Race In Sociology

Many individuals see race and ethnicity as meaning the same thing but in reality they are separate and both have their own distinct identities. Race refers to the biological traits like our physical appearance, eye color, skin color and characteristics set by society that we identify with. Ethnicity on the other hand, is the culture, language, and

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

It is crucial to define several sociological terms in order to discuss the issue of race in depth. Race might be studied from two perspectives: social and biological. From the biological perspective, race might refer to physical or biological traits of an individual. For example, eye color,

Throughout my research, the one thing that I am certain of is that the term “race” is the most complex word in the world. To this day, many people are divided on whether “Race” is a real concept. “Race” has many definitions, but the way I believe most people define it in today’s society is “A group or set of people or things with a common feature or features.” Most people including myself confuse the word “Race” with Ethnicity. However, the two words are very different. The definition of Ethnicity is “the fact or state of belonging to a social group that has a common national or cultural tradition.” The two words are distinguished from one another by their meanings. One of them represents outer appearances of populations and the other represents the cultural views of populations.

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.

What is race? It is defined as descendants of a common ancestor; one of the distinct variations of the human species; race or lineage. (Websters New Dictionary 1998). As our society becomes more educated, the debate on whether or not this is the true definition of race, or as today’s Sociologists see it, is race merely socially constructed. Race, as it applies across scientific lines, is determinate to represent the human species as a whole, therefore there is but one race…. Human.

Race, to many people is one thing and one thing only; the color of one's skin. But race is more than just the color of one’s skin, but it’s their biological makeup and social makeup. Biological race is the skin color we are born with along with the other genetic traits that come with certain ethnic backgrounds. Social race, however, is how society depicts your skin color and biological traits, and decides from there what social “class” you may be placed in, how you’ll be treated, and how you’ll live your life, socially. All people are biologically born the same “race” as their parents, or a mix, if the parents are different. But what determines the social race?

Race and ethnicity are two completely different things. In my opinion race is not even an actual thing. The only way I could see race as something such as, the “human race”. But trying to label someone by what they look like or where they come from is definitely a part of ethnic backgrounds.

Race is a category or group of people having hereditary traits that set them apart from other groups of people. Based on skin color, hair texture, eye shape, ancestry, name and even identity performance; race is known as a social construct with real consequences and effects. Ethnicity is based on a shared cultural heritage.

Race and Ethnicity both relate to biological and sociological factors respectively, and even though they can overlap, they are distinct. The term race refers to the concept of dividing people into populations or groups on the basis of various sets of physical characteristics (which usually result from genetic ancestry). Race presumes shared biological or genetic traits, whether actual or asserted and the category to which others assign individuals on the basis of physical characteristics. Races are assumed to be distinguished by skin color, eye color or hair type. However, the scientific studies based on racial distinctions show that racial genetic differences are very weak except in skin color (National Association of Social Workers, 2015).

The United States is becoming an increasingly diverse country in regards to race and ethnicity. However, there are many misunderstandings and stereotypes regarding different population groups and the issue of race. Race has many definitions and one description given by Rose is that race is a “biological variation including genetic differences in stature, skin color, hair color, facial shape, and other inherited characteristics that may or may not be mutually exclusive in each individual”(Rose, 2013). Race is often confused with ethnicity which involves a group or individual’s perception of their cultural identity which is inclusive of learned behaviors used by human beings in their natural

I enjoyed your post, details and your view points about the second weeks’ topic. Race as a social construct is defined as an “illusion” or a subjective social construct () We have identified race does exists apart from our cooperative agreement, recognition within our cultural existence. The entire society that is constructed around us is subject to race and it’s stereotypes, and is an everlasting fixture in our complex culture. Ethnicity is used as a social ranking in society, constructed by society. If we intermingle race and ethnicity, which are social “illusions”, we are primarly creating a category that is not fundamentally real. Society overtime have shaped race and ethnicity within our culture and created groups of social minorities.

In this article the authors made a superb explanation about race/ethnicity. The article stated that society (United State) view everything into a category. The reason why society view race/ethnicity into categories is for Census purpose. Consequently in viewing race/ethnicity into category a stigmatization is behold on different ethnicity that can’t signified with some races. Although, some ethnicity have some phenotype features similarity, demographically speaking there may not be no relations. Therefore leaving a stereotype that certain race/ethnicity are the same and plainly speaking no relations. Subsequently, leaving a vast majority picking the ethnicity before

The concept of race has various connotations, consequently perceived by some as scientific and to others merely a social constitute. Individuals who consider 'race' as that of a scientific background regard folks from particular ethnic groups to be biologically different to the mass’. Conversely, those who understand race just being a social construct, accredit the concept for the marginalisation of specific ethnic groups in the greater society throughout history and the foreseeable future. (quote)

Race is something man-made, and essentially, it is not related to a person’s biological make up. Race is the politicization of ethnic difference. To me, race is a stretched illusion to be used as manipulating, but today we view it as a way to tell different cultures apart most the time. The way society has categorized us is through race, but I believe that race only exists in a human cultural sense, and biological concepts of race are needed to access their reality in a non-species-specific manner and to see if cultural categories correspond to biological categories within humans (Eldredge, 1982). There is a false picture in today’s society that we all paint to subconsciously divide people by the color of their skin. It does not have much to do with culture or hierarchy; it has to do with control. Race was basically constructed for control throughout the United States and throughout the world; things such as political boundaries and pressures, the president of the United States, and racial ranking has been some of the evidence produced throughout the