SOC382 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Human Genetic Variation, Indian Register, Racialization
7 Nov 2016
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Document Summary
Views racial taxonomies as meaningful classifications of genetic differences b/w human population groups: Assumes that genes determining race also determine the number and types/number of health problems as individual will have. Race as a social construct: race has meaning b/c we give meaning to it. Concept of race developed in the context of slavery and imperial colonialism which defined some groups as inferior and provided a rationale for their exploitation; used the rationale of their inferiority to further exploit them. There is no biological basis for defining race: there is more variation w/n a race than there are b/w races; should be no overlapping features with distinct races. 95% of human genetic variation exists w/n racial groups, with most b/w-group variation coming from inuit and australian aborigines: isolation little human contact. Racialization: still live in societies where race has meaning.
