Sociology v. Biology

Linda Mercedes                                                                                 September 21, 2016

 

People nowadays are very preoccupied with race. When they first meet you, that is the first thing they assume about you. Then they may proceed to ask just to make sure that their prediction is correct. Race is defined by phenotype, and though a lot of times one is able to make an educated guess on someone’s race by their looks and be right, this is not always true. My mom and I for example, we are both Hispanic but by looking at us you would not be able to guess that. My mom is pale and is often mistaken for white. Meanwhile, I am of a darker complexion than her and often get associated with someone from the Middle East.

In the documentary, “Race: The Power of an Illusion, Episode 1,” a group of students conducted a study to see if they were genetically similar to someone of their own race. The students assumed that they would be most similar genetically to those in their same race. In actuality, however, they shared more similarities with someone of a completely different race than their own. This proves that race is not genetic. In the book Race and Racisms: A Critical Approach, Golash-Boza (2016:3) states that if you walk from Kenya to Sweden to then China, you would notice the physical differences between the people but you would not know where to draw the line between the continents. She also states that race was constructed in order to provide justification for mass genocide and the exploitation of Native Americans and African slaves. The Irish were once considered a separate race by the British in order to justify their inferiority, but now they are both under the race “White.” Daniel G. Blackburn (2000) talks about how some eighteenth century taxonomist identify three racial categories, others identify many more than three. If race was biological, how can the racial line be adjusted and readjusted over time?

Golash-Boza also talks about how scientists used craniometry to show that Whites had bigger brains therefore are more intelligent. This study was biased, however, and ignored the reasons for the variation in sizes. McChesney (2015) states in his article that DNA comparisons show that all humans existing today originated in Africa and the migrations from Africa to other parts of the world are responsible for the variations in the human species. In the YouTube video “Science Says: There is No Such Thing as Race!” it is stated how science does measure variations in the human species, but these variations are not due to race but to adaptations to different environments and climates. If race was in fact biological, then the understanding of race would be universal, but it is not, it changes depending on what country you are from. The video also proceeds to saying that ethnicity, unlike race, is very real and I agree. I realized that when someone asks “Where are you from?” I always say “I am Dominican.” I identify with my specific ethnic culture rather than saying “I am Hispanic,” which is broad and more along the racial line. I identify with my culture but I am not sure if I identify with a specific race. By default, however, if you tell someone that you are Dominican they say “Oh, you are Hispanic.”

URLs:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RK3sguRWYK0

http://www.historytoday.com/tom-reilly/cromwell-irish-question

References:

Blackburn, Daniel G. 2000. “Why Race is Not a Biological Concept.” Pp 3-26 in Race and Racism in Theory and Practice, edited by Berel Lang. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, Inc.

Golash-Boza, Tanya Maria. 2016. Race and Racisms: A Critical Approach Brief Edition. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

McChesney, Kay Young. 2015. “Teaching Diversity: The Science You Need to Know to Explain Why Race Is Not Biological.” Sage Opens 5(4): 1-13.