Race, Racial And Ethnic Relations

Race is a hot topic in our world. We all think we know what race is. After all, we are constantly being bombarded with it whether it be from media, politics, or sports. The truth is that race does not revolve around the idea of biological traits or characteristics. It is a modern concept that we as a society have created to divide people into categories. I will argue that race is socially constructed from a biological, political history, and sociological standpoint, and how it may impact other areas of our society.

The meaning, significance, and definition of race have been debated for centuries. Historical race concepts have varied across time and cultures, creating scientific, social, and political controversy. Of course, today’s definition varies from the scientific racism of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries that justified slavery and later, Jim Crow laws in the early twentieth. It is also different from the genetic inferiority argument that was present at the wake of the civil rights movement. However, despite the constantly shifting concepts, there seems to be one constant that has provided a foundation for ideas towards race: race is a matter of visually observable attributes such as skin color, facial features, and other self-evident

The term “race” has been defined differently throughout history. Race has been not only defined as skin color but also defined as social class, national origin, religion, and language have all been used in history to separate different groups in society. Leibniz in the 17th century defined race religiously, dividing groups in two groups Christian v. Non-Christian. It wasn’t until 1735 when Linnaeus distinguished groups by skin color and geographic origin. He had four separate groups: Europeaus (white), Africanus (black), Americanus (red), and Asiatic (yellow) (Uppsala Universitet,

Since the beginning of time, people have been disrespected due to their race and color. For example, there is a great deal of racism going on now for the reasons that the person is either a different

Race is defined in our textbook as a group of people who share a set of characteristics- typically these characteristics are described as physical ones, common bloodlines. We often think as race in relation to racism, which is a belief that members of a separate race possess different and unequal traits coupled with the power to restrict freedoms based on those differences. Racism is connected with three different keys in belief, that humans are in different groups in relation to bloodlines and physical types, that these

Biological advancements such as Darwinism and Mendelian genetics had a profound impact on the study of race in the scientific community. These new concepts eventually led some scientists to question the validity of traditional notions about race. The resulting debates continue even today. The idea of race, especially in citizens of this country, evokes strong feelings because of the enormous social implications associated with racial identity. The social connotations of racial categories have had a profound influence on the way scientists understand human variation. Early ideas of race were colored by these connotations, and they still play a critical role in the way we understand race today. This paper will

Discussions in regards to race can be fraught with extreme opinions, to examine this subject in a more dispassionate light it is helpful to first define the terms. Race is distinctly different from ethnicity or culture, but is often combined in both writing and thought. From a biological perspective, the description of race in human populations is meaningless, but examined from a cultural basis it can make an enormous difference to a population’s wellbeing, or survival, based solely on their difference in morphology.

Race has been a dominant, defining factor in both the 20th and 21st centuries. It has been a reason for missed job opportunities, unequal treatment, harassment, and even murder. In today’s society, race discrimination is still having a heavy effect on the lives of individuals with different colors of skin. Although some progress has been made, the treatment of different races can be brutal still today. There are stories featured in the news everyday about the mistreatment of an African American or the stereotypical harassment of a hispanic person. What has improved, is the way society is handling these relations and discriminations of race. This improvement is clear when you compare the treatment of the victim in the 1930’s

The linkage between race and ethnicity has not been widely discussed by our society. Assumptions about race and ethnicity are often made and the two concepts are misused and confused. In short, the narrative of race transpires all throughout the 19th century and is followed by biological classification of people. David Nirenberg traces the history of race in his article, Race and the Middle Age: The Case of Spain and its Jews. His article makes it apparent that race is a social construct. He provides that in the last half century social scientists have been having a difficult time defining new

The English term ‘race’ is believed to originate from the Spanish word raza, which means ‘breed’ or ‘stock’ (Race). People use race to define other groups, this separation of groups is based largely on physical features. Features like skin color and hair don’t affect the fundamental biology of human variation (Hotz). Race is truly only skin deep, there are no true biological separations between two ‘racial’ groups. Scientifically speaking, there is more variation between single local groups than there is between two large, global groups; the human variation is constantly altering (Lewontin). The majority of today’s anthropologists agree that race is a form of social categorization, not the separation of groups based on biological

According to our textbook, race is defined as “a group of people who are believed to be a biological group sharing genetically transmitted traits that are defined as important” (180-181). The term “race” has been a topic of many conversation for the past couple of years now. This term has been used quite freely in the past several years. Many debate that the term “race” shouldn’t be used anymore, while others believe that there is nothing wrong with this term. I believe how you use the word “race” is of great importance. When it comes to using this word, it is where many individuals make a mistake, which ultimately leads to hurting and/or offended the feelings of another person.

Throughout the years, racism has been an iron bull, unable to be defeated. Society has yet to let go of the fact that race makes no difference in humans other than their appearance. To highlight

Interestingly enough, as a society we claim to be in a continuum of never ending progression. Progression in the sense of advancing, improving, straying away from obsolete forms of thinking, behaving, or forms of living. This avenue of expansion is seen in a broad array of fields including technology, art, even clothing or recreational activities. So, how is that, with all of these forward movements each and every day, we can still abide by some of the same concepts of race relations as people did over 60 years ago? The “how” is simple, even though we try to pretend the differences in treatment between races aren’t there, it is and this is due to multiple factors such as twisting of media, housing systems, politics, etc.…

Race is a social construct that was created by the Europeans in order to minoritize different racial groups. In the reading by Bonilla-Silva, he defines race to be manmade, “This means that notions of racial difference are human creations rather than eternal, essential categories… racial categories have a history and are subject to change.” For example in a lecture by Dr. Aguilar-Hernandez, he stated that the Irish, Italians and Jews were called black before but are now considered white, Mexican-Americans were also considered white up until the 1980s. These ideas lead to the racialization of racial groups.

The concept of race and the meanings associated with the term have continuously changed and evolved throughout history. Many negative connotations have been associated with the word race and these are evident as one reflects on the historical origins of the term. Commonly the term race is closely connected to the notion of ‘racism.’ Racism is a specific form of prejudice which focuses on physical variations between people. It describes the ideological belief that a person, or groups of people can be classified into ‘races’ which can be ranked in terms of superiority and inferiority (Spoonley, 1988:4). Giddens defines racism as “the attribution of characteristics of superiority or inferiority to a population sharing certain physically inherited characteristics” (1997:584). This supports the idea that racism is a manner of prejudice or animosity against people who have different physical characteristics. It is in virtue of circumstances such as these that Anthropologists find it necessary to make a distinction between the concepts of race and ethnicity.