I'll go a little deeper into the previous educator's response. However, I must assert that there is no scientific basis for race. Scientists have found that, genetically, there is "no single absolute genetic difference" between an African and a European. The racial classification system that separates peoples of the world into three major groups, which the previous educator mentions, is based on anthropological research and pseudoscience from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. In other words, with the benefits of technology, we understand how phenotypical differences arise and we also know that much of the "science" on race from previous centuries was based on the biases of the researchers.
For instance, craniometry and phrenology—two pseudosciences—were developed in the nineteenth century. Both used skull measurements to determine personality and intelligence, and often researchers drew the conclusions that black people had less impressive skulls, thereby making them less intelligent and generally inferior. Such...
Unlock This Answer Now
Start your 48-hour free trial and get ahead in class. Boost your grades with access to expert answers and top-tier study guides. Thousands of students are already mastering their assignments—don't miss out. Cancel anytime.
Already a member? Log in here.
outdated and pseudoscientific views have persisted, however, in new ways. Ideas about race determining intelligence show up in Charles Murray's controversial bookThe Bell Curve and in some of the ideas expressed by the neuroscientist and writer Sam Harris.
Diversity is defined in different ways throughout the world. Countries such as France, South Africa, and particularly Brazil have complex racial classification systems that try to distinguish between mixed-race people and those who are more distinctly "African." However, this is not based on known ancestry, but on parentage and the physical expression of genes (i.e., lighter skin vs. darker skin).
The United States is an interesting place to understand what makes up diversity, particularly when examining its black population. As the previous educator mentions, a black person with some European ancestry is more likely to identify and be identified as "black." The historian and genealogist Henry Louis Gates Jr. has said that most African Americans belong to "the 20 percent club"—that is, most of them have twenty percent or more European ancestry due to the legacy of slavery. There are also people who look white but identify as either black or mixed-race. The "one-drop rule" from the antebellum era, which said that anyone with one black ancestor was black, inadvertently created a kind of solidarity among people with African ancestry who identify as black, even if their European ancestry is equal to or higher than their percentage of African ancestry.
That said, not all black people who live in the United States or who were born here come from ancestors who were slaves in the South. Some are the children of African immigrants; others are of West Indian derivation. These people have brought with them aspects of their own cultures (e.g., food, cultural traditions, religions) that have expanded our understanding of what it means to be black.
References
Interesting question! The answers may be varied, depending on your own definitions of culture, race, and ethnicity. Sociology experts also hold varied positions regarding the three concepts.
For example, some sociologists contend that race, culture, and ethnicity are interchangeable. Still others contend that race is a social construct, defined by tradition, bias, and personal conviction. Traditionally, race has been defined by a set of physical characteristics: eye color, skin color, blood types, facial features, and hair types, to name a few. To date, there is some consensus among anthropologists that the three major races in the world are the Caucasoid, the Negroid, and the Mongoloid.
However, because of immigration and intermarriage, the concepts of race, ethnicity, and culture have become more difficult to define. For example, someone who is one-fourth Caucasian and three-fourths African American may be classified as African-American by some or mixed-race/biracial by others. Also, he may share some but not all of the characteristics that define his ethnic group. For example, he may share the same nationality, language, and traditions as the others in his group, but he may practice a different religious faith (or none at all). He may also hold markedly different political views than those in his ethnic group or cherish different ideas about gender. These cultural differences play a key role in diversity.
So, the characteristics of culture, race, and ethnicity that may play a role in diversity are variations in gender, religion, political persuasions, sexual orientations, and personal backgrounds.
References