What is race? Is it skin colour/complexion, religion, geographical location etc?

Question

I've always wondered this, as in my experience I have heard many people refer to different religions as being races e.g. "muslim race", but I'm not sure whether that is right. Can a religion be a race? Can a particular lifestyle be a race e.g. Goths?

Dictionary explanations are welcome - if relevant and if possible with elaboration.

Answer 1

No a religion is never a race. Race is ethnicity. The region where people originally belonged contributes 2 race

Asians- Ppl of Asia
Africans- Ppl of Africa
Hispanics- People of Spanish descend
Caucasians- White People
Mongolians- People belonging 2 China and mongolian countries
Japanese-Ppl of Japan
Indians- Can either be of Indian country or American(Red) Indians

The term race distinguishes one population of humans (or non-humans) from another. Many regard race as a social construct. The most widely used human racial categories are based on visible traits (especially skin color and facial features), genes, and self-identification. Conceptions of race, as well as specific racial groupings, vary by culture and over time and are often controversial, for scientific reasons as well as their impact on social identity and identity politics.

Caucasoid, Negroid, Mongoloid, Australoid, Capoid are all races

You can tell French race etc. It depends on country as well, as it depends on regions. DOESNT DEPEND ON RELIGION

Answer 2

This is a very, very difficult question. Totally bewildering in fact.
When I was in school, I was taught that there were basically only three races in the world. They were Caucasian (now termed Caucasoid), Mongoloid and Negroid.
Caucasian included the black people from India and Sri Lanka etc. The border was drawn at Tibet, where it was a mix of Caucasian and Mongoloid genes.
I liked this a lot, because the less races you have, the less the racial discriminitation.
It did make me wonder about the Australian aborigines. Where do they fit in? But the fact that the land mass was all united until after the Ice Age made it feasible they were ethnic variations of the Negroid race.
But it is ever so complicated!
In the U.S.A., races mean different ethnic groups! I can't imagine a Hispanic race! Yet there is one in the U.S.A. No wonder we have so many racial problems!
In Europe, Latin Ethnic groups are considered Caucasian.
The problem gets worse.
Anthropologists used to believe that each race had different a biological make-up. Not only skin colour, or eye shape;but more importantly, internally.
For example, skull shape.
I have been told by medical staff in Asia that Asian and European intestines are of a very different length - I think the Asian intestine is supposed to be much longer. This is an evolutionary fact based on a non-meat eating diet apparently. I was really shocked.
To go on - some races lack certain liver enzymes and so cannot tolerate toxins to the same degree as other races. Mongoloid babies are always born with the blue mark on their bums. This is true even if they are racially mixed. (Caucasian-Mongoloid baby; Mongoloid Mark; Negroid-Mongoloid baby; Mongoloid Mark. Mongoloid-Mongoloid baby; Mongoloid Mark.)
And I was taught that "ethnicicity" means the sub-division of your racial group. In many cases, it means simply Scandinavian or Slavic or Latin. More often these days, it means your ancestry; for example, Father was Indian, Mother was Russian, but her ancestors had a Viking and a Chinese link somewhere in the past. That would all equal ethnicicity.
Now, things are moving in two different directions. Anthropologists are saying there is no such thing as race or ethnicicity anymore. Human breeds can be defined either by
a) geographically (S.E. Asia; N. Europe etc.)
OR
b) geopolitically (basically by country)
OR
c) culturally (Apache, Brahmin, Ainu, etc.)
Some people might prefer this; some might not.
On the other hand, there are those who want to make even more races in the world. They want to include Australoid and Capoid.
And the U.S.A. wants to include that many, it is hard to imagine a United States at all!
Whether or not this is based on scientific research, it only serves to confuse the issue!
One thing is for sure; the more ways they find to divide us, the more trouble will come of it!
There is nothing wrong with individual Culture. It is something every nation (oops I am treading on thin ice here! Better say "tribe" for this purpose) ought to take pride in, and no other "tribe" be permitted to put down.
Although it is a fact that certain people of the same "race" have higher risk of certain diseases and share a common intolerance factor to such things as milk and alcohol, might still be proved that this is a genetic thing and has to do with evolution. It will take us centuries to find out for sure, as such links were formed evolutionally, and evolution takes a long, long time.
Religion and lifestyle don't enter into the picture. They are made-up philosophies and not biologically or evolutionary
induced.
You can be born with a Mongoloid Blue Bum, or not. You can't choose it. With religion, you can't be born into it (hence baptism?); your parents choose it for you, or your society does. You can change it later, if you want.
Same with being a Goth, Punk, Teddy-Boy, Mod or Rocker or Hippie .... you aren't born that way; you choose it.
So, whether or not the powers that be decide to let the word "Race" live, or not - you are who you are. Somethings you were born with and shouldn't want to change, even if you could. Somethings you decide to become. You can always change those. Enjoy it all!
Racial wars are a dying breed; the most common wars these days are ethnic cleansing wars .... whatever you do, you won't stop the wars! But full points to you for a very brave question!
P.S. Beware of the Goths! Historically speaking of course ... there was an "ethnic" group centuries ago, in Roman times called just that. Ever read the comics "Asterix?" There was an etnic group called the "Vandals" too!
Anyway, the Goths became the Ostrogoths and the Visigoths after they were vanquished by the Romans.
As I said, it is ALL too difficult!

