What's the difference between race and ethnicity?

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Apr 11, 2022
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This article is rather disturbing in that it attempts to mix science with Political Correctness.

The article implies that our concepts of Race and Racial differences is strictly social and the genetic variations are "just not there."

Well, if You use this "scientific mindset," then there is no differences between species or even Fauna and Flora. Because after all, GENETICALLY, the variations are SO SMALL as to be INCONSEQUENTIAL

The fact is that if we can DISCERN Phenotypical differences, that means that we can discriminate between one flower from another, one animal species from another and even discern male and female of various species. THAT IS SCIENCE.

The attempts to indoctrinate via Pseudo Science is not. Whomever wrote this article needs to be censured.
There are biological variations that are linked to a person's geographic ancestry, but these biological variations represent only a small fraction of our total human genome. Most of these biological variations are linked to patterns of human migration, or geographic biological/physical factors. For example, reduced skin pigmentation in northern latitudes with reduced solar radiation among norther Europeans or norther Asians. Race and geographic ancestry are distinct concepts. For example, members of the Hispanic race commonly have a diverse geographic ancestry from Africa, Europe, or native population living prior to African and European immigration. Race is defined by the U.S. Census Bureau for the purpose of identifying groups who historically were subject to discrimination. This is why race is actually a historical or legal concept, distinct from geographic ancestry, and not a biological concept.

I think the article does lean towards political correctness; but I think the author needs not to be censured but introduced to some statistical concepts. The physical differences we notice among the peoples native to sub-saharan Africa, Europe, eastern Asia etc. are biological in origin. These are phenotypical differences which result from genetic variations. I believe it is true that the variability within any "racial" group can be quite substantial, but not so much that an observer could wrongly perceive a person's race. There is enough enough overlap in the distribution of the skin ton
This article is rather disturbing in that it attempts to mix science with Political Correctness.

The article implies that our concepts of Race and Racial differences is strictly social and the genetic variations are "just not there."

Well, if You use this "scientific mindset," then there is no differences between species or even Fauna and Flora. Because after all, GENETICALLY, the variations are SO SMALL as to be INCONSEQUENTIAL

The fact is that if we can DISCERN Phenotypical differences, that means that we can discriminate between one flower from another, one animal species from another and even discern male and female of various species. THAT IS SCIENCE.

The attempts to indoctrinate via Pseudo Science is not. Whomever wrote this article needs to be censured.
es of Europeans and Africans to mistake a European with dark skin for an African with light skin; but then the other the other phenotypical traits would have to bear more resemblance to the African prototype than the European prototype as well. So it might be possible but highly improbable that we could find a European with very dark skin, tightly curled hair, and thick lips that suggest the African prototype rather than the European prototype. Sometimes we will encounter a person who will be classified as black, but have a light skin tone and straight hair etc., but such people are probably the issue of parents with mixed racial origins, for example, Princess Meghan.

Race is defined by the Census Bureau for the purpose of identifying groups of people who historically were subject to discrimination. By the very definition of race, race is a historical and legal concept, not a biological concept. A distinct issue are the biological variations linked to a person's geographic ancestry. An example of how race and geographic ancestry are disassociated is the following: a Hispanic race person may have European, Asian, African or native Latin American geographic ancestry.

You are confusing race with species. An elementary mistake.

Race is a subcategory within a species. A race of humans is a group of humans with shared geographical origin and physical traits.

The races are broadly: European, West Asian, East Asian, South Asian, Oceanic, Polynesian, Amerindian, Sub-Saharan African and then various mixed race categories, like Hispanic, for example.

Maria Sharapova and Serena Williams can easily be identified as being of the European race and sub-Saharan African race respectively.
Race is not a subcategory within a species. Race is a legal and historical concept.

Much like religion, ethnicity once ran aling racial/geographic lines before we began traveling globally. A Chinese person was Chinese in nationality, race, and every other aspect. Same for all distinct groups. Categorizing by common features and appearance is a perfectly natural behavior of our species. Not "racism".
Unfortunately, there is a long history of using these categories for the purpose of racial discrimination. This is why categorizing by race is discouraged.
 
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