What race is Tiger Woods?
What race is George Zimmerman?
UNDERSTANDING RACE AND
ETHNICITY
4/15/2013 10:02:10 PM
Understanding race and ethnicity –
lecture outline

Race and biology
 Sociological



definition of race and ethnicity
Historical and cross-cultural variation in racial
taxonomies
Who is white, Hispanic, black?
Social construction of race
Understanding race and ethnicity –
lecture outline

Race and biology
 Sociological



definition of race and ethnicity
Historical and cross-cultural variation in racial
taxonomies
Who is white, Hispanic, black?
Social construction of race
Biology and race

The earliest racial classification schemes understood
race as a biological category.
 E.g.,
Carolus Linnaeus (1707-1778) (see next slide)
 Linnaeus’s
system is recognized as the first version of a
modern classification scheme of human populations.
Carolus Linnaeus

Swedish botanist developed a human classification
system in 1735.
 Linnaeus
assumed that each subgroup had qualities of
behavior or temperament that were innate and could
not be altered.
 Linnaeus’s classification scheme reflected the prejudices
of Europeans that were prevalent at that time.
 Linnaeus acquired much of his data from the writings,
descriptions, commentaries, and beliefs of plantation
owners, missionaries, slave traders, explorers, and
travelers.
Carolus Linnaeus (1707-1778)


Linnaeaus grouped human beings into four basic
categories
Homo Sapiens Americanus -- Native Americans


Homo Sapiens Europeaeus -- Europeans


serious and strong
Homo Sapiens Asiaticus -- Asians


ill-tempered and subjugated
melancholy and greedy
Homo Sapiens Afer -- Africans

impassive and lazy
Biology and race


There are no clear-cut physical differences between
races.
Modern geneticists believe that race does not exist
at the genetic level.
 We
share 99.9% of the same genes with other human
beings.
 The genetic diversity within races is greater than the
genetic diversity between them.
 There
is 8.6 times more within group variation than between
group variation when comparing traditionally defined racial
groups.
Understanding race and ethnicity –
lecture outline

Race and biology
 Sociological



definition of race and ethnicity
Historical and cross-cultural variation in racial
taxonomies
Who is white, Hispanic, black?
Social construction of race
Definition of race

Race refers to the differences in human physical
characteristics used to categorize large numbers of
individuals.


Race can be understood as a classification system that
assigns individuals and groups to categories that are
ranked or hierarchical.
Race is a social construct.
 As
a sociological concept, race refers to physical
variations in human beings singled out by members of a
community or society as socially significant
 E.g., skin color
Definition of ethnicity

Ethnicity refers to cultural practices and outlooks of
a given community that have emerged historically
and tend to set people apart.
 including
language, history, ancestry, religion, and styles
of dress or adornment
Ethnicity for whites

For whites, the importance of ethnicity has declined
in recent years.
 For

whites, ethnicity is largely voluntary and symbolic.
Whites can now choose to be ethnic or not.
 Given
high rates of ethnic intermarriages, more and
more whites can now choose which ethnicity to be.
 Unlike ethnicity for whites, being racially Asian is not
voluntary.
Understanding race and ethnicity –
lecture outline

Race and biology
 Sociological



definition of race and ethnicity
Historical and cross-cultural variation in racial
taxonomies
Who is white, Hispanic, black?
Social construction of race
Historical and cross-cultural variation in
racial taxonomies

Racial taxonomies are place and time specific
 Place-specific
 E.g.,
South Africa
 E.g., Brazil
 Time-specific
 E.g.,
Brazil (official census)
 E.g., US (official census)
Unlike the American system, in South Africa, there is
an intermediate category between African and White
called Coloured.
Brazil
-- has intermediate racial categories
-- does not have a rigid descent rule
Official census





Blanco (white)
Pardo (brown)
Preto (black)
Amarelo (Asian)
Indigena (indigenous)
Everyday usage




Moreno (other type of
brown)
Moreno claro (light
brown)
Negro (another type
of black)
Claro (light)
Racial categories have constantly changed on the
US Census.
Understanding race and ethnicity –
lecture outline

Race and biology
 Sociological



definition of race and ethnicity
Historical and cross-cultural variation in racial
taxonomies
Who is white, Hispanic, black?
Social construction of race
Census

The US Census defines a white person as a person
having origins in any of the original peoples of
Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa.
 However,
most Americans do not think that Middle
Easterners or North Africans are white.
Americans usually do not think that Hispanics are white.
Whiteness in the past

