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Chapter 7

Chapter 7. Modern Human Diversity: Race and Racism. Chapter Outline. The History of Human Classification Race as a Biological Concept The Concept of Human Races The Social Significance of Race: Racism Human Biological Diversity. Human Diversity.

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Chapter 7

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  1. Chapter 7 Modern Human Diversity: Race and Racism

  2. Chapter Outline • The History of Human Classification • Race as a Biological Concept • The Concept of Human Races • The Social Significance of Race: Racism • Human Biological Diversity

  3. Human Diversity • Humans are a single, highly variable species inhabiting the entire globe. • Though biological processes are responsible for human variation, the biological concept of race cannot be applied to human diversity. • The vast majority of human variation exists within populations rather than among populations.

  4. The History Of Human Classification • Early European scholars tried to classifyHomo sapiens into subspecies based on geography and features such as skin color, body size, head shape, and hair texture. • The 18th-century Swedish naturalist Carolus Linnaeus divided humans into subspecies based on geography and classified all Europeans as “white,” Africans as “black,” American Indians as “red,” and Asians as “yellow.”

  5. The History Of Human Classification • Johann Blumenbach divided humans into Caucasian, American Indian, Ethiopians, Mongolians, and Malays. • Historical efforts at classifying humans into higher and lower forms were based on factual errors and ethnocentric prejudices. • The notion of superior and inferior races has been used to justify brutalities ranging from repression to slavery, mass murder, and genocide.

  6. Race • In biology, the taxonomic category of subspecies that is not applicable to humans because the division of humans into discrete types does not represent the true nature of human biological variation. • In some societies, race is an important social category.

  7. Race as a Biological Concept • In biology, a race is a population differing geographically, morphologically, or genetically from other populations of the same species. • There is no agreement on how many differences it takes to make a race. • Any one race does not have exclusive possession of any particular variant of any gene or genes. • The differences among individuals and within a population are generally greater than the differences among populations.

  8. Racism • A doctrine of superiority by which one group justifies the dehumanization of others based on their distinctive physical characteristics. • It is not just about discriminatory ideas, values, or attitudes but is also a political problem. • Racial conflicts result from social stereotypes, not known scientific facts.

  9. Race and Behavior • Many people have assumed there are behavioral differences among human races. • The innate behavioral characteristics attributed to race can be explained in terms of experience as well as a hierarchical social order affecting the opportunities and challenges faced by different groups of people, rather than biology.

  10. Race and Intelligence • In the United States, IQ testing was used in the 20th century to try to establish racial differences in intelligence. • It is not possible to separate inherited components of intelligence from those that are culturally acquired. • The expression of genes always occurs in an environment. Culture shapes all aspects of the environment.

  11. Skin Color: A Case Study in Adaptation • Skin color is a function of several factors: • transparency or thickness of the skin • distribution of blood vessels • amount of carotene and melanin • Natural selection has favored darkly-pigmented skin as protection against strong solar radiation of equatorial latitudes. • In northern latitudes, natural selection has favored lighter skin, which allows weaker solar radiation to penetrate the skin and aid in production of vitamin D.

  12. Thrifty Genotype • Permits efficient storage of fat to draw on in times of food shortage. • In times of scarcity, individuals with the thrifty genotype conserve glucose (a simple sugar) for use in brain and red blood cells as well as nitrogen (vital for growth and health). • Regular access to glucose through the lactose in milk led to selection for the non-thrifty genotype as protection against adult-onset diabetes.

  13. Cultural and Biological Diversity • Human gene pools change in response to external factors. • Many changes are the result of cultural practices: • Peoples with a dairying tradition possess both the ability to digest milk sugars (lactose) into adulthood and a non-thrifty genotype. • Populations that are lactose intolerant retain the thrifty genotype.

  14. Lactose and Lactase • Lactose is a sugar that is the primary constituent of fresh milk. • Lactase is an enzyme in the small intestine that enables humans to assimilate lactose.

  15. Hormone-Disrupting Chemicals • At least 51 chemicals, many in common use, are known to disrupt hormones. • Included are such supposedly benign and inert substances as plastics and chemicals added to polystyrene and polyvinyl chloride (PVCs) to make them more stable and less breakable. • These plastics are used in plumbing, food processing, and food packaging.

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