Race Social Categorization, Not Biological Essay

The English term ‘race’ is believed to originate from the Spanish word raza, which means ‘breed’ or ‘stock’ (Race). People use race to define other groups, this separation of groups is based largely on physical features. Features like skin color and hair don’t affect the fundamental biology of human variation (Hotz). Race is truly only skin deep, there are no true biological separations between two ‘racial’ groups. Scientifically speaking, there is more variation between single local groups than there is between two large, global groups; the human variation is constantly altering (Lewontin). The majority of today’s anthropologists agree that race is a form of social categorization, not the separation of groups based on biological†¦show more content†¦As Europeans began to explore they were in need of a way to categorize their findings, including other humans (Race). Modern use of race has continued to alter itself, much like its ancestral use has. According to the United States Department of Interior, the census used during the 1870’s separated the population in the states into five races: White, Colored (Black), Colored (Mulatto), Chinese, and Indian. Then in the 1950’s, the United States used a different categorizing system, the races were divided into only three races: White, Black, and Others. The American culture once again changed its approach in how it racially divided groups this was seen in the 1980’s census. The census if the 1980’s used a more ethnically individualized groupings, the races used were: White, Black, Hispanic, Japanese, Chinese, Filipino, Korean, Vietnamese, American Indian, Asian Indian, Hawaiian, Guamanian, Samoan, Eskimo, Aleut, and Other. Great Britain, much like the united stated, in 1981 recognized many different races; the races recognized by Great Britain included Lebanese, Indian, Vi etnamese, and Sri Lankan. The country of Brazil uses many names for to define the degrees of difference between the white and black, some of these names include preto, cabra, escuro, and pardo. The continuous change of separation by races shows how the more the political landscape shifted in the United States and around the world the amount of racesShow MoreRelatedThe Ho, Roberts And Gelman Article, Essentialism And Racial Bias1491 Words   |  6 PagesGelman article ‘Essentialism and Racial Bias Jointly Contribute to the Categorizations of Multiracial Individuals’ examined the joint effects of cognitive biases and social biases on hypodescent. Loosely, hypodescent can be defined as individuals’ penchant to categorize mixed race individuals into solely the race of the minority category (Ho et al., 2015). 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