Social Construction of Race Concept, Prejudice and Discrimination, Ethnic Enclave Economy

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Social Sciences
Social Construction of Race Concept
Throughout history, race has succeeded in dividing humanity into various categories. These racial categories breed social injustices such as discrimination in workplaces, lower wages for certain races and institutional racism, among other evils. It is in the midst of these injustices, that a very important question arises. Is it the society that gives every child born a hand lens that only shows the world in the form of black and white? Does race really exist or is it a concept that the society has constructed? Various arguments have been put forward to portray race as a social construction. Some of them are discussed below.
Biologically, there is no genetic difference between ‘races’. A study of complete genomes from inhabitants of Africa and Europe did not show even a single complete genetic difference between them. Also, it has been proved that clinical predictions based on a person’s race are almost always inaccurate. There is a debate on abolishing the use of black and white as biological variables in scientific research and replacing them with geographic variables. This is because use of biological variables leads to inaccurate assumptions. Therefore, race does not exist scientifically. It is a label that the society has come up with to give identity.
Regardless of great efforts by those who oppose the concept of race being a social construction to draw boundaries, they have never established discrete racial boundaries. There are huge variations between the lists given, leading to confusion. The difficulty in coming up with discrete racial boundaries can only be explained in one way – race does not exist. It is a social construct.
If race causes as much difference as purported by some schools of thought, then it would be possible to tell things such as, the cultural practices one engages in by just looking at them. However, this is not the case. Race is the...