SOC 104 Lecture Notes - Lecture 10: Institutional Racism, Immigration Policy, Social Darwinism

• School: Ryerson University
• Department: Sociology
• Course: SOC 104
• Professor: Zabedia Nazim

Document Summary

One difference that is consistently noted in our society is of race and gender. Natural selection created characteristics of race such as dark skin. The concept of race first appeared in the english language around 500 years ago. The scientific categorization of people into races was the result of two interconnected developments: the expansion of capitalism with its imperial domination of non-european peoples, and the growth of science, in particular, physical anthropology. Research to determine how many races there was occurred i a social context in which it was assumed that some groups were superior than others. Race is socially constructed, those who can determine who is superior has power in society. Biology became a part of discrimination due to colonialism because of a law that stated if you found land that there was no one there, you could claim it for your own country.