Andrew 41628 hit the nail on the head by saying there is only one human race. See? Complicated!

Easier to think of it in terms of species and breeds, isn't it? The way we do with cats and dogs.
Species: Humanoid.
Breed: Whatever.
I mean, a Persian Cat has no specific problem with a Siamese ... if the situation is right, they will get along. Depends on the situation and on individual personalities, i believe.

Answer 3

I think it harks back to when the world was a much larger place, and people tended to stay in the area they lived. Dark skinned people lived in places like Africa, so they could be called a race, just as European people are mainly white so they could be called a race too; Indians and Pakistanis, well they're all from that Asia sort of area so that's a distinct race of people, I would say, but over in Iran/Iraq the people are different again, and most of them follow the Muslim faith so you could refer to people from those countries as Muslims (it's easier than saying "Middle-East-erns").

Based on these examples, I think a race would be defined as people who originated from a certain part of the world.

Answer 4

i think it's a way to make it easier to hate or dislike someone or a group of people. we are all of the human race, we are all the same and people don't like it. if the world stays globalized for a long enough time we will all be about the same color but we'll still be the same race. a group of people would have to be isolated for an incredibly long time and in a very different environment to evolve into a different race (species).

Answer 5

I think of 'race' as being all human beings who are also varied and diverse - and thank goodness - how boring to all be the same. Belonging to a group within the human race can be positive for the individuals concerned or negative. Example, belonging to a youth group, a belief group, Goths etc. can give support and space to be 'oneself'. It's a safe learning space. Used negatively, for power over others, denigrating others etc. is destroying and stifling. So I think - we are one race - encompasing many differences.

Answer 6

The term race distinguishes one population of humans (or non-humans) from another. Many regard race as a social construct. The most widely used human racial categories are based on visible traits (especially skin color and facial features), genes, and self-identification. Conceptions of race, as well as specific racial groupings, vary by culture and over time and are often controversial, for scientific reasons as well as their impact on social identity and identity politics.

Since the 1940s, evolutionary scientists have rejected the view of race according to which any number of finite lists of essential characteristics could be used to determine a like number of races. For example, the convention of categorizing the human population based on human skin colors was used, but hair colors, eye colors, nose sizes, lip sizes, and heights were not. Many evolutionary and social scientists think common race definitions, or any race definitions pertaining to humans, lack taxonomic rigour and validity. They argue that race definitions are imprecise, arbitrary, derived from custom, and that the races observed vary according to the culture examined. They further maintain that "race" as such is best understood as a social construct, and conceptualize and analyze human genotypic and phenotypic variation in terms of populations and clines instead. Other scientists, however, have argued that this position is motivated more by political than scientific reasons. They argue that categories of self-identified race/ethnicity or biogeographic ancestry are both valid and useful, that these categories correspond with clusters inferred from multilocus genetic data, and that this correspondence implies that genetic factors might contribute to unexplained phenotypic variation between groups.

Answer 7

In one sense, race is an isolated gene pool. However, humans constitute one race, in another sense of the term. But there is a sense in which sociological construction comes into play when one talks about race. Race is a complex idea.

Answer 8

without looking in a dictionary i think: race means a group of people, ethnicity is where you are from, and colour and religion are self evident. goths cannot be a race because goths don't always (although sometimes!) have goth babies. however if you are african and you move to britain, have a baby with someone else of african descent, the babies race will be african, and ethnicity is british.

Answer 9

Race?! It's 200 laps around Darlington to grab the checkered flag. That's Race!

Answer 10

tough question to answer, according to the lessons I learnt in sociology and via working for the Racial Equality council it is made up by a lot of things.. the link i have put here is an good clear decsription, but am sure even that is open to debate?
Race is defined by a Biological Construction, a Social Construction and a Legal
Construction.