Schwalbe's Reification Essay

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

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,

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

With existing schematization presenting a range of issues in society, Alcoff’s theory of ethnorace provides effective ways to resolve the issues present within it.

Race cannot exist outside of representation, and that it is formed in the conscience of individuals after either a social process (the status of certain people within a society) or by factors such as political power (what laws are imposed on what people) and only then are observable characteristics of an individual transformed into race signifiers.

Goals or needs can play an intense role in the different views of culturally motivated reasoning. We often have or mind set in stuff that benefit us or are that are in our favor. If we have a certain idea or mindset we can go out of our way to make that idea true and conclusive. This not only includes personal point of views to keep ourselves from believing things we don’t want, but views that can be altered by others to keep us from seeing things they don’t want us to see. This is often common in the political world where information is shared a certain way so that we can see what they want us to see and not what it really is. However, that is no different from the unconscious tendency of ourselves in processing information that suits our

By presenting this Bernstein argues that the more diverse the society gets, the better understanding of race and racial images is adapted and lesser the tension between different races and cultures, to maintain harmony in the society. This reflects back to the younger generations being able to racially identify themselves and others through popular culture. This proves that racism is a method of prejudice in our society, cancelling out price’s claim.

Omi and Winant’s theories on racial formation are adopted by Kim to apply to his own theories. He uses the conclusions Omi and Winant made to make the basic claim that the concept of race is very fluid and loosely based. Therefore it is an ever-changing social construct. Most people consider race to be a specific category- something that is indefinitely distinguishable. However one of Kim’s main points is that we should strive to push ourselves away from the way of thinking that focuses on the particularities of race. Particularities being skin color, place of origin, religion, etc. He argues that particularities can only be applied on an individual basis, and that making proclamations about a race from the example of the individual is unfair

Just as gender is ambiguous, race is ambiguous. Race is not biological or physiological to where we can see the structure of the sexual reproduction organs and state “He of our society and our social values within these societies. Therefore, one can say that race is a folk taxonomy or social construct, because it is not based on scientific knowledge, just ones opinion that may be constructed on skin color or even religion depending on the societies traditions. Therefore, race varies culture to culture. Someone that may be black in the United States may be classified in a is black or she is white”. Race is not imaginary, because it is real. It is a perception different racial group somewhere else in the world. It is just like the difference

Throughout history social scientists have been trying to examine the different parameters of race in terms of phenotypic characteristics, and cultural behaviors regarding the different groups that society construct’s. legally judges have had different rulings regarding the categorization of different ethnicities and groups within the United States. Many philosophers such as Kwame Appiah, and Scientists such as Dr. James Watson have had opposing arguments on the topic of race and whether it exists or not. In order to do so we need to examine the different definitions of race, and analyze them in order to see how race is a social construct, where people’s notions of race and their interactions with different races determine the way they perceive

The image of the model family is beautiful. No wonder many people would do anything just to be part of it. The traditional family has existed for almost two centuries. The concept has been so broadly accepted due to the attention that it has received through the media. Like Gary Soto in “Looking for Work” the perfect family gave people the wrong idea into thinking what is reality and what is fiction. Of course, reality speaking, there is no such thing as the “perfect” family. One family are not capable to represent all the variation of families all around the world. For example, Gary Soto’s idea of the perfect family came from him watching a television show called “Father Knows Best.” The television show gave him the idea that there is an absolute

The beginning of the book highlights the importance of race. Race was invented and assigned to individuals solely on their outward appearance. Most Americans unconsciously accept race as a product of Mother Nature. In reality, it has nothing to do with your genetics. The

The term race refers to the notion of separate people into populations or groups on the basis of various sets of physical characteristics. Even though the biological race concept doesn 't refer to human variation, the race is a significant cultural category. In these days, humans most of the time insert a false notion of biological difference into the cultural category of race to make it seem more authentic and objective. Consider this example, people in many Latin American countries classify one another as Indian, mixed of Latin American and Indian, or Latino---of Spanish Origin. However, the biological connotation of these terms have random cultural criteria interpret these categories, like whether individuals wear shoes, sandals, or go

Culture consistently informs the way one view others and the world . For example, In the film by Gurinder Chada “Bend it like beckham”, the main character Jess says “ Indian girls don 't play football . (Chada, 10) “ This quote supports the theme that culture always informs the way one views the world , because Jess grew up in an Indian household, she knows what it means to be a proper Indian woman, but she wants to play football , But at the same time doesn 't want to dissatisfy her parents. This proves the theme true because Jess feels as though she can 't be the perfect Indian daughter, her parents want her to be , and still play football .Another example would be in a story by Alice walker called everyday use, in this story mamas