In the United States, who is considered white has
fluctuated.
the middle of the 19th century, Americans were
not sure that the Irish were white. (see cartoons)
 During the turn of the 20th century, Americans were not
sure that southern and eastern Europeans were white.
 During
1881 issue of Puck
Understanding race and ethnicity –
lecture outline

Race and biology
 Sociological



definition of race and ethnicity
Historical and cross-cultural variation in racial
taxonomies
Who is white, Hispanic, black?
Social construction of race
Census, Hispanic

Hispanic or Latino

“a person of Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican, South or
Central American, or other Spanish culture or origin
regardless of race.”
Census, Hispanic

What percent of Hispanics are white?
The Census
determines race
and Hispanic origin
by self-identification.
53% of
Hispanics
are white.
Many Hispanics
understand race as
related to culture
or nationality.
Almost everyone
that chose “some
other race” was
Hispanic.
Understanding race and ethnicity –
lecture outline

Race and biology
 Sociological



definition of race and ethnicity
Historical and cross-cultural variation in racial
taxonomies
Who is white, Hispanic, black?
Social construction of race
emergence of the one-drop rule
The category of black is created at the end of the 17th century
with the emergence of racialized slavery.
The definition of who is black gradually expands.
Virginia state law
1833 free person of mixed blood may be defined as not a Negro
1866 one-fourth or more Negro blood is defined as a colored
person
1910 one-sixteenth or more Negro blood is defined as a colored
person
1930 any Negro blood is defined as a colored person
Understanding race and ethnicity –
lecture outline

Race and biology
 Sociological



definition of race and ethnicity
Historical and cross-cultural variation in racial
taxonomies
Who is white, Hispanic, black?
Social construction of race
Social construction of race

Social construction of race
 Racialization
 Racial
formation
 Future racial order
The social construction of race

The social construction of race perspective:
 Race
is seen as a symbolic category actively created
and recreated, rather than pre-given.
Examples racialized systems




Slavery in the former British colonies in the Americas
Apartheid in South Africa
The American South in the early twentieth century
The United States after the dismantling of statesanctioned segregation during the civil rights era of
the 1960s
Social construction of race




Social construction of race
Racialization
Racial formation
Future racial order
racialization

Racialization: The extension of racial meaning to a
previously racially unclassified group
From the fifteenth century onward, as Europeans came into
increased contact with people from different regions of the
world, they attempted to categorize these people based on
their physical attributes.
 Created groups are placed in a race-based social
hierarchy.

These categories became the basis of systems that shaped and
constrained the people’s daily lives.
 E.g., Europeans labeled the hundreds of indigenous tribal
populations “Indians” and placed them in a single group in a
hierarchy.

Omi and Winant
Social construction of race




Social construction of race
Racialization
Racial formation
Future racial order
Racial formation

Racial formation: The process in which race
operates as a central axis of social relations which
then determine social, economic, and political
institutions and practices.
Omi and Winant
Racial formation

Race should be understood as an unstable and
decentered complex of social meanings constantly
being transformed by political struggle.
 E.g.,
slavery and creation of blacks
 E.g., after Reconstruction, defining the working class as
white (by white workers themselves)
 E.g.,
the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act
 E.g.,
South Asians
 E.g., economic downturn in 70s and 80s, creation of the
“underclass” “dependents,” Vincent Chin
Omi and Winant
United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind


In 1923, the Supreme Court in
United States v. Bhagat Singh
Thind retroactively denied all
Indian Americans citizenship for
not being Caucasian in "the
common man's understanding of
the term".
B. S. Thind was denied citizenship
because, though he was
technically Caucasian, the
Supreme Court declared him not
white.
Other notes



Race and class
 Class interacts with race in perceptions of a person’s race.
Changing race from context to context
 A person can change from one race to another as they move
from one context to another.
Contesting race in interaction
 The race one claims to be can conflict with the race other
people perceive you to be.
 E.g., West Indian immigrants often resist the label “black”
Social construction of race




Social construction of race
Racialization
Racial formation
Future racial order
According to Bonilla-Silva, the United States is
developing a complex, Latin America-like racial order.
Understanding race and ethnicity –
lecture outline

Race and biology
 Sociological



definition of race and ethnicity
Historical and cross-cultural variation in racial
taxonomies
Who is white, Hispanic, black?
Social construction of race