Commentary On The Meaning Of Race In Science And Society Analysis

This article written by Mark Nathan Cohen, who is an anthropology professor in the State University of New York; talks about how race does not define human diversity. In the article, he also mentions that in school students learn the definition of race based on “biological variation” and not based on their culture. The professor Cohen says that studies on human family tree that were based on their genetic analysis of traits do not show any relation of who those traits belong to. He gives an example by stating that even skin color is not a god indicator of who it relates to because the “traits occur independently in several different branches of the human family.”

In The Social Construction of Race, Ian F. Haney Lopez defines race as a social construct that is constantly changing its meaning due to the fickle nature of society. Lopez believes that this fickleness stems from a social climate formed by a variety of factors such as human economic interest, current events, and ideology. There are certain racial definitions however, that have remained mostly the same despite efforts to bring attention to the offensiveness and immorality of such discriminatory thinking. These stereotypes are oftentimes negative and apply to members of minority races, which end up perpetuating themselves into various cultural outlets of society including the media and film. Through the use of such popular forms of entertainment, the definitions of a race remain largely unchanged as future generations remain exposed to these racial classifications.

Throughout history and across the different cultures, people socially construct ideas of race. All races of people are not biologically different because there is no genes or gene clusters similar to all people of one race, but because people have similar visual traits humans have categorized people as being different. Due to these differences, societies have been known to show tendencies based on the socially constructed races and people develop personal views about the various races from past experiences. In large cities in the United States there are areas where the African American population is more dense, which shows that people draw imaginary boundaries due to race. An example of how the social construction of race is that in the United

All through history, the label that is associate with Black people have become a prevailing discourse that explicitly racialized black people, even today. There are specific characteristics that are related with being black and are disseminate to the public and are represented as truth. Williams Rose (2002) argues, “As the color white is associated with everything good … so Blacks has, through the ages, carried associations with all that is bad and low… the Negro is believed to be stupid immoral, diseased, lazy, incompetent, and dangerous to the white man’s virtue and social order “(p.181). Blackness have become objectified in public spaces, they are view as a threat on the street of Toronto, surrounding areas and even in the criminal

Today, Race remains a controversial topic in the world. Sociologists believe that the significance of race in contemporary affairs originates from the social beliefs which are associated with race, rather than the actual biological differences between groups of people. This notion is commonly referred to as the social construction of race. Studying this topic becomes even more crucial as the communities become more diverse. However, a sociologist might ask, what factors (micro or macro) influence and reinforce such believes? What could be the most significant factor that shapes such beliefs? This paper aims to investigate specific factors, such as the role of state policy, which may reinforce or create the beliefs about race. This paper, initially introduces several sociological terms, and then provides several examples to discuss the role of state policy and media in construction of racial identities. At the end, the paper analyses this question using sociology theories, mainly Symbolic Interactionism, Structural Functionalism and Social Conflict Theory.

The idea of race throughout history and even in today’s society is a misunderstood concept, this is because the word has no actual taxonomic significance because all humans belong to the same species, Homo sapiens. Although two people can look completely different from each other if they are both human they are not actually different. Go back two hundred or three hundred years ago, and the belief that a white person was more dominant or “free” then a colored person is thriving throughout America and creating a very big problem that has to do with race and that is slavery. It was based upon racism and the belief that a white man was free and an African American man was not even though they were being forcibly taken from Africa and other

Race-thinking: what is it? Isn’t the world past the issue of race? Do races even exist and if so, what does it mean to have a racial identity? Is colorblindness possible and how important is it? These are the questions Paul Taylor addresses in the book “Race: A Philosophical Introduction”. Paul Taylor is a self-proclaimed “radical constructionist” who will maintain that race is very real in our world and in the United States (p. 80). Taylor takes care to ensure he addresses the real needs concerning racial dynamics in the U.S., referencing historical events, prevailing policy affairs, and even pop culture to explain that everyone capable of forming opinions ought to have some sort of grasp of the concept of race thinking. As Taylor will analyze, race and race-thinking “has shaped and continues to shape private interactions as well as the largest political choices” (p. 8). In other words, race-thinking encompasses everything we do and every interaction we have. In this paper I will attempt to interpret and expound Taylor’s views and definitions of race, concepts associated with race, and input my own perspectives along the way.

