RACE AS A SOCIAL CONSTRUCT 1 Cherry Collins Professor Willis Course #3203 02/01/2022 Race as a Social Construct: Minorities in American Society Abstract What is an ethnicity/or what is called ethnic groups? This term refers to a social category or a group of people that share a common nationality, dialect, religion, and norms. Ethnic Groups: have a sense of shared origin, relatively clear boundaries, and they tend to endure over time. Race is something that is constantly shaped by individuals and left a stain on American culture. It’s constantly apart of our everyday lives, especially being a person of color in America. The ideas about one’s humanity, worth and value can be used against you. This semester I have been given the opportunity in this topic to elaborate in my and other’s opinion on the attack on the people of color and their family. Media has further along my understandings on race relations in America and throughout its history. In a short time, I have learned about the social constructs of race and who creating these ideals. About who holds the power when it comes to what we see and believe because of its divisive powers of propaganda. One topic that is important is the social construct of race and how easy it is to be manipulated. When talking about race as a social construct, specifically referencing to the concept of whiteness and how even America’s laws perpetuate and instigate “white” as the dominate race is tested and proved. Race as a Social Construct 2 Thesis statement: Is race to be, or not to be.” That is the real question. Is not race a scientific concept because "Race" is not real scientific. Race as a socially constructed concept by the dominate race. Before this class, I knew very little of this term, race as a social construct but I knew it was constructed way before the term. The hierarchy embedded in race I understand first hand. Ethnic groups have a consciousness of their common cultural bond. Examples include: Jews, Italian Americans, Japanese Americans, Arab Americans, Polish Americans What does it mean when sociologists say race is a social construction? It is the way people distinguish a group of people for biological or social attributes. Sociologists state that it is socially constructed since these groups are analyzed through the ways they have been treated over time. Could it be, social construction a set of stories to help others justify their actions and make sense of their ideologies and not the truth? The Propaganda Could race be a social construction of the stories we tell ourselves to make sense of the world and eventually we buy in to and then act upon it? However, as children, we had no idea what race exactly was until someone pointed it out, some biological factors, and these factors became to be woven into our moral fibers and built into our psychic through social construction by what others have told us. It brings us all back to how we were all indoctrinated under the assumption that anybody different based on features and complexion is inferior. American history supports this by having slaves. Older more established countries took casualties of war as slaves, not skin and features, only in America. The slave owner didn't have casualties of war, only people sold to them by the Race as a Social Construct 3 early tribesman of Africa, whom they kept as slaves and concubines as bounty. The White kidnapper soon returned but not to buy but kidnap and enslave, Africans after they saw other African sells their enemies captured men, women, and children. What is the significance of defining race? To justify unjust acts against other humans. Their predatory behavior. By calling other humans less than, animals, in order to cleanse the pallets of their soles of what’s really in the heart. The way people categorize certain races is hard to understand yet simple-minded. Social expectations and prejudice are powerful figures, However, there are few biological differences between different races. In addition, the definition of race can vary if based on personal and physical aspects. What is the process of racial formation? What are some examples? It is the process through which a specific group of people is defined as a race. This definition is approved by the government or law as well. In this way, people are identified and categorized to make things easier. For instance, Native Americans were counted as three-fifths of a person. This was the American purpose to identify how many slaves should have been assigned for each state. Is race is a social construct that changes over time and across different contexts? To be white in America, for example, changed from being a somewhat inclusive category in the late eighteenth century to being much more narrowly defined in the mid-to-late nineteenth century and then shifted back to a broader definition in the mid-twentieth century. All Race as a Social Construct 4 these changes were in response to social realities. Many aspects of our lives are socially constructed. Our Society builds many things that people begin to render true. One of these social constructions is the development of race. Race is a socially constructed category of people who share biologically transmitted traits that members of society consider important. Race is a social thing, not a