The human species is highly diverse and there are numerous physical variations amongst individuals. It is seen when looking at populations from around the world. Take for example someone from Europe and compare him or her to someone from Africa, the differences are noticed immediately. Whether the diversity of the human species due to physical variation leads to the existence of distinct races within the species is not yet settled. The concept of race can be looked at from two standpoints; the first is biological and the second is social. In the biological sense, race is the categorization of populations within a species that is based on the phenotype, or physical features, that individuals share, geography, and genetics. When taking a look
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Some of these obvious physical features include the texture of hair, the color of skin, the shape of certain facial features, the length of limbs, or overall body proportions. These physical variances arise because there is constant interbreeding (blending) between populations over time. Our species is highly mobile and adaptable to a multitude of climates. Because of this, a population is never isolated for long enough, and interbreeding is constantly occurring. That is a point that Mukhopadhyay and Henze discuss in How Real Is Race?
“In short, there are no “basic” or “ancient” races; there are no stable, or “natural,” permanent, or even long standing groupings called races. There never have been any “pure” races. All human populations are historically specific mixtures of the human gene pool. This is human evolution, and we see these same processes at work in the 19th and 20th centuries and today. “Races” are ephemeral – here today, gone …show more content…
Because of the constant interbreeding between populations, it makes it impossible to sort human beings into unambiguously distinctive races on genetic grounds. Traits associated with specific races are not exclusive to those races, it can vary and there can be multiple combinations. When it comes to understandings and explaining the variance when it comes to traits it is best to use clines. As Mukhopadhyay and Henze explain in How Real Is Race, “Biological traits, such as blood type or skin color, are distributed in geographical gradations or “clines”; that is, the frequency of a trait varies continuously over a geographical area.” The concept of clines shows how traits are distributed around the globe and how variation then occurs in a gradual manner and is not sudden from population to population. When taking a look at skin color for example, it is found that it is based on the geographical location of populations. It is a known fact that groups that live closer to the equator and it can be explained using the concept of clines. The variation that we see in the human species when it comes to skin color is due to the “gradual distributions as a cline—gradually going from dark to light or light to dark across geographic space—and is not limited to any one traditional racial population.” (Park, 2013, p328). This shows that it is a valid form of distinction between populations. In addition skin tones vary within populations and there ma even be an
Some of these obvious physical features include the texture of hair, the color of skin, the shape of certain facial features, the length of limbs, or overall body proportions. These physical variances arise because there is constant interbreeding (blending) between populations over time. Our species is highly mobile and adaptable to a multitude of climates. Because of this, a population is never isolated for long enough, and interbreeding is constantly occurring. That is a point that Mukhopadhyay and Henze discuss in How Real Is Race?
“In short, there are no “basic” or “ancient” races; there are no stable, or “natural,” permanent, or even long standing groupings called races. There never have been any “pure” races. All human populations are historically specific mixtures of the human gene pool. This is human evolution, and we see these same processes at work in the 19th and 20th centuries and today. “Races” are ephemeral – here today, gone …show more content…
Because of the constant interbreeding between populations, it makes it impossible to sort human beings into unambiguously distinctive races on genetic grounds. Traits associated with specific races are not exclusive to those races, it can vary and there can be multiple combinations. When it comes to understandings and explaining the variance when it comes to traits it is best to use clines. As Mukhopadhyay and Henze explain in How Real Is Race, “Biological traits, such as blood type or skin color, are distributed in geographical gradations or “clines”; that is, the frequency of a trait varies continuously over a geographical area.” The concept of clines shows how traits are distributed around the globe and how variation then occurs in a gradual manner and is not sudden from population to population. When taking a look at skin color for example, it is found that it is based on the geographical location of populations. It is a known fact that groups that live closer to the equator and it can be explained using the concept of clines. The variation that we see in the human species when it comes to skin color is due to the “gradual distributions as a cline—gradually going from dark to light or light to dark across geographic space—and is not limited to any one traditional racial population.” (Park, 2013, p328). This shows that it is a valid form of distinction between populations. In addition skin tones vary within populations and there ma even be an