Ian F. Haney Lopez believed that the concept of race was artificially created by people to give misconceptions on the meaning behind a person’s race. Throughout history, race has been used by people to categorize others and treat them based on where they stand in that categorizat- ion. For example, in the 1700s if a non-slave would see a black person without chains they wou- ld assume that black person is a slave with or without chains because of the racial quo at the t- ime. But even when slavery ended in 1865, the view of an African-American would change from slaves into poor, weak minded, weak willed, and etc. This shows that not only is race just a social construct created by people to put meaning behind whites and non-whites, …show more content…
Plastic is not something that can grow, live, or die. It is artificially created by pe- ople to be changed and used that best fits the one in control of the plastic. When Lopez uses the term “race is plastic” he means that the people in the society created race, so it can best suit them and they can change it so it can continuously keep giving them advantages over people of differ- ent characteristics. But, race is not set in stone nor a universal law. It is created and changed by people. For example, the case of Hudgins v. Wright, three woman wanted to prove they were not black, so they could be free citizens. The ruling was based on the statement,” The fate of the wo- men rode upon the complexion of their face, the texture of their hair, and the width of their nos-
e.”(Lopez,192) Since one of the woman had long hair and not “wooly head of hair.” They were ruled to be free. So, at the time of the case it has been set that if you do not have the character- stics of an black person, than you are not black. Focusing purely on the physical
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He did meet the criteria for citi- zenship, but the plastic were changing once again. They ruled in this case that to be considered white you must now have the ancestry. From these two examples you can clearly see how soci- ety changes the plastic of race to best suit the society and their ideals. Racial fabrication is stated by Lopez,” Fabrication implies the working of human hands, and suggest the possible intention to deceive.”(Lopez, 196) Meaning that when a human is using fabrication, humans are creating the meaning behind something, and may deceive others to think that meaning is correct. For example, if I would tell a person that to a dance your suppo- sed to wear nothing to show how courageous you are in social gatherings. He tells others the same thing I told him. So, when he got to the party everybody else were naked. No one felt weird or indifferent, but when they saw me walk in formally dressed. They isolated me and laughed at the fact I had clothes on. They did not realize how they have been deceived, but would ridicule the one person who is in the right. If you want the example to be very closely related to
David Walker describes the fact that slaves are humans just as much as their White American masters are. He states the pressing matter is that “You [colored people] have to prove to the Americans and the world, that we are MEN and not brutes, as we have been represented and by millions treated.” (Page 33) He asks the question “How can those enemies but say that we and our children are not of the HUMAN FAMILY, but were made by our Creator to be an inheritance?” Although nowadays many people agree that black people have the same anatomy as whites do, but back then many people did not view blacks as equals to themselves.
In America, essentially everyone is classified in terms of race in a way. We are all familiar with terms such as Caucasian, African-American, Asian, etc. Most Americans think of these terms as biological or natural classifications; meaning that all people of a certain race share similarities on their D.N.A. that are different and sets that particular race apart from all the other races. However, recent genetic studies show that there’s no scientific basis for the socially popular idea that race is a valid taxonomy of human biological difference. This means that humans are not divided into different groups through genetics or nature. Contrary to scientific studies, social beliefs are reflected through racial realism. Racial realists believe that being of a particular race does not only have phenotypical values (i.e. skin color, facial features, etc.), but also broadens its effects to moral, intellectual and spiritual characteristics.
There is a specific meaning to race and how its role impacts society and shapes the social structures. Race is a concept that “symbolizes social conflicts and interests by referring to different types of human bodies” (Omi & Winant 55). In other words, Omi and Winant get down to the crux of the issue and assert that race is just an illusion. Race is merely seen as an ideological construct that is often unstable and consisting of decentered social meanings. This form of social construction attempts to explain the physical attributes of an individual but it is constantly transformed by political struggles. The rules of classifying race and of identity are embedded into society’s perception. Therefore, race becomes a common function for comprehending, explaining, and acting in the
an adult. Furthermore, an entire group can feel as if they are being treated as an outsider,
Those who wore the chains of slavery spent their lives tied down to their master, and even when the chains were broken, they were never truly free of their fate. Many African- Americans were born into slavery throughout the 17th and 18th century, and these children were property of their masters before their parents could claim them. After all slaves were not considered human beings, they were simply property, cheap labor, and at times merchandise. It was said in “Give Me Liberty” that American slaves were better off than slaves in other countries since they were more expensive and valuable in the Unites States than other countries such as the West Indies and Brazil (322). Slavery
Race has no biological meaning. There is only one human race; there are no subspecies, no single defining characteristic, traits, or even gene, separates one “race” from another. Instead of being a biological concept, race is a social construct, and a relatively modern one at that. It was created to give light-skinned Europeans an advantage by making the white race superior and all others inferior. Throughout its history, the concept of race has served this purpose well.