biological basis. Here is why. For example, people are categorized on skin color, hair texture, facial features, and body shape. While race is based on people's physical appearance. People’s physical appearance is adapted to the regions they live in. For example, people living colder climates. Meaning that there was no single genetic where all Africans have one variant and all Europeans have one. This clearly shows through genetics aren’t able to identify people's races based on biological standpoints. Race is a socially constructed thing not biological. Starting of scientists crated three races to be able to categorize people. These three races were: Caucasoid people with lighter skin and fine hair, Negroid people with darker skin and coarse hair, and Mongoloid’s people with brown or yellow skin and distinctive folds on eyelids. This goes to show that these races were made up based on physical appearance. The creation of these three races was not based on the biological aspect. Race was created by people to divide and place people into different categories. Race is just a label people created. Race segregation quickly developed and was the main cause of this creation. The development of race sparked racial segregation which occurred during slavery by the whites. The first reason is the United States it such a large diverse population. Diverse groups because from the start of the United Stated there were people from all over. This being said people in the United States is so intermixed there isn’t a way to define and pick Race as a Social Construct 5 out every one race, no clean-cut race. To show how mixed the United States is in the 2011 U.S. census has 8.2 million people describe themselves as two or more racial categories. Race can also fluctuate and change. Another reason is that people in the United States are so mixed of different race people can look a certain way yet signify with a different race, and since this can happen race cannot be proven. Meaning people cannot claim someone’s race as wrong. If race was biological then there wouldn’t be so many debates on who is what race because there would be a way to prove what race people are without physical characteristics. An example of this predicament is many debated over MSNBC Karen Finney as black or not. People were arguing based on her physical appearance. This shows that race is created based only on -people's physical appearance nothing biologically categorized people. Unable to clarify people races shows that it is socially Although the notion of race seems innocuous, it is in reality an insidious and overly simplified social. Even something that race is just groups of people who share a common ancestry. Due to an unclear consensus definition of race, it makes it difficult to characterize the scientific data of health disparities among race credible. Along with the murky extension of race, what do we consider a racial group and what don’t we? This creates statistical unreliability, especially when it comes to consistent and repeatable testing. They point out that the concept of race is directly related to larger social conflicts of the time. Humans are divided in many different ways whither by hair color, eye color, or height all of which are not good ways to classify people. This means that the only Race as a Social Construct 6 In conclusion, It is possible to say I belong to multiple races just because my ancestors could be a part of so many different ethnicities and races. U.S. race relations today are getting worse by the day. If everyone in the U.S. knew the social concepts, between and within-group variations of race, I think the race relations would be a lot better. People would start claiming themselves as multicultural so they aren’t discriminated against everywhere they go. Society wouldn’t see people as just blacks and whites anymore. The US Supreme Court Case: Separate But Equal Equality People will not be able to live on an even level when one part of society holds a systematic advantage over the other. That is the social construct and has no basis in biology whatsoever. American is a nationality, German is a nationality, Irish is a nationality, Kenyan is a nationality, Chinese. This is a false school of thought many people still prey on others. Predatory animals do the same food. Race as a Social Construct 7 Works Cited 1. Sep 23, 2016 https://www.cram.com/essay/Race-Is-Socially-ConstructedEssay/FKGRYBLURE4X 33.1 Show Retrieved 02/04/2022. 2. Yudell, M.; Roberts, D.; DeSalle, R.; Tishkoff, S. (5 February 2016). "Taking race out of human genetics". Science. 351 (6273): 564– 565. Bibcode:2016Sci...351..564Y.2 February 2022 refer to physical (phenotypical) traits. Modern science regards race as a social construct, an identity which is assigned based on rules made by society https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_(human_categorization) 7.9 Rhttps://sitn.hms.harvard.edu/flash/2017/science-genetics-reshaping-race-debate21st-century/. Title of the Book Being Referenced. City Name: Name of Publisher, Year. Type of Medium (e.g., Print).Retrieve 02/04/2022. 3. Barnshaw, John (2008). "Race". In Schaefer, Richard T. (ed.). Encyclopedia of Race, Ethnicity, and Society, Volume 1. SAGE Publications. pp. Webpage: Author Retrieved Mont Retrieved 02/06/2022.
