Understanding Race as a Social Construct

These flashcards cover critical vocabulary and concepts discussed in the lecture about the social construction of race.

Reproductive Injustice

An ethnography by Donna Irene Davis that examines the impact of medical racism on black people's birthing experiences.

Cultural Categories

Frameworks used to classify and differentiate bodies, reflecting social understandings rather than biological differences.

Human Constructs

Concepts created by society, illustrating that racial categories do not exist in nature.

Phenotype

Observable characteristics of a person, such as hair color and skin color.

Genotype

The genetic makeup of an individual, which does not always correlate to observable traits.

Skin Color as an Adaptive Trait

A trait evolved over time that influences vitamin D absorption, not fixed to racial classifications.

Reification

The process by which an idea becomes perceived as real through widespread promotion and acceptance.

Scientific Racism

The misuse of scientific theories to justify racial hierarchies and colonial dominance.

Hypo Descent

The 'one drop rule' that assigns children of mixed ancestry to a subordinate racial group.

US Census Racial Categories

Changing classifications that demonstrate the evolving construction of race over time.

Race Norming

The adjustment of cognitive test scores based on race, often disadvantaging minorities in assessments.

Franz Boas

A key anthropologist who challenged scientific racism and advanced the understanding of race as a social construct.

Claude Lévi-Strauss

Anthropologist who argued that race is a function of culture rather than biology.

American Anthropological Association Statement (1998)

Declared race to be a social construct, emphasizing that most genetic variation lies within groups, not between them.

Racial Fixity

The outdated belief that racial categories are stable and unchanging.

White Privilege

The societal advantages held by people classified as white, which can differ based on class, gender, and other factors.