Define race and discuss the conclusion concerning its nature

Definitions of race

1. J.B.S Haldane, “Race is a group which shares in common a certain set of innate physical characters and a geographical origin within a certain area.”

2. A. W. Green

“A race is a large, biological, human grouping with a number of distinctive inherited characteristics which vary within a certain range.”

3. J. Biesanz and M.Biesanz

“A race is a large group of people distinguished by inherited physical differences.”

4. Hoebel

“A race is a biologically inherited group possessing a distinctive combination of physical traits that tend to breed true from generation to generation.”

5. L.C. Dunn

“A race, in short, is a group of related inter-marrying individuals, that is, a population which differs from other population in the relative commonness of certain hereditary traits.”

6. Sutherland and Woodword

“A race is a broad association of persons of similar biological heritage, who are united in sentiment by common cultural traditions and who in time of conflict seek to claim rights to a better social position on the basis of an inherited quality.”

7. Paul A.F. Walter

“A race is a large division of human beings distinguished from others by relatively obvious physical characteristics presumed to be biologically inherited and remaining relatively constant through numerous generations.”

Conclusions about Race

The above definitions of race strike a note of discord and there is no one opinion expressed in them. Experiencing this difficulty UNESCO arranged a conference of all the prominent sociologists, anthropologists, and psychologists in order to.determine a single conception of race. The conference gave the following judgements concerning race:

1. Fundamentally, the entire human species has one origin and all men are homo sapiens.

2. National group, religious group, geographical group, cultural group, linguistic group, etc., are all entirely unconnected with and unrelated to race. These groups do not give indication of any race.

Distinctions can be made between different races on the basis of differences in physical characteristics but not on the basis of cultural characteristics.

3. The di fference found to exist between the physical characteristics of men is due both to heredity and to environment. Differences in heredity arise due to the processes known as mutation and in-breeding.

4. Some races make claims of purity but this is not true. Today pure races cannot be found anywhere in the world. The process of mixing of races originated long back.

5. Human races can be classified but these classifications are based solely on physical traits. They have no relation of any kind with mental or intellectual superiority or inferiority.

6. The inner capacity for the development of mind and culture is found equally in every race. Hence distinctions between races cannot be based on cultural differences of levels of intelligence. Intelligent people are to be found in all races.

7. It is possible that in one nation the degree of racial difference may be greater while in another nation it may be of a greater or a lesser degree.

8. Evidence in support of the fact that the race has no important effect in the social and cultural differences between various human groups has been found in historical and sociological studies. By no stretch of imagination can one conceive of any relation between changes in racial forms and social changes.

9. That from the biological viewpoint, mixing of races is deleterious, is an essentially incorrect and invalid belief.

In this way, the race is a group of intermarrying people who are born of common ancestors, possess similar physical traits and a ‘we feeling’. Inbreeding renders permanent the physical characteristics of the race and due to them one race can be distinguished from another. One major cause of inbreeding is geographical isolation. Besides geographical isolation a race originates due also to mutation, migration, selection and adaptation.