Levinson, M. (2013). Poverty & Race.

This article is highly important in forming an understanding of the link between poverty and race with the minority groups being the most affected. The choice of this article was necessary in portraying race as a social construct with no scientific basis.

Benedict, R. (1940). Race: science and politics.

Benedict, (1940) is insightful in breaking the perception that race has a biological backing. In retrospect, the article provides an understanding of the concept of race as a dangerous political game out to hurt the inferior people.

Gans, H. J. (2005). Race as class. Contexts, 4(4), 17-21.

This article portrays race as a classification of population groups into predetermined categories with perceived characteristics. It is therefore important in understanding race as a social construction with no scientific backing.

Calhoun, C. J. (1994). Social theory and the politics of identity.

The article articulates the role of race in forming cultural identities and consolidating people of similar values and traditions. It is therefore important in depicting race as a positive concept when it is not exploited by the superior people out to control the world.

Cohen, D. K., & Weiss, J. A. (1977, May). Social science and social policy: Schools and race. In The Educational Forum (Vol. 41, No. 4, pp. 393-413). Taylor & Francis Group.

This article also helps in understanding the nature of race as a class. Its entrenchment in the education system is thoroughly discussed in the article.

Social Science & Race

The subject of race has often been discussed in relation to the negative treatment of specific groupings of people. However, beyond this negativity, race exists as an ideology pitting groups against each other and thereby resulting in world diversity. Every now and then, the world is faced with the problem of race in different aspects including schools, churches and neighborhoods. Indeed, the problem has continued to deteriorate since the ancient times when slavery was the norm. It results from the feeling of superiority in one race over the others thus leading to discriminations. In understanding the concept of race, social sciences have been pivotal in dissecting human behavior and activity; something that is not often the case with natural sciences (Cohen & Weiss, 1977). The concept of race amplifies the diversity of the world through the existence of people of different ideologies. Indeed, people of a particular race are wont to have similar characteristics and ideologies that conform to their beliefs and culture.

Social sciences consist of a myriad of disciplines that are related to the study of social interactions. Race is one of the subjects that are studied through social sciences under such disciplines as humanities and history. The role of these disciplines in painting an accurate picture of race cannot be underestimated as they examine behaviors and activities related to humans. In essence, people are likely to associate with the people they share a common history and thus the strong affinity to race. The result of this inclination is the amplification of racism whereby people have low levels of tolerance towards people of different racial backgrounds. While the problem is more pronounced in some countries, it remains a major problem across the world. Even countries that boast of a multiracial society have a lot to do in attaining total harmony among the citizens. People from minority races are often the associated with poverty and lower levels of income regardless of their qualifications in society (Levinson, 2013). Quite evidently, the problem of race is better understood through the lenses of social science.

Social scientists have their interest on the understanding of the different social dimensions of race and the subsequent labeling of minorities as social problems. It is this tendency to consider minorities as social problems that has resulted to their mistreatment and eventual discrimination in the society. The process of defining the problem of diversity is to blame for the mistreatment of minorities as it bequeaths the majority with the power to decide what is problematic in society. It is not surprising therefore that minority groups are often considered problematic and regarded as social problems. In truth, minorities are not the problems as the case has often been advanced. Social sciences are instrumental in answering questions related to the burgeoning problem of race and the construction of racism in general (Cohen & Weiss, 1977). By providing an avenue for dissecting the issue of race in society, social science effectively outlines the nature of society.

The world is rightly appreciative of the role of race in shaping the dynamics of different groups. Indeed, race is continually instrumental in the shaping of the lives and life chances of people for better or for worse. For as long as the world relies on race in defining the prevailing social problems, racist groups will dominate the world in their expression of racism. The problem of racism is well articulated through the use of race in denying and excluding other people. It is quite surprising that such a small and minute biological concept could have such a strong influence as to determine the course of human history. The origin of the race concept can be traced to the attempt to explain the relations of different groups and the need to legitimize the conquest of other cities. The use of race in allowing for exploitation of specific groups is a widely held fact. It is for this reason that the European colonization of African countries was successful because of the depiction of such groups as inherently inferior. Ultimately, Europeans were able to impart an influence on the scientific understanding of the actions of control and domination.

Today, the concept of race is usually used in reference to understanding of group differences and the justification of differential treatment. Further, the society has used race in condoning its lack of action to eliminate the negative associations of racism and other social constructs. Regardless, the issue of race is quite instrumental in its role of generating social inequality and group dynamics. Scientist have for long agreed with the notion of race being a social construct since human beings belong to a single biological species (Gans, 2005). In simple terms, people have similar biological traits and the evolution of race can only be instigated socially. In similar fashion, plants and other animals belong to similar biological species with little focus on the variations in subspecies. Ideally, these variations result from evolutionary forces and are simply responses to changes in the environment. The color of human beings is for instance a response to environmental factors and is not biologically initiated.

