Is Race a Social Construct?? Why???

Question

There is one race the human race some say......Do u think that people have racial dividers so they can differintiate themselves as superior or inferior beings....Why do u think that is...Race can be used to decribe a person geographical orgins....

WAKE UP: Perhaps your answer would be better had it actually been for the question I asked. The question was not "is race an evolutionary construct" but if it is a "social" construct. There is a difference.

Additionally, what you will find, if you ever try research is that there is more genetic difference within races than there is between races.

And yes i am familiar with Johann Blumenbach classification system and his racial scale but we are not talking about physical or biological aspects of race the social aspects of it...just to be clear..

Answer 1

I firmly believe that race is much more of a social construct than it is an actual division between us. The actual genetic differences between two people from extremely distant geographic locales (say Polynesia vs. Great Britain) aren't much greater than two randomly chosen people in the same locale. It's more a question of cultural differences and traditions, rather than differing 'races'.

Personally, I think we should identify with what cultural tradition we were raised within, not what ethnicity or race we represent. That way were all human beings first, of the same race and species, and then we're Irish, or Egyptian, or Chinese, etc. It's really just semantics I suppose, but I think the idea of race just does more to divide us than it does to celebrate our differences. The idea of culture, on the other hand, would still allow us to appreciate our differences without implying that we are actually somehow gentically unrelated.

Answer 2

Yes, race is a social construct. I am a living, breathing example. I have very pale skin, blue eyes, and fine, straight hair. Everyone would call me white. However, my mother has olive skin and wiry hair -- and comes with a family bible which depicts interracial relationships (which yielded our descendants) back in the slave days. My father, who comes from a Native American background, has pink skin and green eyes ... and his heredity, although it is not in a bible, is descendant from the Blackfoot tribe. A cousin still lives in the region. All this, and the skin and eye colors, means my family is as mixed race as they come.

But what does it mean? I look white. Folks call me white. They say I belong to the white culture. I know differently, but the skin tone and eyes don't lie, do they? There is so little melanin in my skin. (When I say pale, it means I don't tan.) Well, it does lie. Using such superficial characteristics doesn't help ... it's the blood, right?

But didn't the mapping of the DNA code of man prove that race is not a genetic marker? Didn't they say there is no difference between races besides where genetic mutations formed and became dominant?

I think people first determined race to be an easy out, an easy way to tell where a person's descendants came from. And that used to be so easy. All the folks from Africa had excessive melanin to protect their skin from skin cancer. So you saw a dark-skinned individual and knew they were from Africa. With our ease of transportation these days, and the mixing of the cultures and "races", you simply don't know anymore.

It has a lot to do with people wanting to be superior too. In my family, the olive skin is prized. In families and cultures we have unusual ideas about what is better -- for instance, look at the present celebrity prizing of super-skinny. It's an unusual thing to cherish and we all know it will be gone soon. So where does that leave us with this topic? Race is a social construct. It may have begun originally as a comment on skin tone, hair texture, eye color, and eyelid fold, but it has transpired into an ugly superiority issue, which we know is not true. As the world "browns" through interracial, interethnic progeny, I think we will see a transformation of the ideals. Of course, that will likely be in another 1-2 K years. :)

Answer 3

"I even have examine they don't probable use the term race in technology anymore Phenotypes, genotypes and blood varieties are person-friendly common how you are able to scientifically describe human beings. "Is race a social build?" because of the fact the term is now used, sure. even nonetheless, because of the fact the term became into initially utilized, which potential landrace, no. "Are diverse breeds of dogs seen diverse races?" Analogous to landrace or cultivar. "is this reminiscent of differnt varieties of human races?" No. "Why might dogs be seen a various race for having diverse genetics yet people are actually not? would desire to someon make sparkling this for me." See above.

Answer 4

You have a lot to learn, we evolved into different racial catagories depending on what region of the earth we evolved in over millions of years.
Therefore, based on race, not only are we diffrent looking, putting us into different catagories based on our appearance, but we also have different genetics that is popular in our race, like personality traits, intelligence, what our brains are hardwired at doing best depending on where we evolved and how, etc.

Now you can add studying up on Evolution as well as Fetology.