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why race is a social construct not a biological one
race biological or social construct
why race is a social construct not a biological one
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Elvis Lumnica ANT Course Number 4503 Writing Assignment #1 Anthropologists argue that race is a social construct and not a biological reality. Race and ethnicity are two different subjects that happen to be misunderstood and used as two terms of the same meaning. The definition of race and ethnicity is related to biological a sociological factors respectively. Race refers to a person’s physical appearance, such as skin color, eye color, hair color, bone/jaw structure, facial features, etc. Ethnicity on the other hand, relates to cultural factors such as nationality, culture ancestry, language and beliefs. The anthropologist Jason Antrosio wrote that he usually avoids phrases like “race is a social construction” or “gender is a social construction.” These phrases seem to be just shortcuts Race refers to a person’s physical appearance, such as skin color, eye color, hair color, bone/jaw structure, facial features, etc. Ethnicity on the other hand, relates to cultural factors such as nationality, culture ancestry, language and beliefs. . Race refers to a person’s physical appearance, such as skin color, eye color, hair color, bone/jaw structure, facial features, etc. Jason Antrosio states that race is a social construction and that it draws attention to how the social, legal, political categories are used to define “race” within society. In America, the perception of racial and ethnic groups is all determined by the media we use. Media reinforces stereo types of ethnic groups and races and overall determines the way we classify individuals talents, likes and dislikes, and personality just by what we see and hear when that is totally not the case. Ethnicity gives us the ability to change because we can reject our own ethnicity and embrace another. Your race is something is biological and cannot be changed. You can change your ethnicity by traveling and taking in other
This variation has no substantial ties to skin color, but does show genetic variation from different geographical locations in the world. These variations are not categorized in groups of what people call race, but rather ethnicity. Ethnicity, defined by Stephen Cornell, is a sense of common ancestry based on cultural attachments, past linguistic heritage, religious affiliations, claimed kinship, or some physical traits. Race, as most people catoragize it, encompuses many ethnicitys. Ethnicities are local populations, this makes sense that they would tend to have less genetic variation compared to each other then the rest of the world as they would share genetic adaptations resulting from the environment they live in. This can include skin color, but can also
Race is a very interesting subject of sociology, and it is also immensely studied. What is race? Race is presumed common genetic heritage resulting in distinguishing physical characteristics” (Social Stratification). There are three basic theories to explain race in sociology; Functionalist Theory, Conflict Theory, and the Symbolic Interaction Theory.
There is a difference between a biological and a social view of race. Biologically, race is seen as genetic, unchanging, and distinct categories of people; this includes physiological differences within different races. A social view of race is not simply scientific, but also includes the societies where people live, how race affects social hierarchy as well as psychographic and geographic traits.
The argument for understanding race as a social construct is that there is a lot of cultural assimilation in the United States, as a reflection of social, economic, and political worlds. There is an understanding that some groups are inherently different than others and some groups are more dominant because of this. There are social divisions of race as seen on the US census, college applications, medical papers, etc. Also, the social, economic, and political divisions that have arisen around the different categories of people in different races have amplified the social differences between groups. By example, there is more likely to be poor academic performance in inner city schools due to social factors, but this has nothing to do with biological factors. Race today is generally defined by how people are seen by other people. These perceptions can be based on ancestry or based on phenotypic characteristics but are more subjectively seen by cultural beliefs, economic needs or political affiliations. Modern racial categories are so subjective that they are ever changing as time is passing. For example, not all black people share the same origin, culture, or economic status, but they may all be grouped to categories based off of their looks rather than what they actually are like. Race is socially constructed because it is not fixed/fact. People decide who belongs to which race and these decisions can
Race refers to a person's physical appearance, such as skin color, eye color, hair color, bone structure, etc. Ethnicity, on the other hand, relates to cultural factors such as nationality, culture, ancestry, language and beliefs. Both race and ethnicity contribute to a person’s or group of people’s “national identity”, which is their sense of
Race, in the common understanding, draws upon differences not only of skin color and physical attributes but also of language, nationality, and religion. Race categories are often used as ethnic intensifiers, with the aim of justifying the exploitation of one group by another. Race is an idea that has become so fixed in American society that there is no room for open-mindedness when challenging the idea of racial categories. Over the years there has been a drastic change with the way the term "race" is used by scientists. Essentially, there is a major difference between the biological and sociological views of race.
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
...The most profound conclusion on the concept of race is the argument that the term is not a biologically innate fixture. Despite the discredited nature of the concept of ‘race’, the idea stills “exerts a powerful influence in everyday language and ideology”. (Jary & Jary, 2000: pp503-4) This disputes the assumption that racial divisions reflect fundamental genetic differences.
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.
People who have distinctive physical and cultural characteristics are a racial ethnic group. This refers to people who identify with a common national origin or cultural heritage. But remember that race refers to the physical characteristics with which we are born. Whereas ethnicity describes cultural characteristics that we learn.
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
In people views, the terms of race and ethnicity are very similar in the way that other responds to one another, but it quite different. The term race has been referred to groups who have differences ad any similarities in their biological traits deemed by the society for being socially significant to other, meaning that people will treats other differently because of who they are. For example, people who have differences and any similarities in eye color would not get treated differently, but those who have different skin pigmentations have. Race is often conflicted from time to time. Although there are established racial group profiles for everyone, some suggested that there only few racial categories. For instance, the racial category
Social reality of race simply refers to the fact that people still believed that races are based on physical traits such as skin color or hair texture to judge others. However, what they are doing is stereotyping which lead to discrimination and racism. Also, their actions denied the fact race is culturally constructed, meaning people have different customs, religions, and values from culture to culture. The patterns of biological variation among humans are extremely complex and constantly changing. All of us could be classified into a number of different "races", depending on what genetic traits are emphasized. For example, if you divide people up on the basis of stature or blood types, the geographic groupings are clearly different from those defined on the basis of skin color. Focusing on such deceptive distinguishing traits as skin color, body shape, and hair texture causes us to magnify differences and ignore similarities between people.
Race as a “…social and historical idea, not biological” (Palaita, Lecture 1/25/18), only works because according to Social Construction Theory, “…these categories work because our complacency allows us to presume that the identities are natural and a group’s social status relies on biology, rather than social/cultural circumstances” (Palaita, Lecture 1/25/18). Our unwillingness to challenge these identities has allowed these categories to be used to determine who will be on the advantageous side of the inequality we face here in the United States. If we no longer accepted these conditions, and change the way social groups are viewed and treated, we may create a new norm and close the inequality gap between social
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.