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The genetic differences between different people in Africa are far greater than the genetic differences between black and white people in North America. The ter

The genetic differences between different people in Africa are far greater than the genetic differences between black and white people in North America. The term "race" as used to describe belonging to a different groups which generally experience their lives vastly differently to other groups is thus inherently social. The hypothesis goes as follows - if black and white people are so similar to each other biologically, why are their life experiences so different? It would seem that there's more to it than just the biochemical composition of our bodies that dictates what kind of a life you'll have.

zepto 5y ago
> The genetic differences between different people in Africa are far greater than the genetic differences between black and white people in North America. This is often repeated, but the point of the question is that the OP calls this into question.
soundnote 5y ago
Differences between African groups being bigger than between blacks and whites in NA don't make the rough categorization no longer work. For example, there's rather little genetic variety within dogs, or between dogs and wolves, but that doesn't say much about how impactful the variation is: Chihuahuas and Huskies are genetically really similar to each other, but no one in their right minds would disagree that you can comfortably put them in different, very real, very genetics-based buckets. In general, arguments of variation within a group are not arguments against considering between-group differences, or those between-group differences being real. The variation within a category cannot be dismissed, though, it's hugely important for understanding the world properly and for guiding personal conduct.
- foldr 5y ago
  The following article has a detailed explanation of why the analogy with dog breeds is not a good one: https://evolution-outreach.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12052-019-0109-y https://evolution-outreach.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.118...

zepto 5y ago

> The genetic differences between different people in Africa are far greater than the genetic differences between black and white people in North America. This is often repeated, but the point of the question is that the OP calls this into question.

soundnote 5y ago

Differences between African groups being bigger than between blacks and whites in NA don't make the rough categorization no longer work. For example, there's rather little genetic variety within dogs, or between dogs and wolves, but that doesn't say much about how impactful the variation is: Chihuahuas and Huskies are genetically really similar to each other, but no one in their right minds would disagree that you can comfortably put them in different, very real, very genetics-based buckets. In general, arguments of variation within a group are not arguments against considering between-group differences, or those between-group differences being real. The variation within a category cannot be dismissed, though, it's hugely important for understanding the world properly and for guiding personal conduct.

foldr 5y ago
The following article has a detailed explanation of why the analogy with dog breeds is not a good one: https://evolution-outreach.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12052-019-0109-y https://evolution-outreach.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.118...