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Naive question from a European here: how do you know and classify "race" and why is it relevant? Do you get entries like 1 person's race being "25 % native Fil

Naive question from a European here: how do you know and classify "race" and why is it relevant? Do you get entries like 1 person's race being "25 % native Filipino, 10 % Chinese, 15 % "black", 25 % Arab, 25 % Caucasian"? How do you even...?

speedplane 7y ago
> Naive question from a European here: how do you know and classify "race" and why is it relevant? Very naive, especially considering you're european. Race has much less to do with genetics and biology and more to do with perceived social norms. During the 1800s in the US, person who is 10% black is still often considered black. In Nazi Germany, a person who was 10% jewish was still considered jewish. Putting people into race buckets is often based on unscientific (and immoral) notions of "purity" and a "natural hierarchy" of disparate societies.
craz8 7y ago
Many, many* forms in the US ask this information so they can do later analysis on how they are racially biased in their decision making, so they can Do Better Next Time (Tm) Since I can answer in the Best Possible Way - old white guy - I don’t mind answering these optional questions. They never ask about how cynical I am though! * many includes Job Applications, Loan applications, and, it seems, for voting too
snowwrestler 7y ago
Race is self-reported. So if people answer honestly, the form records their own opinion about their own race. The categories on forms have been built up over time by finding commonalities in what people report.
thaumasiotes 7y ago
> Do you get entries like 1 person's race being "25 % native Filipino, 10 % Chinese, 15 % "black", 25 % Arab, 25 % Caucasian"? This isn't really something to worry about. The odds are pretty good that there is no person in the world with the ancestry you describe; if you did get input like this, the sensible thing to do would be to discard it. (Note also that Arab is a strict subset of Caucasian...)

speedplane 7y ago

> Naive question from a European here: how do you know and classify "race" and why is it relevant? Very naive, especially considering you're european. Race has much less to do with genetics and biology and more to do with perceived social norms. During the 1800s in the US, person who is 10% black is still often considered black. In Nazi Germany, a person who was 10% jewish was still considered jewish. Putting people into race buckets is often based on unscientific (and immoral) notions of "purity" and a "natural hierarchy" of disparate societies.

craz8 7y ago

Many, many* forms in the US ask this information so they can do later analysis on how they are racially biased in their decision making, so they can Do Better Next Time (Tm) Since I can answer in the Best Possible Way - old white guy - I don’t mind answering these optional questions. They never ask about how cynical I am though! * many includes Job Applications, Loan applications, and, it seems, for voting too

snowwrestler 7y ago

Race is self-reported. So if people answer honestly, the form records their own opinion about their own race. The categories on forms have been built up over time by finding commonalities in what people report.

thaumasiotes 7y ago

> Do you get entries like 1 person's race being "25 % native Filipino, 10 % Chinese, 15 % "black", 25 % Arab, 25 % Caucasian"? This isn't really something to worry about. The odds are pretty good that there is no person in the world with the ancestry you describe; if you did get input like this, the sensible thing to do would be to discard it. (Note also that Arab is a strict subset of Caucasian...)