Difference Between Race And Social Construction

Humans define race by how they conceive and categorize different social realities. Thus, race is often referred to as a social construct. The differences in skin color and facial characteristics have led most of society to classify humans into groups instead of individuals. These constructs affect us all, and they often result in situations where majority racial groups cause undue suffering to those that are part of the minority. The understanding of race as a social construct is best illustrated by the examination of racial issues within our own culture, specifically those that have plagued the history of the United States.

To begin with, the aim of this paper is to respond to the article written by Ian F. Haney Lopez. The main idea of this article was to discuss the question of belonging of a person to this or that racial group. According to Lopez the construction of race is mostly based on the choice of the society, but not on the genetic or other information. My response to this article will be rather neutral because it is fifty percent agreed with her point of view and half a hundred percent disagreed.

The word “difference” still divides us to this day. The way we are different are due to our race, gender and class can have an impact on our life chances and can turn our lives upward or downwards. The concept of “difference” has been a topic and a goal for many societies to stop the divide for many decades already, since the 1980’s. When in the 1980’s there were numerous social protests and movements. However, to this day we are still tackling the problem. There are two articles,“The Master’s Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master’s House” and “The Ballot or the Bullet” that bring up their own views of the word “difference” and how they can indirectly or directly impact each other.

When we hear the word "race" we're more than likely inclined to automatically think of the color of someone's skin. Though this isn't entirely inappropriate, there is so much more to race than that. Sociologists say that race is a social construction created in society, meaning it's basically a set of "stories" we tell ourselves and hear overtime to make sense of the world. Since we hear these stories over and over again, we act on them, ultimately making them true. This can be said of many aspects of culture and society, however, it seems to happen with race without our realization.

In my opinion, this article shows the importance of knowing the difference between race and culture. Race can be taught in a “biological variation” which results

During the late twenty-first century the academic focus recognised as the ‘critical philosophy of race’ was developed with the purpose of analysing the metaphysics of race. Scholars began to conceptualise ‘race’ with frameworks other than biological determinism due to scientific findings that proposed that race, as conceptualised as a biological fact, does not exist. To ground the social reality of race, theories of social constructionism attempt to explain the social practice of interpreting difference along a constructed hierarchy. The accounts primarily of Haslanger, but also of Zack, Tattersall, and Glasglow form a complex overview of the constructionist theory of

Michael Omi and Howard Winant’s arguments from “Racial Formations” are about how race is socially constructed and is shown in Caucasia by Danzy Senna. Michael Omi and Howard Winant believe that race is socially constructed in society; therefore, the meaning of race varies within different cultures and societies. According to Omi and Winant, influences such as, media, school, politics, history, family and economy create society’s structure of race. In Caucasia, media, family and school are forces that create race by stating how one should conform to social norms for different racial groups.

Race is a Social Construct Although race does not exist from a biological perspective, race does exist as an idea and social construct. Race is ingrained in the history of American culture. Our society is conditioned to think racially. Our views of people automatically put them in racial categories. We make certain value judgments about them based on little more than the color of their skin.

The readings of “Racism, a very short introduction” by Ali Rattansi and “Between Barack and a hard place” by Tim Wise, asks the question of the determination of race. This question is still being asked from the early nineteen hundreds to the late fifty’s and up until the recent nineties. Many descendants of duel ethnicities are asking of question of “ who am I”. They are confused as to where they fit into the equation of the categorization of race.

Usually when you look at someone you see their physical characteristics, a lot has to do with skin color, usually black or white, their hair color and texture, and how their face looks. All of these characteristics show how different people are but also it shows how they are similar to other people of their “race”. “Race refers to a group of people who share a set of characteristics – typically, but not always, physical ones- and are said to share a common bloodline.” (Conley, 2015) The text says that “to speak of the myth of race is to say that it is largely a social construction, a set of stories we tell ourselves to organize reality and make sense of the world, rather than a fixed biological or natural reality.” (Conley, 2015) I believe

I have to say this was the first time I looked at race and ethnicity as being “socially constructed”. I had to really look at what the definition was and what it really meant. After reading the article you provided and chapter 2 in the book, and also doing a little surfing to find other articles on the subject. I agree with Mr. Johnson that race is “socially constructed”.

Good evening, from this week reading I have learned that race is social construction. According to social conventions no one born "black" or "white" but people label each other as black and white. The most interesting thing I found in this weekly reading was racial democracy has been widely spread in Brazil than the United States of America. However, in my opinion, color of skin still affect the life chances in both Countries. For instance, in both Countries lighter skinned African descent have more advantage than darker skinned. In addition, as it mentioned in the book, In South Africa, people of African descent hold a majority of the population. So, why were white people still racially dominating in South Africa even after Apartheid

Social construct may be defined as the social mechanism or a category which has been created by the society. It may either be a perception which is created by an individual or an idea which is constructed as a result of the culture. The present society has created a large number of constructs which are not good. In this paper, the discussion will be done on the social construction of race and gender and the problems associated with the same. In addition to this, how can social construct forms to be the basis for discrimination and prejudice will be discussed? Further, racism and sexism will be discussed with examples. Further discussion will be done on patriarchy and its role in racism and sexism will be added.

Omi and Winant’s discussion from “Racial Formations” are generally about race being a social construct and is also demonstrated in the viewing of Race - The power of an illusion. Omi and Winant have both agreed that race is socially constructed in society. Ultimately this means that race is seen differently in different societies and different cultures. Media, politics, school, economy and family helps alter society’s structure of race. In the viewing , also media as well as history seemed to create race by showing how social norms have evolved in different racial groups.

In contrast to the idea of race, Ethnicity refers to ethnic affiliation, or the “cultural practices and outlooks of a given community of people that set them apart from others” (Giddens, 1997:210). Members of a particular ethnic group see themselves as culturally distinct from other groups of people in a society or culture. There are different characteristics which serve as a way of