SOC210H1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Scientific Racism, Color Blindness
Document Summary
It is a modern social construction: race is a way to categorize people around us, there is more genetic variation within categories than between. It is not based on biological differences between people. Definition of race: as a word: a group of people who share physical and cultural traits, and a perceived common ancestry, as an idea: people can be divided into biologically discrete. Problem #1: if you are in one race, you can"t be in another. You can"t be black and white at the same time. Problem #2: all categories of people are not given the same value. Race is a social construction: the idea of race emerged from society and the meanings to attach to who we are as opposed to them . It is not a biological construct, but rather the meanings we attach to perceived biological differences: these meanings are embedded in inequality. Racism is when you enact on that belief or idea.
