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Your statement that Kenyans "look no different" from west Africans to me shows how our categories of race are a fiction. As a distance runner I have gotten to know a little bit about the Kenyans. The Kenyans of course excel at distance running. The current marathon world record of 2:03:38 is held by Kenyan Patrick Makau. But interestingly no East African has ever broken 10 seconds in the 100 meters. Steve Sailer: iSteve: Second non-West African sprinter breaks 10 seconds
Yet according to our categorization they are all lumped in together as being 'black.' As for Marco Rubio he is of European descent, just like me. I am German, Swedish and Brit ancestry. But I guess because his names end in vowels he is a "person of color" while I am not. But that's not quite right either, because if he had been an Italian Marco, he would be considered a full-fledged 'white' and not a 'person of color.'
Race is a social construct, as OP said, and in our particular time has also become a political construct. If you look at poll data from the 2012 election it is broken down into white, black, Hispanic, Asian. It is all a big fiction and fairy tale.
If you read Thucydides, he talks about different "races" from one area of Greece or the other. Today we would regard this as laughable. They're all Hellenic, all one race. But we're really no less laughable in 2013.
Race isn't a social construct though because what makes a person black and what makes a person white is determined by their genes. That makes race a physical reality not a social fantasy.
Now I would concede that describing this genetic difference as "Race" may be debatable. But the difference does exist. We just happen to describe that difference as "Race" because it's become a social definition for the genetic differences. The word "Race" itself in the human context may be a social construct, but the genetic variation between populations is not a social construct. It is a physical and scientific reality that's already been proven.
This is not a social construct, this is a biological reality:
Your statement that Kenyans "look no different" from west Africans to me shows how our categories of race are a fiction. As a distance runner I have gotten to know a little bit about the Kenyans. The Kenyans of course excel at distance running. The current marathon world record of 2:03:38 is held by Kenyan Patrick Makau. But interestingly no East African has ever broken 10 seconds in the 100 meters. Steve Sailer: iSteve: Second non-West African sprinter breaks 10 seconds
Yet according to our categorization they are all lumped in together as being 'black.' As for Marco Rubio he is of European descent, just like me. I am German, Swedish and Brit ancestry. But I guess because his names end in vowels he is a "person of color" while I am not. But that's not quite right either, because if he had been an Italian Marco, he would be considered a full-fledged 'white' and not a 'person of color.'
Race is a social construct, as OP said, and in our particular time has also become a political construct. If you look at poll data from the 2012 election it is broken down into white, black, Hispanic, Asian. It is all a big fiction and fairy tale.
If you read Thucydides, he talks about different "races" from one area of Greece or the other. Today we would regard this as laughable. They're all Hellenic, all one race. But we're really no less laughable in 2013.
Some of the ways people divide themselves into groups are baseless. From this you leap to the conclusion that all divisions beyond the species level are meaningless?
Race isn't a social construct though because what makes a person black and what makes a person white is determined by their genes. That makes race a physical reality not a social fantasy.
Now I would concede that describing this genetic difference as "Race" may be debatable. But the difference does exist. We just happen to describe that difference as race because it's become a social definition for the genetic differences. The word "Race" itself in the human context may be a social construct, but the genetic variation between populations is not a social construct. It is a physical and scientific reality that's already been proven.
Genetics are real, but racial classification is really based on what a person looks like. If a person looks black, they are viewed by the larger society as black, but if they look white, they are viewed as white. It really doesn't matter if the person's genetics include a combination of different genes, they will be viewed and treated largely by their outward appearance. This clearly means that race as we define it, is nothing more than a social construct and not based on genetics.
If you take DNA from chimpanzee populations that live as neighbours, they will have more genetic variation with each other, than humans from different continents do. The DNA from people on different continents is so similar that scientifically speaking you can't classify people by races.
The term "race" has nothing to do with (modern) scientific classification.
The term "race" was created by early Europeans, and people have used the word "race" for (highly) racist/insane scientific objectives.
No one would say that 2 groups of chimpanzees living next to each other were different races. And those 2 groups of chimpanzees have more DNA differences with each other, than people from different continents do.
It's fascinating how selective breeding changes the appearence of these fox's. Y
Your appearence is determined by genes sweetie. This is a scientific fact. For example: Everyone knows that black genes are dominant over white genes. When a white person and a black person has a child the child often comes out looking majority black and almost always has very few resemblance to the white parent. That's because the genes that gives black people their appearence are stronger than the genes that give white people their appearence.
Alot of people are confused by the notion of "Race"as a social construct and there's alot of misconceptions around the general idea. When people said "Race" is a social construct they mean the word itself. Not the genes or genetic differences. Those are real. Which means "Race" as we know it is a reality no matter what.
Genetics are real, but racial classification is really based on what a person looks like. If a person looks black, they are viewed by the larger society as black, but if they look white, they are viewed as white. It really doesn't matter if the person's genetics include a combination of different genes, they will be viewed and treated largely by their outward appearance. This clearly means that race as we define it, is nothing more than a social construct and not based on genetics.
Sure, if you define race in that way then it is a "social construct." But there is also a genetic reality which lines up pretty well with the construct. If someone looks "black," and I don't just mean skin color, there is a very good chance that he or she has a significant amount of sub-Saharan African ancestry.
If you take DNA from chimpanzee populations that live as neighbours, they will have more genetic variation than humans from different continents. The DNA from people on different continents is so similar that scientifically speaking you can't classify people by races.
The term "race" has nothing to do with (modern) scientific classification.
The term "race" was created by early Europeans, and people have used the word "race" for (highly) racist/insane scientific objectives.
No one would say that 2 groups of chimpanzees living next to each other were somehow different races. But those 2 groups of chimpanzees have more DNA differences with each other, than people from different continents do.
The correct scientific description for racial differences would actually be Haplogroups or Phenotypes. Those are the names for genetic difference between groups/populations. But "Race" is what has stuck with people over the years because that's just the cultural name society has given it. It may not be an accurate description. *shrug*
But to deny that those racial differences don't exist is an opinion not based on reality or science.
It's fascinating how selective breeding changes the appearence of these fox's. Y
Your appearence is determined by genes sweetie. This is a scientific fact.
Alot of people are confused by the notion of "Race"as a social construct and there's alot of misconceptions around the general idea. When people said "Race" is a social construct they mean the word itself. Not the genes or genetic differences. Those are real. Which means "Race" as we know it is a reality no matter what.
But what you define as black, may not actually be black, and what you view as white, may not be white. This is why I posted the link of the "black" woman with the white baby. Yes, her husband may very well be white, but based on how the baby looks, her genetics are mixed. If you saw the baby with a white woman, you wouldn't think twice about the baby's race, and you know it. The hilarious part is, you wouldn't even know that the baby is mixed (yet race is very real, according to you).
The DNA from people on different continents is so similar that scientifically speaking you can't classify people by races.
Sure you can.
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The term "race" has nothing to do with (modern) scientific classification.
This is false.
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Perhaps one should use the word "ethnicities" or "ethnic groups" to describe
people from different continents.
Most people understand ethnicity to be more about culture. Replacing "race" with ethnic group hardly makes things clearer.
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