The Concept Of Race In Society As A Social Construct

The concept of race seems to be present in almost every society, but why? Race has been used to categorize homo sapiens and even study homo sapiens to see whether or not the idea of race could be used to create a sub species of homo sapiens, which has since been disproven. But aside of race being scientifically and genetically proven to be simply an idea of what we visibly see, race still has the power to dictate and construct the lives of people of different skin tones, ethnicity, and cultural backgrounds, which is simply all it is.

Race can be viewed in two contexts: biological and sociological. Biologically race is difficult to set just a single phrase or statement to describe it. But, “adaptive traits, such as skin color, have frequently been used to define races in humans” (Templeton 262). So biologically speaking, the creation of race is due to the fact that early homo sapiens were nomadic and migrated to various parts of the world. Those who settled and stayed in certain areas genetically adapted to their areas so they could thrive in their given environments. This led to the birth of individuals of the same species having different skin tones. People with darker skin colors geographically originate from areas near the equator and people with lighter skin tend to originate from areas of higher latitudes. Skin color is an adaptation so having darker skin provides more protection for the sun while lighter skin allows more penetration of sun to get sufficient vitamin D for calcium absorption. Now, this is from my knowledge of genetics from my biology and anatomy courses: Humans have all the same genes, the differences of genes come from the alleles. The alleles dictate what possible form of a gene a person has. Most genes come with two types of alleles; dominant and recessive. Each of which carrying a different genetic pattern. Biologically speaking, race is simply small genetic differences between humans that dictate phenotypic components of humans like hair texture, skin color, lip shape, etc. From studies done by Marks (1995) and Graves (2001), the “study of human genetics has led some scientists to conclude that racial categories do not reflect meaningful patterns of biological diversity” (Morning, S109). Also, the fact that many findings suggest that “human beings share 99.9% of their DNA” (Morning, S109) with one another which suggests that the idea of race can’t be backed by biological reasons. Which is why race, sociologically, impacts societies around the world.

Sociologically, race is defined as “a socially constructed category rooted in the belief that there are fundamental differences among humans, associated with phenotype and ancestry” (Giddens 268). So, race is what interacting humans define it to be. We group people together based off of physical similarities like skin color, hair, lips. But race is still more than someone’s phenotype, it is also categorizing someone by their ethnicity and heritage. Like saying Native American, Latino, and South American people are all categorized as different races. But aren’t people categorized as Latino and Native American still belonging to the same geographic continent? As humans, we took this grouping to the extreme by having the irrational thought that someone with a darker skin tone is inferior to someone of lighter skin and use that to create slavery and the idea that someone from a different geographic location is better than someone from another geographic location. Even today, the social injustice surrounding race that still bothers America today.

In the sociological definition of race, it mentions how it is a social construct which is “an idea or practice that is a group of people agree exists. It is maintained over time by people taking its existence for granted” (Giddens 6). A social construct is an idea that has been created and accepted by the people of a society. Race is a social construct because “race” can vary depending on the geographical location it is being constructed in. Instead of viewing each human as simply a person, we add race to categorize someone being a ‘black’ person or an ‘Indian’ person or ‘white’ person. Another aspect that makes up race is ethnicity and heritage. We even use that to categorize people and generalize and create stereotypes around ethnicities and heritages. Stereotypes like saying “oh that person is Asian so they must be good at math”. No, that person might be good at math because they spent time doing the work and understanding things that fall under the category of math. Or saying a black person can jump higher than a white person. No, that person with black skin may be able to jump higher because that person has stronger legs than the white person they are being compared to. Society places people, based off their skin, other phenotypical attributes, and ethnicity, into these groups that people imagine carry some sort of meaning throughout society.

Race being a social construction even affects material realities. An example of this is the stereotype of a black person being more athletic than a white person and that can increase their odds of getting a D1 scholarship for sports or going to a professional league for a sport, completely negating the idea of how hard that individual worked to reach the goal of getting that scholarship or getting drafted by a team. This social phenomenon is caused by social facts because, biologically, there are no genetic differences between humans. Relators may even show people of different ethnicities different places to live and essentially create ‘Asian’ neighborhoods or ‘generally Black areas’ in a town. But sociologically, societies place more weight on what entails being a different skin color and ethnicity and ultimately affects the material things one could possess.

Race affects life changes and produces inequalities throughout society. For example, the stereotypical white person is presumed to be a safe person and a noncriminal while a black person may be targeted by law enforcement. Inequalities as such has been present since seemingly the start of history being recorded. Even in the United States of America’s 13th Amendment that abolished slavery still left open a loophole to permit a ‘legalized’ inequality; being a slave in prison. The 13th Amendment states “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction”. Essentially, a person who is convicted of a crime and sent to jail can be subject to a form of slavery within that prison. From the documentary “13th”, this loophole was exploited where black people (primarily males) were arrested for small crimes just to be put in prison and essentially be a slave in a prison. To this day, black men make up 40.2% of the prison population within the United States.

I think there are families in the U.S. that struggle with poverty and lack of education because of the justice system. Predominately black males were arrested for small crimes which would take them away from their families which took away the overall amount of income a family could bring in to their household. This left the families back home with young children struggling to get money any way possible so the kids even resulted to trying to make money and benefit their families anyway possible, even performing crimes in the attempt to get household income. Which then could progress to them being young-adults performing these crimes and getting caught and tried as adults and being sent to jail for extended periods of time. It seems like a never-ending cycle of trying to make money any way possible but, eventually, the probability of going to jail increases which all started because black males were targeted for any crime possible.

This cycle prevents ethnic minority families from making enough income to send their children to schools that can give them a great and successful outlook for life and then those children getting jobs that provide a stable and more-than-sufficient stream of income that can A. help get their families out of the lower-income housing they are from and B. set their future kids up for an even more successful future. This is my take on racial inequalities in America, which is supposedly the land of opportunity. Because of racial inequalities, only a small percent of people of ethnic backgrounds other than white can get a fair chance at finding the success they want in life.

My personal input on race around the world and particularly the United States of America: obviously race is by far the most controlling and unreasonable social construct within any society. The idea that someone who doesn’t look white should be viewed differently than a black person or a Hispanic person or an Indian person or any variation in skin tone is just painful to think about. Everyone comes from a different area around the world that has a different culture and different customs. No one ever fully understands their own culture until they have experienced other cultures. Not experiencing other cultures never beckons the questions that question how our way of life is. If everyone did understand and appreciate other cultures, I truly believe that is when we can find a world peace.