Whether you’re at basketball game or in the mall, you can see that people vary in size, skin color, and appearances. But did you know that no matter how different we all are as humans; we are just a single race. The variations that we see in everyday life are just physical differences but genetically humans are the same and “race” is term that has been used to distinguish human because of those physical differences. You may be wondering how one person from Canada and one person from Africa the same race, but it has been proven through the HGP (Human Genome Project). This project was led by scientist from all walks of the earth in order to try to understand and map the genetic structure of humans. They found that the term “race” is a false term to try and classify us by where we are from, geographically. There is no denying that we are different but through the HGP they have made us understand how, biologically, we are all the same. Race/ Classifying Humans What is race? Race, as defined by Webster’s dictionary, is the division of mankind based on skin color, facial features and other physical traits. But this is no longer the truth that it has led us to believe. The first thing that they must do is identify the links between the social meaning of and race and its genetic definition. Scientist have to figure out the ancestry of the groups of different people. There is a distinct signature in our DNA due to the fact that most modern humans are descendents from and African group who migrated to other parts of the world over 100,000 years ago. This has caused our DNA to have certain traces of our ancestral DNA imbedded within us as well. Scientist use polymorphisms to determine the similarities between groups. There are different typ... ... middle of paper ... ...e of mice and other organisms. Society in general still fails to understand this concept and therefore does not establish this vital information to the public. This information will make people think and hopefully change certain aspects of their mentality about what race is and how they perceive it to be. It’s time that more individuals become educated on the matter and realize that race is a term we no longer need to use. “Until the philosophy which hold one race superior and another inferior is finally and permanently discredited and abandoned... Everything is war. Me say war. That until there is no longer 1st class and 2nd class citizens of any nation... Until the color of a man's skin is of no more significance than the color of his eyes, me say war. That until the basic human rights are equally guaranteed to all without regard to race me say war!” ― Bob Marley
Race can be sternly characterized as the distinction in individuals based on physical features like the
Yudell, M. (2011) A short history of the race concept. Race and the Genetic Revolution:
First of all, race does not really exist. The concept of race was invented by people so that they could compare themselves to others based off of something obvious. Race is something that can easily be seen by the
In the past, races were identified by the imposition of discrete boundaries upon continuous and often discordant biological variation. The concept of race is therefore a historical construct and not one that provides either valid classification or an explanatory process. Popular everyday awareness of race is transmitted from generation to generation through cultural learning. Attributing race to an individual or a population amounts to applying a social and cultural label that lacks scientific consensus and supporting data. While anthropologists continue to study how and why humans vary biologically, it is apparent that human populations differ from one another much less than do populations in other species because we use our cultural, rather than our physical differences to aid us in adapting to various environments.
People have different physical characteristics, for example skin, hair or eye color, tall or short stature, and other ways evolution has adapted humans to be able to live and thrive in different areas of the world. For hundreds of years race has been a factor in how people have categorized each other. Race is defined as “a group of persons related by a common descent or heredity, characterized by supposedly distinctive and universal characteristics” (“Race”). Race is part of what makes us unique as individuals, however it has not been scientifically identified in the physical make up of what is known as the human genome. There is no scientific proof that gives race the ability to be a social construct, yet it has been a large part of American history and society in history and still has a presence today. Race is a reality.
Based on conceptual framework, its best defined as a tool used in research to plan possible approaches to an idea or thought. As our class used this tool to learn about how society evolves around race and ethnicity, we came across important things we tend to ignore. Also, it taught us to expand our mind about learning about our culture and our diversity. The important thing we learned in class is “race”, which is defined as how people are identified by other groups. What we tend to ignore is that it distracts us from seeing who that person may really be by personality. According to race, it can identify a person by physical characteristics or biological. This cause a process through which our world build racial categories in which people are classified is called racialization. The issue is that society use race to view people with similar biological traits or physical characteristics to assume that everyone is considered the same. We use racial categories to apply to people to identify what to label them as.
Race, like other social constructs, was created to simplify the complicated world in which we live. By creating race, people were able to divide into the categories “us” and “them.”
Society tends to over-generalize race as a biological classification. Realistically and genetically speaking, “there are no systematic differences between races that affect people’s social behavior and abilities”. Sociologists use race as a reference to groups of people who are “set apart from others by obvious physical differences”. But what are the physical differences? Historically, races have been determined not only by physical differences, but by
A biological race is a population of the same species that develop characteristics that differ from other members of the saame species. Humans have been divided by races. Some sources point out that human races are biologically real because they are the result of humans evolving on separate continents. Therefore, it would be hard to find out more about these stories without acknowledging that race has a biological basis. They also point out that the human genome proves this. In fact, it is said that races differ predominantly in the relative frequencies of their alleles. However, other sources argue that human races are not biologically real because humans are and have been a single interbreeding species. In fact, throughout history,
Race, Ethnicity and one's worldview shape history, politics, schools, neighborhoods, the media, science and many aspects of our life. They also shape an individual's life. These terms are significant aspects of people's lives. Race is a term that is used to categorize humans by their visible differences such as White, Asian or Black. Our textbook suggests, race refers to the way a group of people defines itself or how others may define them as being different from other groups because of assumed innate physical characteristics (Baruth & Manning, 2016). The term race has impacted our society immensely. The concept of race is used to distinguish people due to their skin, eye color, eyes, ears, lips, nose, and head. However, race should not be
Scanning around the classroom, you will see a sample of diversity: skin tones ranging from milk-white to dark brown and different hair textures from thick- fine hair to thick coarse wavy hair that your classmates have, and you will notice that all you guys possess different facial features, height and body type. Because of these different externally visible traits, we often classify ourselves and others into “races”. But what is race and does race exist? Can we distinguish one another heritage and ethnicity based on our physical characteristics?
Through research of DNA samples, scientists have been able to declare that race is not biologically constructed due to the similarities between human genes. Nevertheless, in reality, people still emphasized on biological aspects such as skin color, or hair texture to categorize others into different races. This in turn, denied the true identity of race, which it is culturally constructed. Ethnicity, by definition is also culturally constructed, therefore it greatly resemble race. There is no real clear line to distinct the two.
It’s also something scientist would often wonder the same thing until the facts were clear enough for them to understand that race is nothing more than a myth as it was said in “ Newsweek.” Over the years it has been known through science that there is no biological reality to the human race as it was said in “Newsweek.” However, there would be times when race would be used in the field of science but has been known in a different way. In the reading of “Scientific American,” it has said that researchers will acknowledge that there would be a few areas where race as a construct might still be useful for research in the field of science. Things such as a political and social for instance instead of what many are used to such as biological and variable as they are known as the wrong way of looking at people of different
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.
people associate with race are simple genetic traits. Complex traits are influenced by several genes as well as environment.” There seem to be only subtle changes in the genetic makeup of humans from one place to another. Anthropologists’ have explained this simply as a consequence of people marrying those who live near them versus marrying those who live across large distances. An example of this is how several generations of families seem to share many of the same inherited traits. (the American Anthropological Association, 2011)