Individuals are confronted with race issues on a daily basis, whether they are aware of it or not, and they typically interpret the world through a racial prism that colors their surroundings white, black, Hispanic, Asian minority, or other. The way an individual perceives or is regarded by others influences many parts of their lives, including their employment, wealth, friends, where they live, the food they eat, and the schools they attend, among others. The term "virtual reality" refers to the process of creating a virtual reality environment. Unfortunately, most people living in United States especially the people of color despite being aware of this menace, they have consistently ignored it (Nicole 2016, p.1). Many are the times when the term social construct is used in different general and theoretical works without properly discussing it or giving its definition. Nevertheless, understanding the meaning of race as social construct needs clear comprehension of the ability of race to intersect and impact other domains and aspects of life and society and discover a strategy to dismantle it.
Race Is Not Biologically Determined
Race is a social construct and never a biological determined phenomenon because there is no a gene or a group of genes common to all whites or blacks (Morning 2014, p.190). The studies on complete genomes of various groups of people in different parts of world have shown that there is no a single absolute difference in genetic makeup even between African and European individuals (Smedley and Smedley 2005, p.16). This means that there is no any scenario where Africans have a unique variant and Europeans have another one even when recent immigration is disregarded. A scientific study proved that there more genetic variations exist within race than they do between them. A human genome research in 2003 discovered about 3 billion bases pairs in DNA of human beings were 99.9% identical in every individual. Records of human fossils indicate that the common origin of humans in located at sub-Saharan Africa. About 180,000 years back they started to split moving across the world into North America and Eurasia and finally to the parts of the globe (Blackburn 2000, p.5). Over time the human genes evolved as result of changes in environmental conditions. When natural term is mentioned, the works of great scientist, Charles Darwin comes into the equation, particularly his famous theory “the Origin of Species”. Even though Darwin insisted that the races existed within non-human races, he never applied the concept of race in the manner it is used today. So, it is wrong to use race biologically to state that some group of people are superior to others because they have weaker genes (Yudell et al. 2016, p.565).
Race is a Social Construct
Historically the concept of classifying people based on race started long time ago when European nations begun colonizing other parts of the world. The European powers used different terms such as missionization and colonization to classify different types of people. Since then the race concept has changed over time in United States as result of arrival of European immigrants. When Europeans such as Scots, Italians and Irish first arrived in the US, they were referred to as the “ethnic whites” because of their unique features including long noses, facial shapes, color and culture (Castañeda 2017, p.2). However, this racial categorization has completely disappeared. American never used any biological basis to refer to these Europeans ethnic white but their social way of life and culture. When Africans were brought to America as slaves they were referred to as Negros which was an abusive word to mean muscular but brainless individuals. Although the term is not widely used today, some people use it to refer to black Americans. Here, it is evident that the Native Americans used the term “negro” to refer to a group of people working as slaves. “Slaves” is a social status used to classify Africans with no any biological basis (Castañeda 2017, p.2). Nonetheless, the racial tension between whites and blacks still exist and has been a hotly debated issue in the United States.
Today, in South Africa, for instance, if a person is born of a white father and black mother or vice versa, he or she is referred to as a biracial. Of course there a dire consequence of being born of parents of mixed races in this country because an individual is put in middle ground where one half of family of that person regard him as inferior and the other half see him as superior. Historically, in South Africa there have been several gradations of blackness and whiteness as social classes each of which is determined by various social standings (Gordon 2016, p.1).
On the other hand in United States race is conceptualized differently and a one drop rule has for long dominated throughout the country. While biracial category is recognized in American culture, individuals are normally regarded as black if they have any black ancestry. In a nutshell, a drop of black blood makes an individual to be considered black although this varies depending on if the perceiver is Black or White among other aspects. As a result even being one sixteenth historically Black renders a person to be categorized as Black (Gordon 2016, p.1). The same concept used by Nazis where having Jewish origin even in a distant sense classified one as a Jew. This is referred to as hypodescent, a term used in scenarios where a biracial individual is classified into a group that is socially regarded as inferior. It is clear hear that social status is used to categorize individuals meaning categorization as black or white is a social construct.
