SOCI 1001 Chapter Notes - Chapter 11: Melanin, Minority Group, Racialization
11 Nov 2018
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Race refers to superficial physical differences that a particular society considers significant. Ethnicity is a term that describes shared culture. Minority group describes groups that are subordinate, or lacking power in society regardless of skin colour or country of origin. The concept of race has changed across cultures and eras, eventually becoming less connected with ancestral and familial ties, and more concerned with superficial physical characteristics. Racial categories used to be understood based on geographical location, ethnicity, skin colour, etc. but this is being seen less and it more widely understood through racialization in the current day. According to this school of thought, race is not biologically identifiable. Rather, certain groups become racialized through a social process that marks them for unequal treatment based on perceived physiological differences. Some people may have less melanin in their skin and consider themselves black due to their family, culture, upbringing than someone with more melanin in their skin who may consider themselves white.
