SOC-1100 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Negroid
Document Summary
The importance attached to certain biological or physical traits is a human invention. These characteristics are important only because we believe they"re important. More diversity within categories than between categories. This means that racial categories are little more than a justification for the unequal treatment of certain categories of people in society. For hundreds of years, people in most societies have divided people into categories. Based on skin color, hair color/texture, facial features, and body shape. In the 1910"s, many americans didn"t consider people of italian or jewish descent to be white, but now a claim like that is very rare. The ways in which members of society perceive and define biological and cultural differences matters! Pluralism, assimilation, segregation, and genocide (all arise as categories of people who have been transformed into others") Shared cultural heritage involving common ancestors, language, and religion. Can encompass dress, food customs, practices, and traditions. Ethnicity and race often go hand in hand.
