Race as a Social Construct: Understanding Its Lack of Biological Basis

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Define Race is a social construction that has no basis in biology.
What Is Social Construction?

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INTRODUCTION

Race is characterized as the concept of dividing individuals into different social groups on the basis of their morphological features. In the United Kingdom, the largest ethnic group is the white population, constituting for about 82% of the total population. Other minority groups present in the country consist of 18% of the total number belonging to Black, Asian and mixed ethnic groups (Parker, 2019). Race is identified as a social construct as it is implemented by individuals who are in power dominate authority and dominance over Example of Assignment those belonging to a different racial or ethnic background. The idea of race is asserted over the entire population in the United Kingdom to an extent that individuals are categorized into social groups on the basis of their biological and transmitted traits (Miles, 2020). For example, people are discriminated and put into different categories on the basis of the colour of their skin, facial features, shape of the body and texture of hair. It is critical to acknowledge that the entire concept of race and discrimination is a human invented classification. This classification of individuals into different groups is often implemented as a tool for imposing oppression and violence towards ethnically minority groups. This essay highlights how racism persists in the UK and how practices of racism impact the onset of discrimination. The discussion will also revolve around racism having no basis in biology with the use of two sociological and ethnographic case studies.

MAIN BODY

The creation of racial groups has no basis in biology as the analysis and evaluation of genetic threads of humans showcases that the entire race has the same genetic makeup on the outside. However, contrary to that, division of individuals on morphological by politically and culturally powerful ethnic majorities for imposing a sense of power over minority communities (Jackson, 2019). The genetics of the entire human species is roughly similar due to which it is invalid to practice racism based on various distinctions on the surface, such as colour, hair, facial features and skin. The prevalence of racism in the United Kingdom is extremely high as approximately 40% of the total population belonging to ethnic social groups are have suffered from discrimination based on their physical distinctions during their lifetime. The ethnic white majority residing in the United Kingdom have always had a reputation for keeping people from different ethnic backgrounds a the bottom. The racist mindset of different individuals has resulted in various cases of discrimination, riots and murders. The concept of racism was induced in individuals because of the British class system, during their invasion. There have been so many instances that showcase that the national structures implemented by the British are highly racist. The division of individuals on the basis of morphological characteristics is not valid as humans cannot be divided into categories (Brown, 2021).

The diversity in humans is solely based on the fact that there is diversity in genetic makeup of individuals. Therefore, it is safe to say that the idea of race and ethnic groups is non valid and should be non existent. The entire idea of race classifies humans into different social groups where each and every individuals is placed according to their levels of social, physical and intellectual differences (Halley, Eshleman and Vijaya, 2022). The concept of race was introduced during British invasion where individuals were forced into slavery. The presentation of concept of race as defined by scientists was through slavery of ethnic minority population. It is important to acknowledge racism in the UK has always passed from Assignment Help generation to generation as method to impose superiority of white population (Mahon, 2019). The social construction of race is a primary method and technique to impose and implement a sense of power on other individuals. Individuals at higher positions of authority in political, economic and social domains are responsible for carrying out distinction of humans on the basis of physical appearance, culture, diversity and ancestry. The rules imposed by people at higher authorities are formal and informal that impact the perception of individuals about a particular ethnic minority of socially distinct group. The Guardian newspaper conducted a research with a private flat shared market, wherein, expressions of interest were sent out from different British and Muslim names. The findings of this experiment included more number of positive replies obtained under British names (Greene and Kahn, 2020).

According to a social experiment conducted in the year 2016-17, it was found that individuals with Black or Muslim names are less likely to hear from employers, while, on the other hand, individuals with standard British names are 90% more likely to receive response from the same employer (Wheeler and et. al., 2022). This data was reported by the government of the UK along with field experiments and as a conclusion it was found that black and Muslim minorities are at a higher risk of being subjected to discrimination. The data provided by the government was supported by proper evidences. Racial discrimination in the UK is prevalent from a long period of time since the colonization era. It is critical to acknowledge that the racism prevalent in the UK is institutional rather than personal (Rosenfield, Pauselli, Jiang and Malaspina, 2021). Therefore, there is a lack of ethnic equality among individuals belonging to ethnic backgrounds. In the last 5 years, there have been shocking incidents of racism among individuals that were subjected to unfair treatment. Racism is an important feature of working and everyday life in Britain as workplace racism is not widely talked about. There are about 70% of total ethnic minority workers that experienced racial harassment in their workplace. Approximately 15% of women and 8% of men had to leave their jobs due to workplace racial discrimination. Majority of the cases, about 40% were not reported to administrations as the victim was considered to be the trouble maker, due to their ethnicity (Ikeme, Salazar and Grant, 2021).