Samuel Morton measured the features and the capacity of human skulls; he concluded that there were five “races” or species and blacks had the smallest brain capacity. To support his argument he suggested that God must have’ intervened at the time of the flood to reshape mankind.” (Farrow p. 186) Josiah Nott published an article supporting an 1840 census and declared, “Slaves lived longer” and was less prone to lunacy than free northern blacks. (Farrow et al. p. 186-187) The most damaging research produced by Morton, Agassiz and Nott were their theories that declared “Caucasians and Negros” as different species and defined blacks as subhuman species. (p.186) Agassiz and Nott further warned against the mixing of races, claiming the purity of white race could be contaminated by the black race. “These influential scientists not only helped justify slavery, they helped solidify the myth of black inferiority” (Farrow, et al. p. xxviii)

When Sociologists say that race is a social construction, they mean that it is brought by social aspects without biological meaning. “Race is not biological. It is a social construct. There is no gene or cluster of genes common to all blacks or all whites. Were race “real” in the genetic sense, racial classifications for individuals would remain constant across boundaries.” (Nytimes.com) Divides still exist today between blacks and whites, but progress is being made. Race is socially driven, our ideas and views about the topic are helped by the opinions of others. The best example of race as a social construct are Hispanics. This is because there is no such thing as a Hispanic. This word was created by the Census Bureau to categorize

Our government's job is to provide safety, equality, and to preserve our freedoms as human beings. Laws are put in place in order to assure that these elements are enforced. However, as seen several times throughout history, the government often fails to do so. Whether the country’s idea of moral standard changes or a new people group infiltrates in, laws are often alternated in an attempt to better the satisfaction of the people. Yet in the past, these laws have failed to acknowledge the natural rights given to each human. For example, fugitive slave laws; and later, segregation laws. People who recognized the immorality within these laws would disregard these in order to bring the depravity of these laws to light, following their moral obligations. If these people had not spoken out against these laws, they would still exist today. Segregation laws degraded people’s humanity, so it was assertively immoral to follow them. Many

The Race Quagmire says race should only be brought up in science. It is a term to facilitate talking about genetic differences among groups. I was never taught to like a specific gender but what I was taught was that I should not like people not my color. I will admit when I see a black person I will tend to hold back from talking to them because that is what I was taught all throughout my childhood. I tend to hold back but that is all I do. I do not judge them and I hope they are doing well in life just like any other person.

The English term ‘race’ is believed to originate from the Spanish word raza, which means ‘breed’ or ‘stock’ (Race). People use race to define other groups, this separation of groups is based largely on physical features. Features like skin color and hair don’t affect the fundamental biology of human variation (Hotz). Race is truly only skin deep, there are no true biological separations between two ‘racial’ groups. Scientifically speaking, there is more variation between single local groups than there is between two large, global groups; the human variation is constantly altering (Lewontin). The majority of today’s anthropologists agree that race is a form of social categorization, not the separation of groups based on biological

The movie “Race: The Power Of An Illusion” describes peoples’ thought on race and how people were defined to be of different race previously and how the thought has been changed over the centuries. Episode 1- “The Difference Between Us” observes the modern science - including genetics - that trials our mutual sense norms that human beings can be shoved into several profoundly diverse groups conferring to their physical characteristics. It was believed that race was biological difference and people were prejudged by their physical difference. Especially in sport fields race is assumed to be biological and on that base some people think that different racial people are good at specific sports, where Jim Brown, a former Cleveland Brown stated

Race can be seen as a modern idea because it hasn’t always been with us. We can say that in ancient history, language, religion, class distinctions, status among other things were more important that physical appearances. Race is “a group of people who share a set of characteristics typically, but not always, physical ones – and are said to share a common bloodline” (pg,. 322). In other words, differences are physical not biological. Ideas and definitions of race have changed overtime, and they all depend on the social or political region. For example, in ancient Egypt physical characteristics were associated to physical features “physical markers were linked to geography” (pg,. 324). When science came along it only helped to verify existing

I took the time today to read the article titled “What is Race” by Victor M. Fernandez, RN, BSN and found myself agreeably intrigued and in admiration of his thoughts regarding race. Victor touched on an extremely insightful and significant topic; one that most people have sturdy opinions about. Race – what is it? What does this mean to you? What does it mean to our upcoming careers in the nursing field? I trust that how we characterize and assess our awareness of race is due exclusively to how we were raised. I do not mean merely what we were taught from our family or culture about race, but to a certain extent how we have lived it, and how it has lived around us. “Race is a modern idea. Ancient societies, like the Greeks, did not divide