Is race real or a socisl construct?

Question

Although there is physical differences between Asian, African, European etc.. would you say there is strong biological evidence that there are different races or do you think it's a social (man made) idea to segregate humans into groups in order to create dominion over each other and so creates rascism? Do you think we can stop having races whilst still celebrating culture and history?

abc3643 · Accepted Answer

Neither, although the closer answer would be "social construct", but not by a lot.

A lot of things in this world we categorize because we need to assign labels to them for the purposes of communicating, but Nature doesn't give a shit what we think. Nature often has blends or a continuous spectrum of values for some concept that we have a label. For example, race, ethnicity, color (as in actual rainbow colors), and zillions of other things.

Here's an example.

Suppose you make a pot of coffee.
It's just the flavors from coffee beans and water.
You pour one cup (8 fl oz) into a very large mug.
At this point, no one will argue with you; you have a cup of coffee.
Now, you start to put creamer in it, say 2 fl of half-and-half ("h/h").
People will say you have "coffee with creamer" or that you have "light coffee" as opposed to "black coffee" which you originally had.
But suppose you put 4 fl oz of h/h in that mug. At this point, you've got 1/3rd creamer and 2/3rd black coffee.
Do you still have a mug of coffee?
People might say "Wow, that's really light!"
But suppose you put in 16 fl oz of h/h into your mug. Now, what's in your mug is 2/3rd creamer and 1/3 black coffee.
Do you still have a mug of coffee? If people didn't know what you did, they wouldn't be so sure because it's definitely the lightest cup of coffee they've ever seen.
Now, suppose you go nuts and, instead of pouring creamer into the mug, you pour the 8 fl oz of coffee into a half-gallon container of h/h, mix it, and then pour part of that mix into your mug.
That mix is 8 parts h/h to 1 part black coffee.
Do you still have a mug of coffee?
At this point, no one would say you have a mug of coffee. You have a mug of h/h with some coffee added, but it's not a mug of coffee.

So, how much half-and-half has to be added to the mug with the coffee before the mug stops being a mug of coffee but, instead, a mug of half-and-half? Is there a word for something in between?

Do you see where I am going?
In this coffee example, we have two beverages: coffee and half-and-half and these two beverages have "physical differences" between them.
What's in the mug is some combination of those two beverages. We give them labels and those labels are basically social constructs I guess.
But there's nothing clearly delineating when you have a mug of coffee and a mug of half-and-half and people won't universally agree when the amount of coffee and half-and-half are uncertain like they would be if the amounts were almost the same.

But that's our problem. Not Nature's. Nature does not give a shit what we think or do. It doesn't care. From Nature's perspective, what's in the mug is X% coffee and (100-X)% half-and-half. It doesn't need a label, just the mathematics.

Race is like this...

So are colors...

So are ethnicities...

So are "planets" which got redefined in 2006.

So are Lord knows how many things in the world and universe.

Keep that in mind.

Anonymous · Accepted Answer

No, I think nations are a social constructs. Races are just physical differences, not that important.  Ethnicity is related to culture and tradition.

Vneila21 · Accepted Answer

I'm sure races are real because of intercultural sex resulting in the skin tone differences with each ethnicity. However, race is more of a social construct because high-class societies emphasize it as a source of pride. To define the differences between race and ethnicity: race is a skin color, and ethnicity is where someone comes from.

Agape93 · Accepted Answer

Race is real, what we call it is the social construct.

Syntosi · Answer

It is objectively a social construct and that is not really a bad thing nor does it mean we can't have our distinct cultures, history, or even differences. Things can be different and "distinct" while still being the same.

The basic problem of races is where you draw the line, and by extension what your definitions are. If there are races then you must be able to run a test to determine if someone is one race or another and this test must be able to be conducted without context such as circumstantial stuff like where they were born.

The problem for all the racists out there who truly wish there was such a thing as race has been that they have never been able to establish a definition and test to prove it. That is not to say that they have not tried DAMN HARD to try find this holy grail of theirs. The Nazis were famous, or infamous depending on how you see it, for trying to find the differences between different races to prove the superiority of the "Aryan race".

They measured every dimension of humans such as skulls, eye color, skin color etc.. All in an attempt to find a way to prove what race someone is. They failed. Like everyone else.

So why does everyone keep failing? Because this idea of races conflicts with how biology works. Humans have spread across the entire world and we never stopped traveling. That means that we never stopped mixing our genes. Whenever we had a genetic mutation in one area it always spread out such as white skin, blue eyes, that fold in Asian eyes etc..

Its kind of like a poorly mixed drink. There are definitely multiple areas where its different but you can't draw a line that divides them because they smoothly transition into each other. For us to develop into distinct races then this mutation needs to happen faster than the mixing. Our best "chance" for that was probably before Columbus discovered the new world but after raping and pillaging our way through that population it is well and truly incorporated back into humanity as a whole.

I guess we still have the tribe trapped out on the sentinel island? They might in theory be a separate race? Hard to tell without testing though.

MuddyMole · Answer

Both.
Even the concept of a species is fairly arbitrary, let alone race or breed. The usual definition is that if two individuals are able to sexually reproduce and create viable offspring (ie. the offspring can also reproduce), then they are of the same species. Obviously, organisms that reproduce asexually present a problem, but so do others.

For example, there are "ring species", where there are several distinct forms of a species, found in different groups, located in different places. Individuals within neighbouring groups are similar enough that they can still interbreed, but the groups futhest apart, become so different from one another that they no longer can.

