SOC 100 Midterm Essay

SOC 100 - Midterm Essay

In the U.S., we were taught to categorize people into different “racial groups” such as White, Black, Asian, and so on, based on physical features, including skin color, hair texture, shapes of lips, and more. However, race is socially and not biologically constructed. According to the textbook, sociologists described race as a human invention which was shaped by social forces present in a time and place of its creation. There are three main arguments for why race is created and designed by society.

First, the definition of race has changed over time. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, Italian, Irish, and Jewish were not considered as White. By undergoing cultural assimilation, the second and third generations of these immigrant groups were slowly included in the White population. This shows that who can be considered as White or the definition of race can change over

In other words, race is understood differently around the world. According to the text book, in West Africa, people are categorized into racial groups based on the status of having noble ancestry and not physical features. Also, according to the article, “Defining Race”, race is categorized base on individuals’ social class status and wealth. Furthermore, the invention of race reflects social, economic, and political aspects in society. For example, White American who has white and black ancestry will be considered as black because black slaves are free source of labor, and white population want to increase the number of labor. On the other hand, White Australian are considered as White even though he/she has Aboriginal ancestry because Aboriginal people are source of free land and White population want to occupy the land successfully. In conclusion, these three arguments have shown that race is socially constructed and not based solely on biologically