‘Race’ is best understood as a social rather than a natural phenomenon. Discuss.
The race is considered a social phenomenon since there is no specific gene that is either for whites or blacks, and all human races are attributed to one species. Race consideration in many places has been observed where some services are offered according to race. For example is has been evident that in states like the united states, police could randomly shoot a black person of colour for a very slight mistake while leaving the whites who have dominated everything. In some states, a specific raise is prioritized and dominates it while other races are viewed as intruders and are given posts is neither leadership nor access some services. Earlier, racism had dominated different nations such as the United States of America, whereby blacks were considered as intruders and not worthy of being in such a state. Classification of varying perception of colour is what has led to division among different people in the world since they all link to the same species.
Human beings differ in only skin colour whereby the whites and the black colour exist, on the size of their nose and mouth shapes or hair. There are those with curly hair, those with black hair and others with brown hair. However, despite all the differences in appearance, human beings have scientifically shown some commonness in species (Clair and Denis, 2015 p860). Human beings of any race are capable of mating and reproducing; thus, this is clear evidence that despite appearance, human beings have one thing in common (Ford and Airhihenbuwa, 2010 p 37). Racism is horrible and should be discouraged among the people of different races as it leads to unnecessary conflicts. Racism has denied some people their rights in some countries where a certain race cannot access some services due to their colour.
Racial discrimination is widespread in the world where even one might end up losing friends due to interaction with friends of another gender. Intermarriages among people of different races have led to some people suffering some friends and also relatives (Weiss, 2015 p77). The issue leads to stress among the affected people who may end up accepting the challenge and accepting the other race as his own and accepting its culture. Over the years consider themselves as more powerful, safe and non-criminal while identifying the blacks with all sort of non-goodliness. This has led to the separation of the black and the white and even in the places of residence. A city like Texas in the United States of America is identified as a city for blacks and not whites due to racism. Discrimination of people based on their race has been the problem over the world, especially between the whites and the dark.
The social status that has been set up for whites is higher compared to other races, and 69% of the whites view themselves superior compared to other ethnics. Even the native Americans and Asians are considered black by the monoracial whites (Liggett, 2014 p112). The impact of whiteness has been so profound that even when one is white but has a drop of black colour is considered black. Racism can be depicted clearly as a social concept whereby most unemployed people in the united states are blacks, and even schools have separated the whites and blacks due to social status. Whites consider themselves as better in thinking capacity and also able to perform activities better than the dark. The fact can be depicted by the behaviour of living many of the blacks unemployed in the United States of America though they are all citizens of the same nation.
Race can not be due to the differences in the intelligence quotient IQ, nor can any natural epic. The argument that different races have different thinking capabilities is a big lie and has no scientific evidence. Those with such ideas are ridiculous and did not understand what such results meant even when there was any credibility (Kahn, and McMahon, 2015 p350). The results cannot account for any political, analytic and moral questions raised on intelligence and race thus cannot be credited valid. Most bases on the difference in the ethnicity are intelligence which is much criticized by different scientist and sociologists (Mills, 2014 p na). According to historians, the race has distanced some group of people from others for ensuring maintenance of their traits.
The French in Canada discouraged any intercourse with the people of their origin to ensure they keep their taits as a nation. The Celts who are attributed to the catholic faith are considered as people who like unity when it comes to leadership. Saxons group who base their belief in protestant and are associated with the representative way of leadership (Bonilla and Rosa, 2015 p15). In these instances, the different races differentiate themselves from each other through their styles of leadership and the and their various dominions of faith. Jews are also another example whereby their race has distinguished them from other people for two millenniums who have preserved their character over the years. The Negro is also controlled by their race which as considered a significant factor over the years; thus, they have kept their traits and believes for an extended period.
United States of America occupants especially those in the north, are descendants of the England people. Over the years, they have maintained their culture and traits, thus maintaining national character. (Omi and Winant, 2014 p na) argued that people of South America believe that they are of different race and not either as the northern whites or the blacks. The differences in the southern and north whites have persisted as they all attribute themselves to different race identities. The ethnic differences between the south of as the northern have never been reconcilable since long time ago due to the belief in different ancestries. The hatred and condemnation of the inhabitants of the north who are puritans by the southern occupants who are Jacobites, Cavaliers and Huguenots are widespread and shows itself amongst the two groups.