Professional and self declared scientists reported that the subcategorization of humans on the basis of Geology Topics their distinct features was started during the early nineteenth century. It was during this time that the cultural and physical characteristics of individuals were the defining factors of their personality. A case for monogenesis was put forward by Samuel Stanhope Smith in the year 1787, further reprinted in the year 1810. According to Smith, an argument was put forward saying that all the races in humans belong to the same species and all humans share a common ancestry (Williams, 2020). As per this theory, the distinctive features of the entire human race was due to environmental factors and changes of the climate. The difference in geographical locations and environmental factors of various areas result in the diversity of humans. According to Smith, a relevant explanation was put forward with respect to the physical and mental characteristics of a man. The use of ethnographic studies was implemented for identification of the association between race and slavery in the early twentieth century. The emergence of evolutionary theory highlighted that there is incidence of common ancestry as stated by Charles Darwin (Hwang, 2022). The application of evolutionary theory was an indicator that human beings are sourced from a common ancestor and therefore, it is important to acknowledge that race is social construct and not biological as the division and classification systems are created by individuals who are in position of power (Patton, 2019).

According to a census conducted in the year 2020, it was found that majority of ethnic and racial inequalities have been persistent in the employment and the justice system. The incidence of racism faced by black and Muslim minorities is twice compared to other socially distinct groups. There are long term impacts of racism on the mental and social health of individuals, including, lack of confidence, embarrassment and development of mental health disorders (Eneanya, Yang and Reese, 2019). The most common phase used for minorities is â€œgo back to your countryâ€, as reported by a lot of victims of racism. About 14% of the workers have reported being criticized unfairly due to their skin colour and have also been denied promotions, considering their ethnicity. Strict actions are not taken against these cases as the justice is highly corrupt in the entire United Kingdom, predominantly consisting of white population employed in each and every sector. Cases of racist bullying and harassment have also been reported. These cases and statistics showcase that there is internalized and â€œhiddenâ€ institutional racism which negatively impacts the daily working of individuals from socially distinct groups. Police officers and the security workforce have been accused of carrying out institutionalized racism till date (Ciszek, Place and Logan, 2022). The criminal justice system has a reputation for being racially bias specially, black and Muslim minorities.

In the 21^st century, the incidence of racism in the UK has declined significantly, specially towards ethnic black minority. This has become possible through the collective efforts of the general public. The most effective strategy for reducing the percentage of bias towards white community can be done through educating and re-educating people about the methods that reduce prejudice (Johnson and Louis, 2022). Additionally, media based interventions along with training courses in schools and educational institutions should be implemented for introduction children, at a very young age, about the maintaining racial equality. The reduction of prejudice can be achieved through the implementation of common interventional strategies that possess the ability to change the prevalent social norms. It is also critical to strengthen the criminal justice system through enforcing different laws that protect the rights of ethnic communities. The behaviours of individuals can be altered by introducing new social norms that do not classify or discriminate between individuals on the basis of their physical distinctions. The implementation of these strategies can be effective through gaining proper public support and creating awareness against norms that are prejudice based. The most important step Do my homework is change the prevalent norms that can be improved through imparting proper education. It is also important to implement training courses for enhancing awareness about gender and ethnic diversities (Frankenberg, 2020). The use of confronting prejudice should be done in a respectable manner. The reduction of prejudice is possible through the use of intergroup contact among different racial groups. Imposing a collective effort from all ethnic minority groups has the potential to create a greater impact on the effectiveness of the response.

