SOCY 233 Lecture 2: SOCY 235 - Race & Racialization Readings Week 2 - 4

• School: Queen's University
• Department: Social Sci, Edu and Soc Work - Sociology
• Course: SOCY 233
• Professor: N/ A

Document Summary

Doctrines of racial superiority: doctrines of racial superiority began to appear once racial types were assigned a fixed moral value- that is, prescribed by nature as superior or inferior, and backed by the unquestioned authority of science. Arguments against race thinking: references to race cannot explain reality because discrete and distinct categories of racially pure people do not exist. Populations with variable characterstics merge into one another, thus forming gradients. Such internal diversity would appear to invalidate the credibility of any system of classification that strives for universality and consistency. Social scientists do not reject the reality of biogenetic differences between individuals and among groups. Differences exist: hat do not exist are races as distinct populations with fixed inventories of shared characteristics that can be ranked in ascending and descending orders of superiority: biological determinism links biology with culture and behaviour. No evidence to suggests that some groups or races are inherently smarter or faster.