Race And Ethnicity Essay

Improved Essays
“Race is the differences in human physical characteristics used to categorize large numbers of individuals.” (Giddens 2017: 286). Racial diversity appeared among our human ancestors as the result of living in different geographic regions of the world. Although we think of race in terms of biological elements, race is a socially constructed concept. It is true that human beings differ in any number of ways involving physical traits, but a “race” comes into being only when the members of a society decide that some physical trait actually matters. They are defined and maintained through interaction and they do not exist biologically. The creation of Race and Ethnicity are by society and social constructions. Sociologists see race and ethnicity as social constructions because they are not rooted …show more content…
People in the same race share the same culture no matter where they live. Second one is Color discrimination, It occurs when an individual is discriminated against in terms of his/ her color characteristic. Third one is Colonialism, The effects of past history. Though colonialism is not popular anymore; it is still influencing our lives. Stereotypes is another one, It Labels to recognize social groups and it is a fixed and inflexible category. Superiority is the fourth one, It is a race believes that they are at a higher social status. Unfamiliarity is the last one, It is to eliminate racial discrimination caused by unawareness, let children deal with different races at a younger age. Prejudice is a rigid and unfair generalization about an entire category of people. Prejudice is unfair because all people in some category are described as the same, based on little or no direct evidence. Prejudice may target people of a particular social class, sex, sexual orientation, age, political affiliation, physical disability, race, or ethnicity. Stereotype is a simplified description

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    In the dictionary, “race” is defined as any one of the groups that human beings can be divided into based on shared distinctive physical trait. When the Europeans began to mark their territory after settling in America, they began dividing peoples into groups by distinctive physical traits essentially creating the idea of race in the eighteenth century. They acknowledged the obvious differences in the way they looked and how they lived their lives, and used this to create groups and divide people into the groups that suited them the best. Once, the groups were in place, the English established dominance and power over all peoples. Race has been said to consist of biological factors by just about everyone, but through careful research and analysis, it is quite clear that race does not exist, rather it is a social construct made to differentiate…

    • 1413 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Race is a socially constructed category created to differentiate groups based primarily on skin color, phenotype, ethnicity, and culture for the sole purpose of showing the superiority or dominance of one group over another. White people created race to justify slavery. The idea of race emerged in 17th & 18th century Europe with the growth colonialism and the Transatlantic Slave Trade. The term “Caucasian” comes from the Caucasus Mountains as they were thought to be the most physically attractive species. There is currently no clear evidence that suggests race is biological.…

    • 315 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Essay On Race And Race

    • 2021 Words
    • 9 Pages

    How does race affect the student’s experience of an AP class? Introduction Our high school years are some of the most delicate in our lives and they are also a time in which we develop the most as people. Every day we are surrounded by hundreds of students and teachers wandering the halls of our schools and communities challenging themselves to achieve a better future.…

    • 2021 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The idea of race is as old as recorded history. Race can be defined as “Human constructed categories that assume great social importance. Those categories are typically based on observable traits and geographic origins believed to distinguish one race from another (Ferrante 214).” Along with physical characteristics, skin color being the most common, social characteristics and stereotypes are associated with a race which often go unquestioned or are considered to be obvious, Ferrante refers to this idea as racial common sense (215).…

    • 866 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    These categories of race were based on common inherited background. But, today some civilized society use race as ‘stampt’ to sort people into made-up classes they believe…

    • 211 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Race is defined as a group of people that share a set of characteristics, typically but not always physical ones, and are said to share a common bloodline. Sociologists often say that race is a social construction. Social construction is a debate about what is real versus fake and more of an explanation of how we give meaning to things or ideas through social interaction. According to sociologist, Dalton Conley, to speak of the myth of race is to say it is a social construction. Race is based on stories we tell ourselves in effort to organize society rather than natural realities.…

    • 200 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Some sociologists believe that race is more of a social construction than a biological construction because are race is the result of our social location. Many classify race by the physical appearance. In all actuality, the way people classify another person is based on their location and social placement. Race and ethnicity are often confused, race is used for biological characteristics and ethnicity is used for cultural characteristics. Based on this there isn’t really race because as the mini-lecture stated, race has no genetic basis.…

    • 144 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Is the race concept biological or is it socially constructed? All of these questions will have been answered by the end of this paper. In this paper, I will explore how anthropologists in different fields of anthropology view and define race. Most racial studies have been done my biological or physical anthropologists. They study race as a concept; how to define it, how to classify it,…

    • 1141 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    There are multiple variations for defining race. There is one definition, however, that most people confine to which is race being a group of people who have different and similar biological traits. Commonly, race is defined as if it is a term that is solid or concrete, but really it is socially fabricated. In society, race is based on the difference in physical appearance which is determined by the most apparent trait; skin color. Although race is socially constructed, the biological sense that accounts for the physical differences within a person leads society to treat people differently.…

    • 1049 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Race In North America

    • 1277 Words
    • 6 Pages

    One such element was that white, dark and other people of color were very distinct biological beings whose clear variations were due to their characteristic phenotypic appearance and cultural behavior. The other element was the social need to rank races in order of their superiority to enhance the culture of inequality among the human groups [25]. The third race ideology was that the outward appearance of people were indication of their inner qualities such as intellect and moral behavior. Today, it is widely known that there is no connection between learned behavior and the natural physical form of the human body. The fourth element was the belief that all physical attributes and behavior of the various social groups were capable of being transferred to subsequent generations in their specific rank order.…

    • 1277 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Many aspects of our lives are socially constructed. Our Society builds many things that people begin to render as true. One of these social construction is the development of race. Race is socially constructed not biological. Race is a socially constructed category of people who share biologically transmitted traits that member of society consider important.…

    • 1059 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Question # 11 I chose(11) for the concept of stereotype: Stereotype of people can result in evaluating them as a category, rather than an individual. Question # 6 I chose(6) for the concept of discrimination: Since the act of discrimination results in people who are in positions of power distancing themselves from, avoiding, and excluding people in low-status social categories.…

    • 433 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Reading one Question: 1) Why was the social classification of race invented? Race being the social classification in which we distinguish one another by our ethnic and or regional background, enables us to not only create, but uphold systematic social status throughout the world. As proven through scientific research, race is not a substantive concept, but rather an unfounded concept that has been used to separate the human race overtime. This being the case, race was invented to create social class ranks; which sanctioned the appalling treatment of non-whites throughout the past couple of centuries. Is Afrocentrism a response to racism?…

    • 905 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Race vs. Ethnicity. Race can be de defined as a group of persons related by common descent or hereditary. Ethnicity can be defined as an ethnic group; a social group that shares a common and distinctive culture, religion and language. Race and ethnicity have many similarities but also many differences, your race can sometimes narrow down your ethnicity and if you know what ethnicity you are, you definitely know your race. You can tell a person’s race just by their physical appearance, but ethnicity is so much more complex, you can see the color of a person’s skin but that does not really tell you much information of their ethnic background.…

    • 1077 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Nelson Mandela once said, “No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes naturally to the human heart than its opposite.” Race refers to a person's physical characteristics, such as bone structure and skin, hair, or eye color. Ethnicity, however, refers to cultural factors, including nationality, regional culture, ancestry, and language. No one is born with a choice of choosing which race or ethnicity they want to belong.…

    • 684 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays