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"There is a wide consensus that the racial categories that are common in everyday usage are socially constructed, and that racial groups cannot be biologically

by bradyd 13y ago

"There is a wide consensus that the racial categories that are common in everyday usage are socially constructed, and that racial groups cannot be biologically defined."[1] From a genetic perspective there is basically no basis for the traditional categorization of race. Two people of the same skin color, from the same country, who would be considered by traditional definitions to be the same race, can have completely different genetic lineages. There is a National Geographic documentary that discusses this called "The Human Family Tree" that is available on Netflix. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_%28human_classification%29#Complications_and_various_definitions_of_the_concept https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_%28human_classification%2...

k_os 13y ago
You might find this interesting : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewontin%27s_fallacy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewontin%27s_fallacy
adamnemecek 13y ago
> basically no basis what's "basically no basis"? > can have completely different genetic lineages yeah so what? that does not really prove that the concept of race does not exist.
- XorNot 13y ago
  Is it really important to you that race be traced back to genetics? I mean, is it really important we have this concept? You realize that your brain is not your skin right? The whole concept of race not existing is that if you look at genetic diversity for markers we can correlate to function, there is no difference between the "races" greater then the difference we find within each population - i.e. the population does not exist, beyond visual cues. But you know, it's probably really important we be utterly pedantic on this point. Because heaven help us if we don't acknowledge people's skin color can be different in a consistent way. That seems really important and we must mention it a lot. For some reason.
jamesrcole 13y ago
> can have completely different genetic lineages. what about people who do have the same lineage?

by bradyd 13y ago

k_os 13y ago

You might find this interesting : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewontin%27s_fallacy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewontin%27s_fallacy

adamnemecek 13y ago

> basically no basis what's "basically no basis"? > can have completely different genetic lineages yeah so what? that does not really prove that the concept of race does not exist.

XorNot 13y ago
Is it really important to you that race be traced back to genetics? I mean, is it really important we have this concept? You realize that your brain is not your skin right? The whole concept of race not existing is that if you look at genetic diversity for markers we can correlate to function, there is no difference between the "races" greater then the difference we find within each population - i.e. the population does not exist, beyond visual cues. But you know, it's probably really important we be utterly pedantic on this point. Because heaven help us if we don't acknowledge people's skin color can be different in a consistent way. That seems really important and we must mention it a lot. For some reason.

jamesrcole 13y ago

> can have completely different genetic lineages. what about people who do have the same lineage?