Race as a Social Construct

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that the perceived differences and similarities among human beings are linked to their social setting. The author points out that human beings over the course of their lives become accustomed to the company, appearance and behavior of those people around them; therefore, when people encounter atypical individuals or groups, they immediately identify these differences and react to them. The paper suggests that, within the U.S. society of increasing cultural diversity as well as human biodiversity, accepting and appreciating differences may well be more beneficial to the whole than seeking widespread conformity.

From the Paper:

"Thus, conceiving of man as "everyman" would be to categorically ignore what binds him to other human beings--his culture. In anthropology, there is no single term to blanket all of humanity under a single cultural norm, moral maxim, or physical characteristic. Differences in human beings may be nearly continuous--forming a spectrum of what it is to be human--so biological or purely mental divisions between people along the lines of race, or animals along the lines of species, must be arbitrary."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Cowen, Richard. History of Life: Third Edition. Malden: Blackwell Science, 2000.
• Ember, Carol R. and Melvin Ember. Anthropology: Sixth Edition. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall, 1990.
• Diamond, Jared. Guns, Germs, and Steel. New York: W. W. Norton and Company, 1999.
• Lorde, Audre. "Age, Race, Class, and Sex." From Sister Outsider. Berkeley: Crossing Press, 1984.
• Marett, R. R. Anthropology. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1972.

More papers on Race as a Social Construct:

• Analytical Essay # 26756 : "Race as a Social Construction"
• Essay # 28053 : "Whiteness as a Social Construction"
• Argumentative Essay # 58360 : "The Social Construction of Race"

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