...lieve that races are distinct biological categories created by differences in genes that people inherit from their ancestors. Genes vary, but not in the popular notion of black, white, yellow, red and brown races. Many biologist and anthropologists have concluded that race is a social, cultural and political concept based largely on superficial appearances. (4)
The African slave lost their humanity from the very moment they boarded the European slave
To begin with, “race is a social, political, and economic construct. It is not biological. There is no existence of race in the Western world outside of the practices of colonialism, conquest, and the transatlantic slave trade” (Lecture 1). While the origins of race are centered around distinctions of humans based on presumed physical, ancestral or cultural differences, race is merely a floating signifier and therefore only has meaning, but that we give it (Lecture 1 and 2). This floating signifier has taken on different meanings in the U.S. and Latin America. For example, in the U.S., the one-drop rule is enough to deem someone black. On the other hand, Latin America considers pigmentocracy and uses Mulatto categories based on appearance and color
During the 18 century, people divided humans based on where they live and skin color like Europeans as “white”, Africans as “black”, Indians as “red”, and Asians as “yellow”. For example, in Haiti, color has been the dominant force in social and political life. Skin texture, facial feature, hair color, and socioeconomic class together play a role in placement. The anthropological perspective define race as members of a society have similar biological traits. These members are diverse from other members of society because of these traits. In the end, the race concept is not acceptable to humans but it is used as a cultural classification. ...
Although we often use race to classify, interact, and identify with various communities, there is a general consensus among scientists that racial differences do not exist. Indeed, biologists such as Joseph Graves state, "the measured amount of genetic variation in the human population is extremely small." Although we often ascribe genetics to the notion of race, there are no significant genetic differences between racial groups. Thus, there is no genetic basis for race. Our insistence and belief in the idea of race as biology, though, underlines the socially constructed nature of race. Racial groupings of people are based on perceived physical similarities (skin color, hair structure, physique, etc.), not genetic similarities. Nevertheless, we are inclined to equate physical similarities with genetics. Sociologists also use a temporality to argue that race is a social construct. The notion of race results from patterns from the signification of certain traits to different groups of people. However, these patterns (and societal notions of race) change over time. For example, the 20th century belief that "In vital capacity… the tendency of the Negro race has been downward" is certainly not commonplace among individuals today. Notions of race also differ across societies. Racial attitudes towards blacks, for example, are inherently different between the United States and Nigeria. These arguments all suggest that race is socially constructed. The lack of a universal notion of race means that it is not a natural, inherent, or scientific human trait. Rather, different societies use race to ordain their respective social
When one thinks of slavery, they may consider chains holding captives, beaten into submission, and forced to work indefinitely for no money. The other thing that often comes to mind? Stereotypical African slaves, shipped to America in the seventeenth century. The kind of slavery that was outlawed by the 18th amendment, nearly a century and a half ago. As author of Modern Slavery: The Secret World of 27 Million People, Kevin Bales, states, the stereotypes surrounding slavery often confuse and blur the reality of slavery. Although slavery surely consists of physical chains, beatings, and forced labor, there is much more depth to the issue, making slavery much more complex today than ever before.
Race, as a general understanding is classifying someone based on how they look rather than who they are. It is based on a number of things but more than anything else it’s based on skin's melanin content. A “race” is a social construction which alters over the course of time due to historical and social pressures. Racial formation is defined as how race shapes and is shaped by social structure, and how racial categories are represented and given meaning in media, language and everyday life. Racial formation is something that we see changing overtime because it is rooted in our history. Racial formation also comes with other factors below it like racial projects. Racial projects seek
Although, In the past African Americans had struggles and didn’t know how to speak and to understand the real truth why they were being treated like slaves. The people who were chained up has the same struggles like the African Americans because they were being held back by something, and being affected by there immediate environment and lacking to seek enlightenment and positivity. What this led is the freedom to the “real world” accepting the way they live and believing that there’s no way
Race is a term that references on differences such as, facial characteristics, skin color, and other related characteristics. Race is not in reference to genetic make up. A feature of race as a social construct is that it down plays the extent to which sectors of population may form a discrete ethnic group. Based on specific characteristics race makes up a person and differs within groups. In other words race is a large group of people distinguished from others on the basic of a common heritage or physical trait.