not completely accurate. It does not take into consideration people who are of mixed races. For example, someone could

Often times today, people of other racial classes and ethnic groups are experiencing oppression as a marginalized group in society today. Racial biases and culture have become an important issue in mental health due to social constructs, racial stereotypes and racial ideology. As a result, they tend to have an impact human development, racial and cultural identity. Therefore, it has become necessary for counselors to indentify and become fully aware and competent in this area due to the changes our society has undergone in multiculturalism and globalization. Due to cultural diversity, identification of minority groups has led to major breakthrough in the field of multicultural counseling/ therapy (Sue &Sue,2014).

Race and ethnicity are seen as form of an individual’s cultural identity. Researchers have linked the concept of “race” to the discourses of social Darwinism that in essence is a categorization of “types” of people, grouping them by biological and physical characteristics, most common one being skin pigmentation.

After learning more about the history of race in class and from the readings, I can now understand that race is just a construction made by people. At the same time, this also means that race could possibly be used to the advantage of some groups in power and limit others. Is deconstructing these categories a step towards social equality? In return, this helped me better understand the difference between race and ethnicity and how to identify myself. However, many people are unaware of the dark history of race and think nothing of it. For this very reason, I believe that it is highly important to firstly recognize the flaws in basing a society off race and then work on removing the classification of people by race to combat the existing racism throughout the world. A person should not be judged and assessed merely based off their skin color or culture, but rather by their actions and intentions. So, to group a wide variety of cultures into one category would be an unjust generalization made by social construct. For instance, African Americans are categorized by “black” in order to legitimize their exploitation as an apparently inferior race just because of skin color. This creates a system in which people are grouped based off race and ethnicity that subsequently leads to some groups having advantages, such as whites, over other minorities like Hispanics and African

Sociologist argue that race is a social construct and not a part of our innate natural behavior. Then why is racial identification so prevalent in modern day society? That’s because at young ages we are taught by television, movies, books, newspapers, parents, teachers, friends and other sources what race is. We are bombarded by this ideology so much so that we become fluent in determining someone 's race based on their physical attributes and draw conclusions before even talking to them and discovering who they are as an actual person.

Part I: During the last lecture sessions, Dr. Jendian talked about appreciating diversity, race, ethnicity, and racism. In his lecture, we learned that many people believe that race is something biological. However, the true reality is that race is a social construct and not a biological one. For example, in the documentary Race: The Power of An Illusion, we were able to understand that there are more variations among people in the same “race” than with people from another “race.” However, physical differences, for example, the most obvious skin color, has created prejudices against minority groups. These prejudices that “white” people carry leads to discrimination against people of color. During the lecture, Dr. Jendian explained about ethnocentrism as well. The definition that he provided states that we judge others using our culture’s values, beliefs, and practices. Therefore, we believe the way of doing things is superior, so other people’s ways are inferior. For example, the professor explained that one day he went to a Oaxacan restaurant and that he ate crickets. He explained that for people that don’t have the same culture, this food might be uncommon, however, it is not uncommon for the people of Oaxaca. According to Aguirre and Tuner in their chapter “Ethnicity and Ethnic Relations,” minority groups are single out living on unequal treatment, thus, becoming objects of discrimination. For example, one of the minority groups