"Race is a categorization of humans based on shared physical or social qualities into groups generally viewed as distinct within a given society."
This topic explores the concepts of racial and ethnic identity, including the ways in which individuals understand and construct their own identities, and how these identities are shaped by societal norms and expectations.
"By the 17th century, the term began to refer to physical (phenotypical) traits."
"Modern science regards race as a social construct, an identity which is assigned based on rules made by society. While partly based on physical similarities within groups, race does not have an inherent physical or biological meaning."
"The concept of race is foundational to racism, the belief that humans can be divided based on the superiority of one race over another."
"Social conceptions and groupings of races have varied over time, often involving folk taxonomies that define essential types of individuals based on perceived traits."
"Modern scientists consider such biological essentialism obsolete, and generally discourage racial explanations for collective differentiation in both physical and behavioral traits."
"While some researchers continue to use the concept of race to make distinctions among fuzzy sets of traits or observable differences in behavior, others in the scientific community suggest that the idea of race is inherently naive or simplistic."
"Still others argue that, among humans, race has no taxonomic significance because all living humans belong to the same subspecies, Homo sapiens sapiens."
"Since the second half of the 20th century, race has been associated with discredited theories of scientific racism, and has become increasingly seen as a largely pseudoscientific system of classification."
"Although still used in general contexts, race has often been replaced by less ambiguous and/or loaded terms: populations, people(s), ethnic groups, or communities, depending on the context."
"Race is an identity which is assigned based on rules made by society."
"Race does not have an inherent physical or biological meaning."
"Modern science regards race as a social construct."
"Modern scientists generally discourage racial explanations for collective differentiation in both physical and behavioral traits."
"The concept of race is foundational to racism, the belief that humans can be divided based on the superiority of one race over another."
"Social conceptions and groupings of races have varied over time, often involving folk taxonomies that define essential types of individuals based on perceived traits."
"Some researchers continue to use the concept of race to make distinctions among fuzzy sets of traits or observable differences in behavior, while others suggest that the idea of race is inherently naive or simplistic."
"Modern scientists consider such biological essentialism obsolete and generally discourage racial explanations for collective differentiation in both physical and behavioral traits."
"Some argue that among humans, race has no taxonomic significance because all living humans belong to the same subspecies, Homo sapiens sapiens."
"Although still used in general contexts, race has often been replaced by less ambiguous and/or loaded terms: populations, people(s), ethnic groups, or communities, depending on the context."