Understanding Race And Ethnicity: A Social And Biological Construct

Race and Ethnicity as Social Constructs

Race and ethnicity are forms of social constructs but are used to categorize distinct attributes within the community. While ‘race’ refers to the group of individuals that have shared attributes in terms of their physical features and biological make-up, ethnicity is linked with the expression and identification of culture. Individuals within an ethnicity may share a common race, tribe, religion, language etc. (Ford and Kelly, 2005). Thus, race refers to a specific and narrower concept, while ethnicity refers to a much broader social construct and includes the race of a group of individuals within the community. Individuals within a race can be white, black, Asian, etc. The morphological characteristics of a group of individuals define their race implying the differences between their skin colour, the shape of the nose, texture of their hair, skull shape, etc. In contrast, ethnicity has A Cultural Dimension, and the communities within an ethnicity will share a distinguishing political and social identity as compared to the communities of different ethnicity. Ethnicity is a multifaceted concept. From a biological standpoint, human races do not exist, and in this regard, race is primarily a form of social construct (Junio et al., 2010).

In terms of understanding the concept of ‘race’ as a biological construct, it is used to describe the distinct physical features and attributes of various individuals. Individuals sharing a similar skin colour, hair texture, shape of the nose, etc., are usually regarded as belonging to the same race (Ford and Kelly, 2005). Scientists consider these physical distinctions to be one that exists on a superficial level and are determined by a very small fragment of the genome, while the human species shares 99.9% of the DNA with each other (Chou, 2017). The evolution of the skin colour of individuals has occurred independently, irrespective of the genetic differences. Thus, as per Science, the race is considered to be a superficial biological construct and is more of a social construct for defining a group of individuals that look alike (Chou, 2017). Individuals of a community may still refer or identify with a specific race based on their physical attributes and their place of birth or the population they grew up with, and this has led to race evolving as a social construct. Through the study of the genome and by discovering the lack of differences within the genetic make-up of the human species, race has been regarded as a construct that is produced through various social arrangements, historically shared pasts and political decisions (Chou, 2017). When racial categorizations are studied through actual biological variations, the skin and hair colour of individuals are impacted by a very limited number of genes. In this regard, race tends to serve as a mechanism for social division and to serve political ends and has been institutionalized over the years. Thus, the race is primarily a social construct but is considered to be a biological construct due to the distinctions in the physical appearance of individuals, which are utilized to categorize them as members of a specific race.

Physical and Cultural Dimensions

Inequalities between ethnic groups, specifically ethnic minorities, tend to be substantial in relation to their economic status, access to health,  education, etc. Research data often tends to focus on either inequality or poverty amongst groups, without linking the two aspects together. However, ethnic inequalities tend to exist in most countries, though some countries may have a wider level of such inequalities as compared to others. On a global scale, out of 109 nations, 1.3 billion people were considered to be multidimensionally poor, with a majority of these individuals residing in the Sub-Saharan African region (UN, 2021). The implications of this research are that such individuals are exposed to various health risks and are bound to have malnourished individuals in every household (UN, 2021). In contrast, the multidimensionally poor group was found to constitute only 1% of the European and Central Asian population (UN, 2021). This reflects the form of ethnic inequalities that lie between the various nations due to unequal distribution of income. In the US, health inequalities exist between distinct ethnicities. As indicated by research, Chinese men with high levels of education were less likely to have employment at par with their educational level as compared to the white counterparts of such a population. On a middle educational level qualification, only 53% of the Chinese men were likely to be employed in comparison to white men with similar qualifications (Li et al., 2008). The earning profiles of the Chinese men were also disadvantaged at a similar rate despite the similar qualifications. The increase in educational qualifications was considered to be the least within the Black/ Caribiean and Bangladeshi/Pakistani population as per a research (Li et al., 2008). This impacts their already low employment rates and high poverty rates and further creates disadvantages for such a population group. Another research indicates that Black and South Asian women tend to have higher rates of first-trimester obesity in the UK as compared to white women (Heslehurst et al., 2012). This is reflective of the health inequalities that exist between the different ethnicities residing within the UK. Maternal obesity poses a serious threat to the health of the woman and the child and is a result of the health inequalities that the group of populations are faced with (Heslehurst et al., 2012). Thus, it can be noted that certain ethnic groups tend to face higher inequalities in various dimensions as compared to the groups of white individuals. South Asian groups and African ethnicities are more disadvantaged due to the unequal distribution of wealth on a global scale.

Inequalities in Ethnic Groups

The causes behind the large ethnic inequalities within the globe are described by a variety of perspectives. As per the functionalist perspective, these inequalities contribute to a function within society. These are regarded as positive contributories for the advantaged group or the dominant ethnic group and serve the function of leading in the development of political mobilization and services within the community (McGovern, n.d.). Close ties within the ethnic group also provide cultural support for individuals who would otherwise feel alienated if the society had an equal distribution of wealth (McGivern, n.d.). This perspective has been considered problematic as it does not consider the need for social change due to the tensions and conflicts created by ethnic inequalities within society (McGivern, n.d.).

