View source for Race (sociology)

[[File:Karl Ernst von Baer Types Principaux des Differents Race Humaines.jpg|thumb|In the 19th century, it was common to classify people into different races. Usually this was done based on the way people looked. This image  shows a classification of [[Karl Ernst von Baer|Karl Erst von Baer]], done in 1864.]]

The term '''race''' or '''racial group''' refers to dividing the [[human]] [[species]] into groups. The most widely used human racial types are those based on visual [[Trait (biology)|traits]] (such as [[human skin color|skin color]], [[cranium|cranial]], [[face|facial features]], or [[hair|type of hair]]).<ref>Bamshad, Michael and Steve E. Olson. [https://web.archive.org/web/20070604222659/http://schools.tdsb.on.ca/rhking/departments/science/bio/evol_pop_dyn/does_race_exist.pdf "Does race exist?"], ''[[Scientific American]]'' (10 November 2003).</ref> 

Modern [[biology]] says that there is only one human [[race (biology)]].<ref>{{cite web|author=American Association of Physical Anthropologists|title=AAPA Statement on Race and Racism |website=American Association of Physical Anthropologists|accessdate=19 June 2020 |date=27 March 2019 |url=https://physanth.org/about/position-statements/aapa-statement-race-and-racism-2019/}}</ref><ref name="Templeton2016">Templeton A. 2016. Evolution and notions of human race. In Losos J. & Lenski R. (eds) ''How evolution shapes our lives: essays on biology and society'' (pp. 346-361). Princeton; Oxford: Princeton University Press. {{doi|10.2307/j.ctv7h0s6j.26}}. This view reflects the consenus among American anthropologists: {{cite journal|last2=Yu|first2=Joon-Ho|last3=Ifekwunigwe|first3=Jayne O.|last4=Harrell|first4=Tanya M.|last5=Bamshad|first5=Michael J.|last6=Royal|first6=Charmaine D.|date=February 2017|title=Anthropologists' views on race, ancestry, and genetics|journal=American Journal of Physical Anthropology|volume=162|issue=2|pages=318–327|doi=10.1002/ajpa.23120|last1=Wagner|first1=Jennifer K.|pmid=27874171|pmc=5299519| issn=0002-9483 }}</ref>{{rp|360}} But the word ''race'' also has a meaning in [[sociology]]. Many people react in one way if they see a [[white people|white person]] and in another way if they see a [[black people|black person]]. That's why [[census]] forms sometimes ask people to describe their [[ethnic]] origin. It is a way of asking "what racial group do you think you are?".

{{Race}}

==History==
In the 19th century and in the early 20th century, many scientists divided human beings into [[Historical definitions of race|three races]]. [[White people]] were called "[[Caucasian race|Caucasoid race]]", [[black people]] were called "[[Negroid|Negroid race]]", and the people of [[East Asia]] and Southeast Asia  were called "[[Mongoloid|Mongoloid race]]".

There was much [[prejudice]] in this way of looking at the world. The Europeans and Asians both regarded themselves as superior to the other skin colors. Racism, a non-scientific theory or [[ideology]], was that a particular race was superior or inferior. It argued that in the races that make up the human race, there are deep, biologically determined differences. It also states races should live separately and not intermarry. A supporter of racism is called a [[racist]]. These attitudes supported the horrors of African [[slavery]], [[Apartheid]], [[History of racial segregation in the United States|segregation]] and the [[Jim Crow laws]], [[Nazism]] and [[Japanese imperialism]].

Recent genetic studies show that the [[Human skin colour|skin color]] in a population may change a lot over as few as 100 generations, or about 2,500 years.<ref>[https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=100057939 Your family may once have been a different color] by Robert Krulwich.  Morning Edition, National Public Radio. 2 Feb 2009.</ref>

==Social darwinism and race==
[[Social darwinism]] refers to the idea that competition is active among all individuals, or groups.<ref>{{cite book|last=Johnson|first=D. Paul|title=Contemporary Sociological Theory|url=https://archive.org/details/contemporarysoci00john|publisher=Springer|location=Berlin|year=2008|pages=[https://archive.org/details/contemporarysoci00john/page/n492 492]|chapter=The historical background of social darwinism|quote=In the social realm the competitive struggle may be among individuals or among different groups within society, different societies, or different racial or ethnic populations.|isbn=978-0387765211}}</ref>

It is a social adaptation of the theory of [[natural selection]] as proposed by [[Charles Darwin]]. [[Natural selection]] explains success in animal populations as the outcome of competition between individuals and groups for limited resources. This idea is popularly known as "[[survival of the fittest]]", a term first used by [[Herbert Spencer]].<ref>Mayr, Ernst 2002. The biology of race and the concept of equality. ''Daedalus''. MIT Press on behalf of American Academy of Arts & Sciences. '''31''' (1): 89–94.  JSTOR 20027740 [https://www.jstor.org/stable/20027740#metadata_info_tab_contents]</ref>

Fascist movements have commonly held [[Social Darwinism|social Darwinist]] views of nations, races, and societies. In [[Nazi]] [[Germany]], the Nazis used social [[Darwinism]] to promote their [[Racialism|racialist]] idea of the German nation was part of the [[Aryan race]] and believed in the competition of races.<ref>Hawkins, Mike. 1997. ''Social Darwinism in European and American thought, 1860-1945: nature as model and nature as threat''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 282 & 284</ref> The Nazis tried to strengthen the ‘Aryan race’ in Germany by murdering those they regarded as inferior. By this they meant [[Jews]], [[Slavs]], [[Romani people|Roma]], [[Homosexuality|homosexuals]], and [[disabled]] people.

==Pictures==
<gallery>
File:JimCrowInDurhamNC.jpg|A racially segregated bus station in [[Durham, North Carolina]], 1940. The Jim Crow Laws racially separated parts of America between Blacks and Whites.
File:BilliardHallForColored.jpg|A billiard hall for only [[African Americans]], in [[Memphis, Tennessee]], 1939.
File:WhiteDoorColoredDoor.jpg|The cafe has two entry doors for two rooms: one for "Whites" only and "Coloureds" only.
File:Segregation 1938b.jpg|An African-American youth at a drinking ‘coloured only’ [[water fountain]] in a courthouse lawn in [[Halifax, North Carolina]], 1938.
File:Aryan Guard 05.jpg|A group of [[white people]] who are demonstrating for white pride.
</gallery>

== Related pages ==
*[[Eugenics]]
*[[Discrimination]]
*[[Race and ethnicity in the United States]]
*[[Racism]]

==Sources==
{{Reflist|2}}

[[Category:Race| ]]