Biological Concept Of Race Summary

The word race appeared during the 16th century in Europe. The biological concept of race is an idea of belonging to a specific social or political group based on dividing biological factors associated with hereditary traits. This new concept of division within a species was influenced by the ancient theorem of the Great Chain of Being which was a philosophy of the Renaissance era saying that the universe holds an infinite number of forms. One’s skin color, culture, traditions, or biological makeup determine their place in society and the ways in which those surrounding view them as an individual established by the reputation of their group. Before the new scientific discoveries in the field of anthropology, the old world was nearly equal.
Yali, a political activist from Papua New Guinea asked, “why are white people superior to New Guineans?” European began to development machinery and tool that made agriculture more efficient. At the same time, New Guineans were still using old techniques however they were struggling to maintain a stable food source. Eventually the population decreased and Europeans clearly seem superior. Yali wanted to know why Europeans were thriving while his people were struggling to put food on the table every night. After observing this phenomenon for some time, Yali concluded that the reasons for European success was geographic luck. Both American and Europe lie on an east to west axis which affected the climate in relation to the equator. The climate of the area affected the types of plants and animals that were able to survive. Wheat and rice became essential crops to Europe due to the nutritional value and they were easy to store. However, those living in Africa were not able to grow these plants leaving them to live a malnutritious lifestyle. If the two races were to switch locations, Yali believes negroes would have an equal chance at succeeding just as the Europeans did. Achievement was the result of one’s surroundings not their heredity. The world had become blindly racist. People believed every fact that deemed people of color inferior and treated them like they were. However, those who were educated found it harder and harder to believe in scientific racism. Scientist soon found it difficult to conclude that non white people were different or lesser than white people. Franz Boas, the man who concluded that the brain size of a negro was lesser that a white person’s, “denounced racist doctrines as clearly