CONCLUSION

From the analysis of above essay, it can be concluded that race is indeed a social construct and not biological. Race is undeniably a social construct however, it still has it's root in the institutes of British culture, society and politics. The number of racial categories constructed showcases the difficult and complicated nature of the concept of racism. Additionally, the impact racial categories have on the mindset of victims is deniably critical. Therefore, it is important for individuals, as human being, to eliminate the categorization of socially and physically distinct groups along with verbally catcalling people of different names, such as the N word, Asian, Chinese, Mulatto etc. Racial discrimination has the potential to threaten the survival of the society, as there has been a reported increase in attacks on Black and Asian people solely because of their ethnicity by white people. It has become critical to design strategies for improving the conditions of racially distinctive social groups. Collective efforts from the justice system and general public can reduce the rates of racial discrimination in the United Kingdom.

REFERENCES

Books and Journals:

Brown, R.A., 2021. Foundations of critical race theory: Migration from law to the social and applied sciences. In Critical Theories for School Psychology and Counseling (pp. 17-32). Routledge.

Ciszek, E., Place, K.R. and Logan, N., 2022. Critical humanism for public relations: Harnessing the synergy of gender, race and sexuality research. Public Relations Review, 48(1), p.102151.

Eneanya, N.D., Yang, W. and Reese, P.P., 2019. Reconsidering the consequences of using race to estimate kidney function. Jama, 322(2), pp.113-114.

Frankenberg, R., 2020. White women, race matters: The social construction of whiteness. In Theories of race and racism (pp. 519-533). Routledge.

Greene, G. and Kahn, C., 2020. Feminist scholarship and the social construction of woman. In Making a Difference: (pp. 1-36). Routledge.

Halley, J., Eshleman, A. and Vijaya, R.M., 2022. Seeing white: An introduction to white privilege and race. Rowman & Littlefield.

Hwang, S.S., 2022. The Limitations of Race/Ethnicity Categories in Reporting and Addressing (Disparities in Perinatal Health Outcomes. The Journal of Pediatrics, 240, pp.9-10.

Ikeme, J.C., Salazar, J.W. and Grant, R.W., 2021. Reappraising Medical Syntaxâ€”Does Race Belong in the First Line of the Patient History?. JAMA Internal Medicine, 181(3), pp.388-391.

Jackson, M., 2019. Sexology and the social construction of male sexuality (Havelock Ellis). In The sexuality papers (pp. 45-68). Routledge.

Johnson, J.D. and Louis, J.M., 2022. Does race or ethnicity play a role in the origin, pathophysiology, and outcomes of preeclampsia? An expert review of the literature. American journal of obstetrics and gynecology, 226(2), pp.S876-S885.

Mahon, M., 2019. Constructing Race and Engaging Power through Music: Ethnomusicology and Critical Approaches to Race. In Theory for Ethnomusicology (pp. 99-113). Routledge.

Miles, R., 2020. Apropos the idea of â€˜race'â€¦ again. In Theories of race and racism (pp. 180-198). Routledge.

Parker, L., 2019. Race is... race isn't: Critical race theory and qualitative studies in education. Routledge.

Patton, C., 2019. Embodying subaltern memory: kinesthesia & the problematics of gender & race. In The Madonna Connection (pp. 81-105). Routledge.

Rosenfield, P.J., Pauselli, L., Jiang, D. and Malaspina, D., 2021. Letter to the Editor regarding concept of race. Schizophrenia bulletin, 47(4), pp.884-885.

Wheeler, S.M., Bryant, A.S., Bonney, E.A., Howell, E.A. and Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine, 2022. Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine Special Statement: Race in maternal-fetal medicine research-Dispelling myths and taking an accurate, antiracist approach. American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 226(4), pp.B13-B22.

Williams, C., 2020. Identity Politics of Difference: The Mixed-Race American Indian Experience (Boulder: University Press of Colorado, 2017, $48.00). Pp. vi+ 158. isbn 978 1 6073 2543 7. Journal of American Studies, 54(4).

Race is a social construction that has no basis in biology

INTRODUCTION

MAIN BODY

CONCLUSION

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