The classification of human diversity based on different races is quite the norm in today’s society. Indeed, initiatives have been developed with the aim of using racial categories in classifying people based on fixed characteristics such as skin color.  In addition, the social construction of race has been attained through an attribution of certain social, psychological, moral and physical properties to different categories of people. As such, black people have been associated with strength as a justification of the enslavement of Africans to work in farms. Ultimately, the characteristics associated with different categories of people have been used in ranking their social order in an ascending manner thus depicting others as more superior to the others. The concept of race is thus an arbitrary categorization of different groups of populations into different class types based on perceived physical traits and characteristics. According to the definition of race, it is a hypothetical and social construction with little basis in scientific or biological validity.

The race concept is responsible for the inspiration to explain human variation in early years. The preoccupation with the race concept in explaining human variation was a reflection of the quest by the world to explain the totality of human experiences. Through the race concept, humans were effectively sorted into finite numbers of classes that had distinct sets of traits. In fact, every human being belonged to one of the finite classes based on their diverse characteristics. Based on one’s characteristics, they were categorized into one of the predetermined classes otherwise known as racial typologies. It is these typologies that reflected the measure of superiority or inferiority in the social hierarchy (Gans, 2005). The Europeans, despite not being the only ones to mistreat pother races, were among the first to make racial discrimination normal. Accordingly, they normalized racial concepts as scientifically grounded in an attempt to rationalize control and exploitation. Basically, the European put themselves at the top of the social hierarchy with an advantage of exploiting other racial groupings. The backing that the Europeans bestowed upon the social groupings of race resulted in the erroneous identification of race as a permanent and scientific method of classifying human beings.

Social science classifies race into a number of different classificatory schemes launched in the nineteenth century. Among these schemes, the most widely known was produced during the 20^th century and has three classes of race. The scheme endorses the classification of humans into three classes to include the white, the blacks and the Asians. In other words, the three divisions of humanity are the Caucasoid, the Negroid and the Mongoloid respectively. Consequently, all human beings are classified into any of the three divisions based on such characteristics as the color of their skin, their hair among other things. In skin color, there is bound to be white, yellow, black and red skin tones, with the hair type including wavy, fuzzy or straight hair. Still, the division assumes that people of a similar race have the same eyelid shape which could either be slanted, wide or narrow depending on their races. The distinctive traits of each of these races were developed through evolution independently. In addition, a change in the physical attributes of individuals within a specific race can only be altered through com mingling with individuals from another race. There is a notion of attributing individuals in distinct races with certain behaviors and physical characteristics. While this classification has been effective in creating identities, it is to blame for the rise in racism and the justification of control and exploitation (Calhoun, 1994).

In the modern world, most social scientists are in disapproval of the race concept when it is applied to the affairs of humanity. In fact, the use of race in the understanding of human diversity has for a long time been considered a fallacy. Perhaps the most important development in this respect is the disbandment of race concepts and their consideration as dangerous politics maligned with pseudo science (Benedict, 1940). The very nature of race concepts is that they do not have any empirical backing or logical explanation besides their attempt to justify control and exploitation of minority groups. As a result of globalization, the validity of racial concepts has been trampled on and it remains to be seen if they can hold any water. Today, there are grim possibilities of finding distinct groupings of racially pure people who form the cornerstone of racial categorization. The amplification of migration, intermarriages and social exchanges has rendered such possibilities null thus rending race concept as social construct. Indeed, classifications that base their ranking of human diversity on the lines of superiority have no place in modern society. Also, the attribution of certain biological characteristics such as color and hair type with select behavioral, cognitive and moral values is also a source of criticism.

The research conducted has helped me in grasping a better understanding of the concept of race. Indeed, it is now clear that race is a social construction with little biological or scientific backing. Its very evolution was in an attempt to justify the control and exploitation of minority groups and the consideration of others groups as more superior in the social hierarchy. In addition, it is now clear that race is directly related to poverty with the minority groups being the most poor. The concept of race should be considered nothing but a dangerous political game geared towards the exploitation of certain individuals. The case of slavery is a perfect example of the use of race in exploiting people from minority groups based on perceived biological and physical characteristics. Further, I have formed a deeper understanding of race as a class through which population groups are categorized. Although race helps in the formulation of identities, its very exploitation affects millions of individuals in different settings.

I have also appreciated the role of social science in solving issues that natural sciences would not solve. Social scientists play a significant role in dealing with behavioral aspects and activities related to humanity. Through the different disciplines of social science, people can better understand the concept of race and its insignificance in determining the identities of individuals. Consequently, social science has been considered an important discipline in the u8nderstandinng of social relationships among human beings as well as the rationale for certain behavior. Some of the disciplines of social science include humanities, history, economics and education. All of these disciplines help in painting an accurate picture of the interaction of human beings in their diversity. Most importantly, social science is important in forming an understanding of the concept of race and its continued use in justifying societal evils. Social science further disapproves the scientific or biological basis of race.

References

Benedict, R. (1940). Race: science and politics.

Calhoun, C. J. (1994). Social theory and the politics of identity.

Cohen, D. K., & Weiss, J. A. (1977, May). Social science and social policy: Schools and race. In The Educational Forum (Vol. 41, No. 4, pp. 393-413). Taylor & Francis Group.

Gans, H. J. (2005). Race as class. Contexts, 4(4), 17-21.

Levinson, M. (2013). Poverty & Race.

 
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