Race In Society

Sociologist define race as a “socially defined category based on real or percived biological differnces between groups of people”. In the 19th century biologist came up with the three different categories that groups the three human races: Mongoloid, Causasoid and Negroid. They belived that different races where charaterized by biological makeup. But modern sciences have proved that theory to be wrong because there is no such thing as a “pure” race. We are 99.9% genetically idenitcal. Race is just a concept humans made up, it isn’t actually real.

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.

Sociologists say race is a social construct, which is the way society can view a group, and their perception of the group. Race is a big example of this, as people could have the same genetic make-up, but be different races. Two people can have the same eye color, and even common DNA through blood. If two brothers had kids, one with someone of Asian descent, and the other brother having a child with someone of Native American descent, the kids who are cousins, are made up of different races. Race is more socially agreed upon, than being of a biological nature. A prime example of this, is most people will same someone is Asian, but they can be descendent of ant country in Asia, while being categorized as Asian. When we look at people from Europe,

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

-Unless I'm totally off base, it has been my understanding that throughout history, several ethnic groups were not considered white. Over time, however, as new immigrants entered the country and old ones gained access to levels of power and influence, the boundaries grew to include them. It was by way of this social reconstruction that these ethnic groups such as Greeks, Jews and Irish were included. The reconstruction of the identity of “white” will continue to evolve.

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.

To understand the question, we must first familiarize ourselves with the definition of race. Race is defined as “An arbitrary classification of modern humans, sometimes, especially formerly, based on a combination of various physical characteristics, as skin color, facial form, or eye shape, and now frequently based on such genetic markers as blood groups” (dictionary.com).

A relatively recent topic, meaning in the last one hundred year, within society is the concept of race and if it is biologically true, this meaning that evidence suggests a biological reason behind the different categories of race that are independent from social, economical, or personal views. This type of discussion can raise many concerns, questioning the possible social constructs revolving around race and its reason for being used in society today.

The concept of race is an ancient construction through which a single society models all of mankind around the ideal man. This idealism evolved from prejudice and ignorance of another culture and the inability to view another human as equal. The establishment of race and racism can be seen from as early as the Middle Ages through the present. The social construction of racism and the feeling of superiority to people of other ethnicities, have been distinguishably present in European societies as well as America throughout the last several centuries.

I do think that some races are social construct. Some races based on society’s beliefs and their perspective on things. Some races are considered to be in a different category than it was from years ago and it makes you question society as a whole. Are they separating races based on teir belief? Are they considering the biological suspects of humans as a whole? I feel like “race” should not be a term that is used to distunguish humans into categories. However, reading over material and watching videos, it made me look at things in a different perspective. Some people of different races have a lot of similarites. I feel like they catergorize race upon their belief and political process. How can one’s race change after generations to come? I

According to Ansell (2013), race is not real but merely a social construct that has been used to justify the inequalities that are a characteristic of our society. In exemplifying this school of thought, he argues that the difference in people’s skin pigmentation has more to do with their geographical location rather than biological inheritance. In this case, people who live in cooler climates tend to have lighter skins than those who live in warmer climates attributed to the difference in melanin levels that contribute to skin pigmentation. On the basis of this, society has come up with races which are not real.

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 term Race refers to a person’s physical, biological traits that lead to different treatment by others in the society. In modern world race is defined more by the identification of people on the basis of their physical characteristics, it is socially constructed. Race refers to a group that is "socially" defined but on the basis of "physical" criteria. Over the period of time, the concept of race has changed in many different forms and is now less about person’s family or cultural ties but more based on how they look. An example of race is brown, white, or black skin.

Race is a social construct that was created by the Europeans in order to minoritize different racial groups. In the reading by Bonilla-Silva, he defines race to be manmade, “This means that notions of racial difference are human creations rather than eternal, essential categories… racial categories have a history and are subject to change.” For example in a lecture by Dr. Aguilar-Hernandez, he stated that the Irish, Italians and Jews were called black before but are now considered white, Mexican-Americans were also considered white up until the 1980s. These ideas lead to the racialization of racial groups.

Although race does not exist in the world in an objective way, it still is relevant in today’s society. It is obvious that race is real in society and it affects the way we view others as well as ourselves. Race is a social construct that is produced by the superior race and their power to regulate. “The category of ‘white’ was subject to challenges brought about by the influx of diverse groups who were not of the same Anglo-Saxonstock as the founding immigrants” (Omi and Winant 24). Frankly, ‘white’ was the norm, the others were considered an outcast.