Due to lack of reconciliation among the two groups, the failure of the attempt to come up of one nation in 1789 failed. The southern refused to unite with the northern and form one government due to the disputes among the two groups who hate each other (Vanidestine and Aparicio, 2019 p437). The southern believed to have their race which was different from the northern people thus seemed to think on their independence. The north also had their attribution towards their race, and due to the differences, the civic governance did not succeed. Racism has dominated the southern states and the northern states, separating them from each other. Despise among the south of to the north is seen in their interactions over the years and hindered the attempted civilian type of government in 1789. The differences which existed between the two groups are social and could change over time if people change their perspectives towards the other.
In Europe, the racial differences are based on the type of head in terms of its length, height and breadth and have been used to test different races among the Europeans. However, the fact about the size of one’s head is not uniformly accepted by the anthropologists; it was observed to classify different races in Europe Goodman, 2017 p452). In America, it is not easy to recognize the different breeds of Europeans due to more variety of people in terms of the population since it is a composition of all the races of Europe. The face differences of the Europeans in America are not fundamental compared to the Aborigines who were the earliest occupants of America. The differences and the hatred among the Europeans and Aborigines cannot be hidden as it has threatened the split of Canada for many years.
According to Hochman, (2017 p na), the differences in the races can be due to the attitude of different people towards the future and the past events. A good example is a Jewish race and the Arab race, where they have different views and opinions towards the future and the past. The Arab remembers the past favours to him and the bad done to him. Arabs love the tradition of their ancestors and hold all that is constituted by the authority of their culture (Brock, 2012, p530). They hardly migrate to new places and likes forming strong local friendships.
On the other hand, the Jews are focused towards the future and business-oriented who is always ready for the best deals. The Jews are mostly entrepreneurs, like migrating and are very ambitious people. The differences between the two races are many and thus not easy for the two races have a love for each other. Jews can join any group as long as they benefit from it, therefore not reliable as they can quickly turn to be enemies.
Being a son of a black mother and a white father led to hatred among some relatives while other relatives loved Trevor Noah according to his interview of the daily show (Lewis, Hagerman and Forman, 2019 p31). Being a half-white was a privilege to some of his relatives and others not. According to him, it was easier for one to change his social status if he relates to the white in such a degree. However, in the United States, one is considered black as long as he has any blood relationship with the black; thus, he is treated as black. Descending to an African origin even at a far degree is the basis for racism where one faces the black treatment, which is different from the white.
A biracial person, especially in the United States of America, could not avoid this kind of discrimination where they are attributed to the group with the lower social status. Most of the relationships are based on the social groups created in the minds of individuals and have hinted intermarriages between the groups to some degree (Sciullo, 2018 na). This is due to fear of how some section of the society while viewing you like either in the lower status or the upper status. The social aspect of race has caused a lot of impacts and has led to its consideration as a phenomenon used to classify people. Marriages between different races have to some degree been affected and have enormous implications such as legal, interpersonal and cultural values (Zamudio et al. 2011 p na). All these are social perceptions which are not attributed to any natural aspect and have lived to control the minds of human beings.
When Obama vied for presidency, many of the people in the United States were in disagreement about his race with some arguing that he was not too black hence worthy the post while others argued that he was also black and should not be voted. The aspect of race as a social construction is seen in this incidence whereby some people considered race and not the character on determining who could be elected as a leader (Selznick, 2017 p21). Since he was not a descendant of slavery gave some Africans some conviction that he was not too black. From such incidence, it can be noted that the conflicts which arise between the whites and the blacks are that of social status and not anything related to the genes (Brynjolfsson, and McAfee, 2011 p na). The psychological categorization of people is what has led to racism. It can be eliminated if people make come up with cultural rules which will view each other in a different social perspective.
According to the test which was carried to configure the peoples view on Obama, researchers lightened some photos of Obama while lightened others. The task for the people was to identify the actual colour of president Obama whereby many people recognized the darker photos on regard to President Obama (Haslanger, 2017 p 11). Many of the Americans who value considering the need for equity identified Obama with dark colours before the election and after the election too. However, those who were attributed to the Republican Party identified Obama as black before the election and not after because he won the election (Ortiz, and Jani, 2010 p 180). According to the given an example, the black colour of Obama, according to the supporters of the republican party showed how he was weak to retain the White house power.
