People of different races have important biological differences.
The Human Genome Project has found that human beings are nearly identical genetically. Racial classification—categorizing who is white, who is black—is what researchers call a "social construction." An individual's race cannot be predicted by her or his genetic makeup. Definitions of race have no biological basis; they take on meaning only because of social norms. This is to say that the subspecies lineages promoted in the 19th and 20th centuries to explain variations in skin color, facial features and height—and then expanded to include intelligence, motivation and work ethic—are not based on scientific evidence. Humans evolved from a common ancestor in Africa some 200,000 years ago. Continental and population migration approximately 100,000 years ago gave rise to new population centers in what are now Europe, Asia and the Americas. This movement led to environmental adaptations in the migratory populations that gave rise to variations in appearance. Likewise, these then geographically disparate populations developed independent societies with their own cultures and community norms. These changes, however, are indeed only skin deep; there are no genetic markers that clearly distinguish people of different skin colors.
Take a closer look at how race is socially constructed by exploring the following resources.
Learning Resources and Activities
- Race: Are We So Different? is an interactive web site that explores how human variation differs from race, when and why the idea of race was invented, and how race and racism affects everyday life. This site teaches that:
Race is a recent human invention
Race is about culture, not biology
Race and racism are embedded in institutions and everyday life.
- Anthropologist and Harvard education professor Mica Pollock discusses how the idea of race evolved over time:
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- The Geometer of Race, by Stephen Jay Gould, is a brief article that describes racial classification as a recent socially constructed phenomena that is less than 300 years old. His discussion illuminates the biased and subjective language that Blumenbach and early scientists used in constructing racial categories.
