what does racism mean if race has no biological basis? any links to websites would be helpful?

Answer 1

Check this article:
Redefining Racism
"The term racism has evolved over time, for political reasons."
by ALan J. Levine

http://www.americanoutlook.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=article_detail&id=1687

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Racism today: continuity and change in the post-civil rights era
By Howard Winnant
http://www.soc.ucsb.edu/faculty/winant/what_is_racism.html

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MEanings of Racism, Sexism and Discrimination
by Ron Yezzi
http://krypton.mnsu.edu/~yezzi/aaterms.html
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Also, from http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/

race
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle French, generation, from Old Italian razza
1 : a breeding stock of animals
2 a : a family, tribe, people, or nation belonging to the same stock b : a class or kind of people unified by community of interests, habits, or characteristics
3 a : an actually or potentially interbreeding group within a species; also : a taxonomic category (as a subspecies) representing such a group b : BREED c : a division of mankind possessing traits that are transmissible by descent and sufficient to characterize it as a distinct human type
4 obsolete : inherited temperament or disposition
5 : distinctive flavor, taste, or strength

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racism (rac·ism)
Function: noun
1 : a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race
2 : racial prejudice or discrimination
- rac·ist /-sist also -shist/ noun or adjective

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Thesaurus
racism
Function: noun
Text: 1 the belief that certain races of people are by birth and nature superior to others
Synonyms racialism
Related Words apartheid, segregation; eugenics
Near Antonyms desegregation, integration
2 hatred of or discrimination against a person or persons based on their race
Synonyms prejudice, racialism
Related Words apartheid, jim crow, segregation; bigotry, intolerance, narrow-mindedness, narrowness

Answer 2

well, you're right - race DOES have little, if any, biological basis. studies show that there is more variability within any race than there is between "races". however, just because race has no biological validity doesn't mean it isn't important.

race is still very palpable in our society, on both a psychological and a sociological level. racism definitely exists - even if it is not biologically based. we just base our prejudices on our supposed ideas of what "white" like or what "black" looks like.

also, and probably more inportantly, racism in the US (and generally in the west as well) is systematic. meaning racism is not based upon your assumptions of someone's phenotype but instead it is part of a system that has separated people based on race for centuries. there are huge disparities in income, education, and class that are based upon this centuries-old systematic racism.

hope that makes sense.

for more info, i'd just check wikipedia's articles on race, biraciality, and racism.

Answer 3

Racism is stupid and ignorant precisely because there is no biological basis for it. That's what it is, an artificially created distinction for the purpose of belittling or denying rights to others.