According to the scientists in the United States of America, racism is a social construct, and there is no biological aspect which is attributed to it. However, in the study of different genetic books and journals, terms like white and black still are widespread (Jones and Jones 2017 p41). The journals categorize people as either black or white when studying genetics amongst human beings. Some scientists in the field of genetics have argued that such classification of people as either black or white has weak bases and need to be eliminated in the future journals (Graham, and Haidt, 2010 p140). The US National Academies of sciences, medicine and engineering has been called upon leaving alone the racial concept when doing research, particularly on genetics.
The fact depict since the research in genetics tent to operate in paradox, thus responsible for elucidating human diversity in terms of genetic composition. The research on genetics is too genuine on giving critical information about human beings therefore not suitable for it creates a social perception in the minds of the people consequently leading to racial discrimination among different races (Kemmelmeier, & Chavez, 2014 na). The scientific understanding of genetics is altered, and conflicts may arise between different races. The race has poorly been defined over the years as attributed to differences in the ancestry and genetic makeup. However, some scientists argue that through a test, there was no single difference between an African and a European when it comes to scientific makeup (Aldana, and Byrd, 2015 p574). Lack of variation in the genetic makeup between an African and a European indicated that racism is a social construct and not a biological aspect.
The assumptions which have existed on the genetic differences and their associated races have too distinct social origins and threaten in fueling the racist belief. Some scientists have argued that the genetic section is the reason for distinct behaviours among different races in the world (Lee, 2019, na). The false study also showed that the natural selection and the differences in IQ, diverse economic growth and politics are all attributed to differences in genetic variations facts which could not be accepted by other scientists since it had on scientific facts to base. Assumptions of the scientists could be hazardous to the people and promote racism at wide margins were different races will view others as inferior, thus leading to conflicts (Neely and Samura, 2011 p1934). Another scientific fact which gained the support of many had it that medical setting should not be based on the race and it is too dangerous since there is no variation configured in genes in human beings.
According to the study from Columbia University, the proposed changes in genetic research are unnecessary. It was noted that the United States upholds laws such as people attributed to black ancestry but the influence in their health remain rampant due to the 31st generation (Greil, McQuillan and Slauson‐Blevins, 2011 p746). The fact identified shifted the minds of the scientists and decided to come up with other terminologies to use in the study of genetics rather than the changes they had made in the genetic research (Wodak and Leslie, 2017 na). The scientists only need to be keen on the language they use when referring to the different races to avoid causing conflicts among the races and prevent hatred and discrimination among different ethnics. The social aspect of a race may minimize if the scientists do not use terms which are biased and expounds the genetic configurations of different races which may lead to more hatred and despise.
Racism is much emphasized in the modern world, and any terminology in the study of genetics that is too naked to the general population is too dangerous to as racists will use such to discriminate others and lead to constant conflicts among the races. There are many racists among the community as it was depicted in the case of Obama (Ho et al. 2011 na). Different cultures have different thoughts about racism and view different races differently. Obama is considered to be white by the Americans due to his social status as it was depicted when different people pointed out the dark photos to refer to him before he had won the election. When he won the election, their perception towards his blackness ceased and among those who identified him with the black colour changed their perspectives (Meissner, and Vertovec, 2015 p555). The fact can simply determine to what degree the people of United States are when it comes to racism, thus dangerous for scientists to use any terminology that can lead to more hatred amongst the races.
Social perspective of race is also valuable and should not be ignored in the field of medicine, as discussed earlier. Still, it should at all cost not used as the basis for discrimination and denial of people some rights in their nations. Social categorization of people can be necessary for the study such as social class, clan, state, ethnicity, society, religion among many other social groups thus it must be appreciated and upheld (Sidanius & Pratto, 1999 na). The social categorization of people based is based on self-identity, social class, and behaviour which gives room for the other people in the society to view you. The interaction between social and personal factors may change one’s consideration of others as bad based on their race; thus, the race is a social construct which can change with time. Through it, some people suffer, others are favoured, and it can be clear to note that racism is agreed on by particular section towards other races.
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