Rethinking Race: A Social Construct or Biological Fact?

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The concept of race and what it means to people today varies from place to place. Despite the increase in global contacts, scientists are skeptical about the concept of race as a social construction. There is an ongoing debate about what “race” actually means and how is it used in terms of categorizing people. As the biological variations increase, differences among people of the same groups are visible. Over time people began to show more and more similarities in different ways. Race is only used in terms of the appearance of people and what they have in common biologically. The following will will focus on how society constructs the idea of race and how it is applied today. `Introduction Although historical perspectives show racial differences as a biological factor, recent studies show that race is more a social than a biological fact. To this day the notion of race is an ongoing debate. Race is more or less defined as a “socially constructed category of people who share biologically transmitted traits that members of a society consider important” (Macionis, 2013, p. 40). Many factors lead social scientists to believe that race is no longer a biological factor, but rather importance given to differences amongst people by the people. Johann Frederich Blumenbach, a German physician, is known to be the first to develop taxonomy of race (Gabbidon, 2013, p. 1). Blumenbach conducted a research in which he separated the people of color into five groups: “Ethiopian (African), Mongolian (Asian), American (Native American), Malaysian (Pacific Islander) and White (Causcasian)” (p.1). Although his work is known to be the gateway for human classification, scholars have further expanded the idea of race.There are parts of this concept... ... middle of paper ... ...very and to keep the Africans from rebelling because as told, they were simply not worth it. Today, many countries whose people were known for certain characteristics are more genetically diverse. People have migrated for centuries and the increasing contact with people of certain genetic characteristics is fading the barriers that once separated humans (Macionis, 2013, p. 340). The biological variation in human beings can be seen within people that are in the same racial category. Race is a concept which people over time used to separate people. It is the classification to subdue a specific group to higher ones own rank. It could be said that race is a biological aspect, however history has proven otherwise. The appearance of a person does not explain their racial category. Today, the world is more diverse than ever and there is no one category to separate people.

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