Race as a Social Construct

Race as a Social Construct

Introduction

Race is not a biological construct; in fact it is a social one. The intervention of cultural, social as well as political factors is what leads to the construction of race. The old help ideas of race have been shifted by this argument drawn by anthropologists. The word race as used in anthropology is used only to refer to people inhabiting a certain geographic area. In the past, the division of mankind would be based on them being white, black or yellow. Or in other words, human beings were categorized into Negroid, Caucasoid or Mongoloid. This was the division back in the 1920s. The biological validity of race cannot be established, it would not be wrong to state that race and ethnicity are essentially derives from the events of the past as recoded by the historians.

As perfect as people may deem the world to be, with respect to the developments made, progress achieved and civilizations transformed; the world and its inhabitants still lag behind in their moral development. Many individuals, who may live in castles type homes, are still occupied with their trivial mental approach in relation to the caste, creed, ethnicity, color and race of other individuals. It is because of this reason that racism, prejudice, stereotyping, and discrimination are words that have taken ground in almost all the fields and have affected many, if not all.

The paper addresses the point that race is a social construct and how it has influenced the various aspects of life.

Race and fate - the trivialization of skin color

Linked fate means that a certain fate is attached with every race. For instance, owing to the racial discrimination and other factors, a black will only be able to make a certain progress in life. According to a report published by the National Black Election Study for the year 1996, women who relate with their gender have very low racial identification in terms of discrimination. On the other hand, black women were very much aware of their race identification. This concept can best be studied by looking at the struggle that the current US president Barack Obama made as concerns identity and race. The rationality of his own unbiased behavior is reflected in the book 'Dreams from My Father' penned by the man himself. This is probabky one of the reasons that many of Barack Obama's commentators referred to him as not being black enough and thereby thought that he was not most likely to receive the black vote. Barack Obama's mother is a white American while his father was a black African. Hence, he has always wished to foster amicable relationship between the various races that inhabit the world power.

However, in this context, it is imperative to state that Barrack Obama stands as a tall and inspiring example to the races in the US and sends a message across that it is high time they should not only accept their race but also ...