As we see in the readings and in this website, race is socially constructed, a system of thought and human behavior not directly based on nature, instead resulting from social ideas and practices. In other words, race exists because people believe it is real and important.…
One of the theories that Naomi Zacks talks about is the theory of genetics. Zacks stated that there are two possible ways that race can be hereditary. First the physical traits are passed down through genes. The second way is that race is usually transferred from parent to child or through ancestors and that is how a person can identify themselves into a race category. Zacks theory is that there is transmission of genetics and genealogical heredity and through genealogy race is either found though ancestry, history or people who are related to one another.…
There is a difference between race as socially constructed and race as biologically constructed. Understanding race as a social construct is critical to understanding the capacity of a given race to affect and intersect other domains and aspect of life and the society (Omi & Winant, 2014). A social construct is ontologically subjective in that the continued existence and construction of social constructs depends on social groups as well as their imposition, collective agreement, and acceptance of such constructions (Rutherford, 2017). Race is that regarded as socially constructed since it is ontologically subjective in that it is real in the society and shapes the way individuals see themselves and…
The article “Women, Children, and the Uses of the Streets: Class and Gender Conflict in New York City, 1850-1860,” Christine Stansell argues that during the nineteenth century the streets of New York were grounds of different outlooks toward children. The kids who wandered the city streets such as playing, huckstering, and committing theft or homeless, were an indication of the typical middle class moral failure due to their parents. Moralists often saw the home as a sanctified area that protected children from the harm of society. Parents whom worked, often their children worked too and did not receive the family support that social reformers claimed were essential to their spiritual and moral improvement. In New York City, the success of these reformers in safeguarding public areas indicated both the control of the middle class and the idea of women being encouraging role models in the home.…
In “The Difference Between Us” the program begins by discussing how for several hundreds of years, we’ve classified people into separate “races” by external differences; e.g. eye shape, hair texture, the color of skin, etc., not because we found biological reasons but purely because we look different so therefore we must be genetically different. Science has measured, poked and prodded man in the search for anything that will, conclusively, prove we are different, but nothing has been found. Because the modern human race has only been around for about 100,000 years, not long enough to develop the genetic differences necessary to create different subspecies, and some experts believe that all of the human race can trace their beginnings back…
What struck me most overall from watching this documentary were the “big picture” ideas presented about what race actually means. Time and time again evidence is presented that refutes the “ferociously pervasive” misconception that people belonging to the same race show evidence of significant genetic markers, and that our perceptions of what race means is entirely created by historical, social, and policy markers that all stem from the faulty science that delegates certain attributes to different races. The idea that people of a certain race could inherently exhibit certain attributes over people of other races creates a social hierarchy that initially was…
As we explore these distinct variations of race…
Many sociologists believe that race is a social construction. Social construction is defined in plain English as something that we the human race created on our own. When sociologists say that race is a social construction they obviously do not mean that we created the variance in physical features of many humans. What they mean is that we coined the term “race” and use it as a separator and an identifier of a large group of people. For example, Black, White, Asian, Hispanic these are race classes our society has created and defined. I believe the European explorers were the first constructors race. As explorers travel across the seas to new lands they became in contact with different humans whom had built a society much different than European society. These new societies…
In this article Fish emphasizes on the fact that race is not a biologically meaningful idea and as a result it is a waste of time to look for biologically based racial differences in behavior. As Fish states, “The short answer to the question ‘What is race?’ is: There is no such thing. Race is a myth, And out racial classification scheme is loaded with pure fantasy.”…
When sociologist say that race is a social construction they mean most racial issues are a result of how society perceives a certain race. Since humans are 99.9% percent identical when it comes to genes, you can say that we are all similar. However, a lot of people focus on the differences between other races. All over America lately, you have seen people being discriminated against and feel that they are treated unfairly just because of their race. A person's race does not define who they are as a person. Of course a person's race may have something to do with how a person is raised but it definitely doesn't define who they are. If you have been watching the news in the last couple of years you will have seen many incidents where a person's race has led to a…
The social construction of race is a perspective that in which society creates racial categories. This goes past the biological aspects because we are all the same in terms of biologically. Each different kinds of culture and society characterizes each race differently. It could be skin color, the way a certain type of race talks, eye color, hair color, etc. A symbolic interactionist would view at the different synergies between individuals of different races. They would try to see how these individuals would act according to skin color, language, etc. The concept of social construction of race can be applied in terms of multiple identities. Americans, such as Tiger Woods and Barack Obama, come from multiple racial backgrounds and are breaking barriers and creating new racial categories. This shows that races are becoming very…
Geographical origin and self-reported ancestry have a large role in evolutionary medicine, however Race as it is commonly used has no real significance in genetics. The contribution of total human species genetic diversity due to differences between races (intergroup) is less than 15%, remember races have sub-races so even this number is too big (save the details for another time). About 85% of all human genetic diversity comes from within a RACE, meaning that the most genetic diversity would be found within any given race and not between them. These numbers, as some of you might know, come from an old study that although profoundly mistaken in its conclusions (the discussion section in journals are not always scientific, the results are) the…
When it comes to Alan Goodman’s quote “to understand why the idea of race is a biological myth requires a major paradigm shift”, I do highly agree because we have been taught to classify and relate to each other through race. By stating it is a biological myth is going to cause a huge controversy for example in the video ‘Race: The Power of an Illusion (2003) – Ep1, “The Difference Between Us” shows proof that though we can physically and culturally connect through race we are genetically still very different. When the students did the experiment with their DNA they were told to guess who would most likely have very similar marks and most picked their classmates who physically looked physically similar. Once the results were given they realized…
Race is a pattern-based concept that has led scientists and laypersons alike to draw conclusions about the hierarchical organization of humans, which involuntarily connects individuals to a larger preconceived culturally constructed group. Groups of humans have always identified themselves as distinct from neighboring groups, but such differences have not always been understood to be immutably established and globally recognized. Racial research shows a long and controversial history throughout all of mankind. At the turn of the 20th century, sociologist and civil rights leader W. E. B. Du Bois was the first to synthesize natural and social scientific research to conclude that the concept of race was not a scientific category.…
In fact, race do not exist in the scientific world. In a sociology documentary (citation), it was said that one person could be defined as having more than one race or ethnicity. Also, race is not a biological factor. For instance, an African-American woman could be more similar to a Caucasian man compared to an African-American man base on genetic variation. Furthermore, Judith Butler supports the argument when she writes, “Even Kate Millett cited the case in making the argument that biology is not destiny” (746). In other words, Butler believes that race is not a biological factor. Likewise, racial boundaries actually do not exist. Human beings belong to one big group and that is the human species. Although this may be true, society define who we are and what differences we have, including that different is bad in modern society. With this conclusion, people in majority groups discriminate people in minority groups. However, if racial boundaries was said that it did not exist, there will be no discrimination as there will be no comparison. There will not be a superior race or a pure race, it will be simply be a human being. As a result, showing clearly that racial differences are created by society and not biologically.…