Historically, race was a fairly clearcut thing. Prior to the industrial revolution, most people lived their whole lives in the same area, and would be unlikely to even see a person of a different race, let alone have children with one. And even when different races did coexist, interbreeding was often discouraged, so they remained very distinct. It's only quite recently that being mixed race (or whatever the appropriate term is these days) has become more common, and led to races becoming less distinct and more of a continuum.

Maybe_Maybe_not · Answer

What I say or what you say about biological evidences does not matter. Just like what I'd say about any subject sufficiently studied wouldn't matter against established collective knowledge. Though I could be tempted to think so high of myself that I would ignore what has been and what is built around me, knowledge wise. Succumbing to that temptation would be psychologically gratifying, I could get this momentary pleasure from asserting identity, singularity, at the expense of everything else. It wouldn't be very wise.

Obviously yes, we can, as general public, stop thinking in terms of races whilst still celebrating culture and history. An undefined amount of people are already doing precisely that. It's a somewhat tedious view to carry though, because it implies overriding some habits or reflexes we have. Because xenophobia might be ingrained, within, overriding this habit or reflex can be incredibly hard, or even impossible for those raised in the idea that xenophobia is legitimate.

Anonymous · Answer

I believe the whole construct of race was developed for racism. Splitting us up into groups, subdivisions, and such all based on skin color is something people do to feel good about themselves.

”Inferior race” were thrown around to Indigenous Tribes, Africans, and all you can name where they had to be ‘civilized’ or ‘we are doing them a favor by ___’. Which led to atrocities with “good intentions”.
One famous example was the whole reeducation camps to turn Native Americans from ‘tribalism’ to ‘sophistication’. Forcing them to give up their language, culture, and religion for The White Man’s. The creator of these camps actually had “good intentions”, though if the whole “Inferior race” thing wasn’t thrown around by their narrow world view I believe Native Americans would’ve expressed themselves and we would’ve been more compassionate & understanding as we are today.

It is okay to be different and to celebrate what makes you different / where you came from. Nothing wrong in that, as there is nothing wrong being born with a different skin tone. You can and will practice what makes you special, don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t.

jshm2 · Answer

LOL, when you give blood or get a transplant, it does not say "For white use only" on the packaging.

Race is a social construct with no basis in biology or science. Though science created the more pernicious aspects of the modern problems.

meepmeeperton · Answer

Race is real biologically in the sense that we can see different kinds of humans with different sets of physical features that can be classified into groups. The social construct is mainly what kind of language we use to describe it. For example, "white" in most of the Western world means you are of European descent, but obviously our skin is not paper white. In some Asian countries, white can be used to described pale skinned people, even though "white" Westerners think of Asians as "yellow".

I don't think we can stop having races altogether because we can see the differences between each other. But how we describe those differences and our attitudes towards them could be changed.

QuestionObsession · Answer

Races of human beings is kind of like breeds of dogs. They are all dogs, the same species. Just different breeds.

Kind of like Linux distros. They are all different flavours but all their kernel is Linux.

So just how dogs and even cats of different breeds live together as pets with humans, we have a lot to learn from animals in general. Races should never have been made a core factor of discrimination among humans, but solely a difference to accept, admire and cherish.

Our intelligence is as much our curse as it is our gift.

lightbulb27 · Answer

there may be but we are so mixed up now in the gene pool doesn't matter as much. what matters is parents, cultural environment, personality attributes.

that said, if your space ship blows of course and air dropped into middle of china, it's gonna be different than middle of middle east vs middle of america.

Race or not... there's some places I'd rather be than others...

OneViewpoint · Answer

Social 100%. We invented it so that one group could feel superior to other groups. Same as religions. We are all one species... Humanicus Assininus Extremus

ProbablyClueless · Answer

It's definitely more than a social construct... The older I get, the more convinced I am that race is a very real thing.

Obviously we're all humans, at the end of the day, but there seems to be something to the idea that an Asian is not an African, is not a European, etc... I see it a lot in the way different groups will handle conflicts, and it's not just a cultural thing.

Kaneki05 · Answer

Of course it's real, it's literal genetics how much more real can get? If your asking about racism not just race the answer is still yes. Color matters a lot in the wild it can be a difference between life or death, or even procreation.

exitseven · Answer

I think that race is a function of divergent evolution. People in different environments evolved in different ways making subtle differences. We are all humans however.

alice55 · Answer

obviously real White looks nothing like Asian or Black

Kelly6 · Answer

@crimsyjo Of course it's real, but doesn't mean to use it to compare and down grade each other

Twalli · Answer

Since young kids think that changing clothes is enough to fool others even if they're different races, it's clear that it's socially constructed.

Douglas1180 · Answer

Race was created by God so He could tell his favorites from his not-so-favorites.

ABC1x1x · Answer

Race is a scientific classification very much based in logic and reason. It's as close to being Real as ther is. The opposite of a "social construct" which is just a nonsense word for silly people to think they understand anything.

Paul_in_Indy · Answer

There are genetic differences between people, but “race” is definitely a construct.

WilliamPamer446 · Answer

Biological and cultural. Globalistake it a whole "controversial" thing

shortster · Answer

Social construct. If you look at genetic diversity. There is more diversity within the so called races than there is between them.

bddddd · Answer

Races are not a scientific concept. Species are. We are all one species.

Pohjolan · Answer

Its pretty obvious that people don't have different skin colours or heights because some told them to be like that.

DrPepper12 · Answer

Social construct

noohair · Answer

External characteristics are called racial differences. We are all a race of Homo Sapiens.

NathanDavis · Answer

it's a real social construct

Bklynbadboy12 · Answer

Its definitely a real thing

Anonymous · Answer

Its real look at the crime statistics

Is race real or a socisl construct?

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