Race and Ethnicity are two terms intrinsically related to human beings. The race , classification that is made to the groups according to physical and biological characteristics as a whole. The ethnic groups who are socially bound by culture, religion, origin or language.
What is Race?
When it comes to race, it refers to the social division that different groups of humans have, taking into account biological and physical characteristics . These characteristics can be observed. This term has been used since the Middle Ages, and has the meaning “people who have the same descent.” Currently, the term race has generated controversy in the social and natural sciences because the conditions for establishing group divisions are arbitrary and not scientific.
Breed Characteristics
- -Physical differences that can be observed in humans.
- -The differences result and are acquired by genetic inheritance.
- -It can be confused with what an ethnic group is.
- -To categorize, traits such as hair type, face shape and skin color are used.
- -Attributes do not change over time.
What are Human Races?
Human races are divisions of human groups in populations, where the inhabitants present physical features that allow them to be united.
Likewise, human races in their relationship with genetics, and according to different studies carried out, assures that 85% of the genetic variations that humans present do not have to do with ethnic origin, culture or space where they live.
Why are Human Groups divided into Races?
The main reason for creating discrimination and segregation policies , with the aim that one human group exercises dominance over another. In any case, race as a scientific category in the human context has lost value. This does not mean that it is not practical to establish divisions between human groups.
Historical factors that have influenced racial classification
-European commercial and maritime expansion in the fifteenth and fifteenth centuries, led to the meeting of human groups in different continents.
-Migration, voluntary and forced.
-Creation of hierarchies in people of different origins, which resulted in ethnocentrism and colonialism.
-Colonization of America marked the racial division with slavery.
-The colonial era created the castes and the Europeans, white race, were the first in that racial division.
What are the Races Worldwide?
Mongoloid or Asian, Australoid, Negroid, and White or Caucasian
Breed Classification
Likewise, the Swede named Carolus Linnaeus, (1707-1778) by profession zoologist, doctor, and botanist, made the classification of human beings into 4 races , based on place of origin and skin color, these were: Africans, Asians, Americans and Europeans.
What is Caucasian Race?
“Caucasian” or “Causoid”, a word that was used in anthropology to differentiate groups of people who had some similar trait according to anthropometric results. Caucasian, a great race, the concept began to catch on in 1800 by a German anthropologist named Johann Friedrich Blumenbach.
The name took it based on the people who inhabited the Caucasus region, its classification focused on craniology . Also, Blumenbach divided people into 5 different families or racial classes , which were: Caucasian, American, Malay, Mongoloid and Ethiopian (Negroid).
The Caucasian or white race has physiognomic characteristics such as:
-Skull: Dolicephalic (that is, the head is elongated), with a high forehead, the supraobital, is poorly developed.
-The Leptoproscopic Face is narrow at times Euryproscopic, its nose is long, very narrow, it is high at the root and bridge.
What is Racism?
The racism is a belief held by members of a race, on certain qualities that make them feel they are superior to another . The categorization of races, socially and culturally, places some as superior and others as inferior. This fosters sometimes extreme situations.
What is Ethnicity?
The term ethnic group, derives from the Greek (ethnos), which means group of people who live together, tribe or nation, and from the suffix (ia) which means action or quality. In other words, ethnicity is the representation of identity, which is shared by a group of people who live together that make up a tribe or nation .
Its members share an origin, culture and different social situations as the same language, religion and culture. As well as physical traits, inherited from their ancestors. Ethnicity is a product of man and brings together various aspects. Its members are organized, that allows to maintain an inviolable union.
Characteristics of an Ethnicity
- -It is based on the common origin of the people.
- -It is expressed in traditions, habits, religion, behavior and culture of a group of people.
- -Handles the idea of a shared bond, which builds an ethnic identity.
- -It is evolutionary, the characteristics can be adaptable.
Ethnic Identity
It is defined as the feeling of belonging to an ethnic group or ethnic group that an individual has. It is essential when it comes to the socialization of a person, and being part of the group, and ethnic identity arises from the interaction of different ethnicities or groups, and they know how to distinguish the differences and similarities of one and the other.
Ethnic identity can be promoted voluntarily or involuntarily. Such is the case of education, or myths about a region, they are voluntary ways of making ethnic identity known.
In the event that a population establishes a strong bond of identity with its ethnic group, due to discrimination or segregation, motivated by another group, this allows the strengthening of ethnic identity in an involuntary way .
Ethnicity and Ethnicity
Ethnicity is the representation of a human population and ethnicity are the characteristics that each group and humans have and by which they are classified. Ethnicity, seen as a result of kinship, or biological inheritance of people, which allows them to support each other.
Ethnicity and Ethnocentrism
Ethnocentrism is seen when members of an ethnic group have the belief that their ethnicity, culture, traditions or other social traits have a greater value than other ethnic groups. However, ethnocentrism is not always used to discriminate or make another ethnic group feel inferior.
Difference between Race and Ethnicity
Ethnicity |
Race |
|
|---|---|---|
| Definition | An ethnic group is a group of people who identify themselves because they are of the same nationality or share traditions and culture. | The term race refers to the concept of classifying people according to the physical characteristics they share (which are usually the result of genetics). |
| Meaning | Ethnicity demonstrates cultural traces and shared group history. Some ethnic groups also share linguistic or religious characteristics, while others share the same history. | The breed shows biological and / or genetic characteristics, current or past. During the 19th century, different racial characteristics were related to attributes such as intelligence, health, and personality. Today those ideas have been invalidated and discarded. |
| Genealogy | Ethnicity is defined according to terms of shared genealogy, whether current or past. It is common that if a person believes that they are descended from a particular group and in fact wish to be associated with it, they are considered part of it. | Racial categories are the result of a shared genealogy that is due to geographic isolation. Today this isolation no longer exists. Racial groups have been mixing for several years now. |
| Characteristic factors | Ethnic groups change according to the time. They typically seek their own distinction but are also defined by prevailing group stereotypes. | One can differentiate one race from another by looking at skin color, bone structure, etc. Yet the scientific basis for racial distinctions is very weak. The latest studies show that the only genetic difference that can be considered predominant is skin color, the others are relatively weak. |
| Nationalism | In the 19th century the political ideology about ethnic nationalism changed. It was then that nations began to be created based on the differences that distinguished populations. | In the 19th century the concept of nationalism was often used to justify the dominance of one race over another within a nation. |
| Legal system | In the last decades of the 20th century, both the legal system and the ideology of society “prohibited” discrimination based on people’s ethnic origin. | In the last decades of the 20th century, both the legal system and the ideology of society began to place an emphasis on racial equality. |
| Conflicts | Serious conflicts between different ethnic groups are not rare and never have been. These have been present throughout all of history and all over the world. Still, most ethnic groups coexist peacefully with each other in most of the world. | Racial prejudice is still a problem around the world. However, there are far fewer racially motivated conflicts today than in the past. This does not mean that the confrontations have disappeared, but that it is easier to discover and face them than it was before. |
| Effects of conflicts | In Sri Lanka the conflict between Sinhalese and Tamils or in Rwanda the conflict between Hutus and Tutsis . | In America the conflict between whites and African Americans, especially during the civil rights movement. |
