What Is Race?

RACE! What does that word bring to mind? For some it means discrimination and oppression. For others, hatred, riots, and even murder.

From the race riots in the United States to apartheid in South Africa, from the wars among ethnic groups in Eastern Europe to the struggles in places like Sri Lanka and Pakistan​—race has become the focal point of untold human suffering and devastation.

But why is this the case? Even in lands where people seem to be tolerant of almost everything else, why is race such a sensitive issue? What makes race the fuse that ignites so much turmoil and injustice? Simply put, why can’t people of different races get along?

To answer these questions, we need to know more than what race is and in what ways races differ. We must also understand the role history plays in current race relations. First, though, let’s look at what science can tell us about the subject.

The Problem in Classifying Humans

People living in different parts of the world have varied physical characteristics. These include the color of skin, the shape of facial features, the texture of hair, and so on. Such physical differences distinguish one race from another.

Thus, people commonly speak of whites and blacks, calling attention to skin color. But people also speak of Hispanics, Asians, Scandinavians, Jews, and Russians. These latter identifications refer less to physical characteristics than to geographical, national, or cultural differences. So to most people, race is determined not only by physical features but also by customs, language, culture, religion, and nationality.

Interestingly, though, some writers on the subject hesitate to use the word “race” at all; they put the word in quotation marks each time it appears. Others avoid the word entirely and use instead such expressions as “ethnic taxons,” “groups,” “populations,” and “varieties.” Why? It is because the word “race,” as it is commonly understood, is so laden with overtones and implications that its use, without proper clarification, often obscures the point of discussion.

To biologists and anthropologists, a race is often defined simply as “a subdivision of a species which inherits physical characteristics distinguishing it from other populations of the species.” The question, however, is, Which characteristics can be used to describe different groups within the human species?

Factors such as skin color, hair color and texture, shape of the eyes and nose, brain size, and blood type have been suggested, but not one of these has proved to be entirely satisfactory as a classifier of the varieties of mankind. This is because there is no naturally occurring group of people in which all the members are uniformly alike in such features.

Consider skin color. Most people believe that mankind can be easily divided into five races by skin color: white, black, brown, yellow, and red. The white race is generally perceived as having white skin, light-colored hair, and blue eyes. Yet, in reality, there is great variety in hair color, eye color, and skin color among members of the so-called white race. The book The Human Species reports: “Not only are there no populations in Europe today of which most of the members are of one type; there never were such populations.”

Indeed, classifying the human species is difficult, as the book The Kinds of Mankind notes: “All we seem to be able to say is this: while not all human beings look like all the other human beings, and while we can clearly see a lot of the ways in which people look different, scientists still do not agree on exactly how many kinds of mankind there are. They have not even decided what criteria we can use to assign people to one race or another. Some workers would simply like to give up and say that the problem is too hard​—that there is no solution!”

All of this may seem puzzling. While scientists apparently have little difficulty in classifying animals and plants into genus, species, and subspecies, why do they have such a problem in dividing humankind into races?

“Man’s Most Dangerous Myth”

According to anthropologist Ashley Montagu, many people believe that “physical and mental traits are linked, that the physical differences are associated with rather pronounced differences in mental capacities, and that these differences are measurable by IQ tests and the cultural achievements of these populations.”

Thus, many believe that because races possess different physical characteristics, certain races are superior intellectually and others are inferior. However, Montagu calls such thinking “man’s most dangerous myth.” Other experts agree.

Morton Klass and Hal Hellman explain in The Kinds of Mankind: “Individuals do differ; in all populations there are geniuses and imbeciles. But, after all the research, responsible scholars have not seen evidence they can accept of genetic differences between populations in respect to intelligence or ability.”

Why, though, do so many continue to believe that superficial physical differences mean that the races are fundamentally different? How, really, did race become such an issue? We will consider these matters in the next article.