In addition there exist disagreements within races or between races whether a particular individual is race A or B. When such disagreements exist and there are consensual basis for justifying such designations including use of slave history and social status and if these designations may change over time or throughout cultures, then it is clear that race is social construct rather than a biological one (Gordon 2016, p.1). For instance when president Obama was vying for presidency, there were several responses from pundits and voters. Some said he was clearly too black but others thought he was not black enough. Even within some social groups, there were different opinions regarding his exact race. For African Americans, Obama was not black enough as he is not a descendant of slave Africans because his father is from Kenya. This shows that society has tendency to create cultural rules about race and then use them when psychologically categorizing people.
Another great example is use of the term “colored” in United States and South Africa. The term has different meanings in both countries where in the US people of color refers to Black Americans whereas in South Africa colored person is the one who has mixed Black-White origin and not of Black-only origin. Thus, in South Africa, colored is mixed Black-White and Black is Black. Considering these two scenarios, it is evident that being black or white is determined by cultural and social convections and not biology
(Haslanger 2000, p.44). For example Obama is commonly regarded as Black in United States but as a colored person in South Africa. Again, before becoming the most powerful man in the world and an international symbol, he would receive different treatments as result of being Black American in the US or colored in South Africa. Further, this shows how race is a social construct because societies create formal and informal rules about what people see and how to act and treat other people.
It would be important to conserve the races just like Du Bois suggested. According to Du Bois in his work the conservation of races, he argued that races are not scientific that is they are not biological but a socio-historical concept. Each socio-historical race has a particular message for humanity. He said that Negro race still had message to deliver and it had a responsibility to work together by forming social organizations so as to pass its message effectively (Appiah 1985, 25). The clear message here through working together Negroes could achieve a lot. By doing this Du Bois accepts that there are existing differences among different groups of people and such differences can be used to benefit community as whole since each group with common ancestry has a role to play towards building the nation. That is white and black races should not be seen as superior and inferior groups respectively by as complimentaries. I would go with his argument because he refutes what some scientist suggests and that is race is biologically determined rather than a social construct. Doing away with races as Michael Appiah suggests will not help since the issue of race is deeply rooted in American society such that ignoring it will be difficult (Appiah 1985, 25). It is difficult to get rid of the fact that African Americans are black and Caucasians are white as well as other minority group have their unique colors. However, like Dubois suggest it is possible to teach these different groups how they can contribute towards building of society using their racial groups (Kivel 2017, p.3). Each group can use the tag it is given to deliver the message which together with messages of others racial group can complement each other to achieve a common goal.
Conclusion
To sum up, one of most important things for theorists, activists and scholars of color much address is to encourage the society members to confront the menace of racism and reveal the repercussions of racial categorization and racism instead of sweeping them under the rug and assuming the blindness stance. Ignoring race lessens a racist weight present and past while at the same time erasing and stifling the experience and voices of minority groups who everyday cry for justice and ask activists to confront and never ignore or try to mitigate the effects racial categorization and racism have on people and society at large.
References
Appiah, A., 1985. The uncompleted argument: Du Bois and the illusion of race. Critical inquiry, 12(1), pp.21-37.
Blackburn, D.G., 2000. Why race is not a biological concept. Race and racism in theory and practice, pp.3-26.
Castañeda, E. ed., 2017. Immigration and Categorical Inequality: Migration to the City and the Birth of Race and Ethnicity. Routledge.
Gordon, H., 2016. Race as a Social Construction: We often hear that race is a social construction. But what does that mean? Psychology Today. Available at: https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/without-prejudice/201612/race-social-construction
Haslanger, S., 2000. Gender and race:(What) are they?(What) do we want them to be?. Noûs, 34(1), pp.31-55.
Kivel, P., 2017. Uprooting Racism-: How White People Can Work for Racial Justice. New Society Publishers.
Morning, A., 2014. Does genomics challenge the social construction of race?. Sociological Theory, 32(3), pp.189-207.
Nicole, M., 2016. What is race? Is it biological or a social construct? Global News. Available at: https://globalnews.ca/news/2997715/what-is-race-is-it-biological-or-a-social-construct/
Smedley, A. and Smedley, B.D., 2005. Race as biology is fiction, racism as a social problem is real: Anthropological and historical perspectives on the social construction of race. American Psychologist, 60(1), p.16.
Yudell, M., Roberts, D., DeSalle, R. and Tishkoff, S., 2016. Taking race out of human genetics. Science, 351(6273), pp.564-565.