The Marxist perspective and theories on ethnic inequalities relate it to the capitalist nature of society. A hierarchal class structure is created with the powerful groups being on the top of the class structure and the capitalist regime. In contrast, the less powerful group serves as labourers and gets exploited to advantage the top tier of individuals within the class structure (Peet, 2010). Income inequalities and class discrepancies result as a result of these inequalities. As per the Marxist theory, the dominant groups within society tend to exploit further and marginalize the minority groups. Therefore, ethnic inequalities would also be described under the theoretical framework of Marxism as resulting from the exploitation of the ethnic groups that are disadvantaged by the groups that have a socially better position within society (Peet, 2010). Thus, the privileged ethnicities would further exploit their position within society to their benefit due to the capitalistic nature of society.

Max Weber provided the Weberian theories on inequality within the society and distinguished it from the Marxist perspective. As per Weber, status groups tend to emerge within society due to the honour, affection and privileges shared by a community (Waters & Waters, 2016). As per Weber, inequalities tend to rise within the classes when economic advantage is provided without the reference to the honour, affection, privilege and other pre-existing relationships of the individual belonging to a class. Weber provided the theory of social stratification and attributed the ability of groups to have power on the basis of their social resources comprising of land, physical strength, social respect, etc. (Waters & Waters, 2016). The unequal access to social and material resources tends to create inequalities within society. The theory has been criticized due to its failure to take into account the major part that ethnic backgrounds tend to play in creating a disadvantaged social position for individuals within the community (Winter, 2020).

Perspectives on Ethnic Inequalities - Functionalism, Marxism, and Weberianism

As per the New Rights perspective, the individuals belonging to the underclass exist at the bottom of the class structure of society, and their social position within society puts them in a disadvantaged position within the class structure and serves as a cause for their poverty and inequality (Livesey, n.d.). They combine neoliberal economics and the conventional perspectives on social issues to describe the inequality suffered by certain ethnicities within the society (Livesey,n.d). Furthermore, New Right scholars usually attribute ethnic inequalities to the fact of ‘disproportionate membership’ of the ethnicity to the society. The perspective views various failings within the group as contributory to their underclass nature, such as the failure in a cultural organization, family organization, and welfare dependency (Livesey, n.d.). The perspective does not contribute such inequalities to the elements of discrimination or exploitation within society, and in this regard vastly differs and conflicts with the Marxist theory, while having some similar grounds with the functionalist theory of ethnic inequality. 

References

Chou, V., 2017, How Science and Genetics are Reshaping the Race Debate of the 21st Century, Harvard University, https://sitn.hms.harvard.edu/flash/2017/science-genetics-reshaping-race-debate-21st-century/

Ford, M.E. & Kelly, P.A., 2005, ‘Conceptualizing and Categorizing Race and Ethnicity in Health Services Research’, Health Services Research, doi: 10.1111/j.1475-6773.2005.00449.x

Heslehurt, N., Sattar, N., Rajasingam, D., Wilkinson, J., Summerbell, C., Rankin, J. 2012, ‘Existing maternal obesity guidelines may increase inequalities between ethnic groups: a national epidemiological study of 502,474 births in England’, BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth, vol. 12, no. 156

Junior, D., Santos, S., Palomares, N. & Normando, D., 2010, ‘Race versus ethnicity: Differing for better application’, Dental Press Journal of Orthodontics, vol. 15, no. 3, pp. 121

Li, Y., Devine, F. & Heath, A. 2008, ‘Equality group inequalities in education, employment and earnings: A research review and analysis of trends over time’, Equality and Human Rights Commission, no. 10

Livesey, C., n.d., ‘Social Inequality and Differentiation’, Sociology, < https://www.sociology.org.uk/notes/steth.pdf>

McGivern, R., n.d., ‘Chapter 11. Race and Ethnicity’, Introduction to Sociology <https://opentextbc.ca/introductiontosociology/chapter/chapter11-race-and-ethnicity/>

Peet, R., 2010, ‘Inequality And Poverty: A Marxist-Geographic Theory’, Annals of the Association of American Geographers, vol. 65, no. 4, pp. 564

UN, 2021, Inequalities between ethnic groups are stark, new UN report reveals, UN News, viewed 29 January 2022, https://news.un.org/en/story/2021/10/1102382

Waters, T. & Waters, D., 2016, ‘Are the terms “socio-economic status” and “class status” a warped form of reasoning for Max Weber?’, Palgrave Communications, vol. 2

Winter, E., 2020, ‘On Max Weber and Ethnicity in Times of Intellectual Decolonization’,Cambio. Rivista sulle trasformazioni sociali, vol. 9, no. 21, pp. 41