The Definitions Of Race: The Importance Of Racial Formations

According to Dalton Conley, the author of You May Ask Yourself, race is “a group of people who share a set of characteristics – typically, but not always, physical ones – and are said to share a common bloodline.” In mid eighteenth century, Swedish natural historian Carolus Linnaeus laid the first stone and classificated humans into four races: Europaeus albus as white European, Americanus rubescens as red American, Asiaticus fuscus as brown Asian and Africanus niger as black African. Later German physiologist Johann Friedrich Blumenbach continued the research but focused on physical morphology and categorized humans into five types: Caucasian, Mongolian, Malayan, Ethiopian and American, which are distinguished with skin colors white, yellow, brown, black and red. However, scientific research has shown that Homo sapiens have 99.9% identical genes, and with only 0.01% difference. The definition of “race” transformed radically throughout the last 600 years. Back in the eighteenth century, it was simply a term to describe lineage or offspring of animals. Nowadays most people perceive “race” primarily as just the physical difference, yet the word “race” is more in regard to a sociopolitical construct.

In Racial formations, Omi and Winant state that racial formation is “the process by which social, economic and political forces determine the content and importance of racial categories, and by which they are in turn shaped by racial meanings.” In the process of social formation, racial categories are also formed, transformed, destroyed and reformed. This manifests the connection between race and the social construct. They are always tied up to each other. This is when racial project steps in. As they stated in the theory, “a racial pr...

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... can be sure that my children will be given curricular materials that testify to the existence of their race.

9. If I want to, I can be pretty sure of finding a publisher for this piece on white privilege.

10. I can be pretty sure of having my voice heard in a group in which I am the only member of my race.

The biggest difference between the two is the intensions. White privilege is certain unintentional benefits that they get for being a Caucasian descent. Racism is intentional belief on the superiority of its ethnicity.

What is the future for ‘race’? No one knows. Just like 300 years ago we would not know race has a whole new different meaning now. Every big event that happened in the last century had something to do with race. With intermarriages getting popular, the future of race is going to be fantastic. Of course, we always have to think on the good side.