Are "Race" and "Racism" On the Same Gene?

Abstract

“Race” is a phenomena based on the distinguishable features of humankind. The mentioned features have been suggested by various biological mechanisms throughout history. “Racism”, on the other hand, has possessed dominant fundamentals through with the scientific authority which has been growing the last three centuries. Apparently, “Race” has been transformed to a social categorization which has scientific roots. The recent genetic studies have started to become an effective tool of this concept during the current century.

Özet

Irk insanların fark edilebilir özelliklerine dayanan bir olgudur. Bu özellikler tarih boyunca biyolojik mekanizmalarla açıklanmaya çalışılmıştır. Öteki taraftan ırkçılık ise son üç asırda bilimsel otoritenin güç kazanmasıyla kendisine sağlam dayanaklar bulmuştur. Bu gelişmeyle ırk bilimsel kökleri olan bir sosyal sınıflandırmaya dönüşmüştür. İçinde bulunduğumuz asırda yapılan genetik araştırmalar bu olgunun etkin bir aracı olmuştur.

The aim of this paper is to interpret two phenomenon “race” and “racism” over biology and social science to create an overview of a special aspect the relationship between “race” and “racism”. Emphasis will be placed upon scientific rather than historical view. First, “race” is discussed in terms of cultural and scientific aspects especially genetics. Next, the consept of “racism” is criticized for its social approach.

“Race” is a socially constructed concept with an attached biological meaning. “Race” can be categorized into two subdivisions; biological race and social race. In 2004, Collins indicated that “Both race and ethnicity carry connotations that reflect culture, history, socioeconomic and political status, as well as an important connection to ancestral geographic origins.”. A social race is a group that is assumed to have a biological basis but is actually defined in a culturally discretionary fashion. This means that each culture has its own concepts of what race is and what race has. A biological race is a geographically isolated subdivision of a species that will develop into a new species in the end if it remains solitary and isolated long enough from each other. In this sense, in the biological manner, a single species will consist of a series of different breeds that have been selected carefully, bred, and maintained by humans for generations.

When race is examined as a part of a society, it is seen as an identity of a person or a group. The meaning of the identity is under the control of the major ethnic group. In this situation, race is more likely to be a identity network among the members of the minor group. In 1980, Berry indicated that “The concept of ethnic identity acknowledges a process of acculturation through which individuals renegotiate their identity within a host society while maintaining their own cultural traditions.“. Yun Kim deriving on the situation as “Given the wide range of differing conceptual and methodological approaches being examined, the term cultural identity is employed broadly to include related concepts such as sub cultural, national, ethno linguistic, and racial identity.”(2007). Some sociologists consider race as a one of the main parts of our lives. Holdaway remarks that “we conceptualized race as constructed through social processes within the everyday world.”(1997).

The concept “race” depends on morphological differences of people which are arised from genotypic distinction. According to L. L. Snyder, Comte de Buffon used the word "race" in a technical sense to refer to morphologically distinct human groups as early as 1749. In 2003, The Genome Project which was performed to uncode human genome was completed. Results show that we are all 99.9% identical. This means that only 0.1% of our genome is unique to us. One tenth of this difference is associated with race, such as skin color and hair texture which is 0.01% of our genetic make-up. This minor difference creates incredible variance among people. In addition to this, completion of sequencing of the human genome has provided both natural and social scientists the opportunity to obtain new knowledge about the relationships between our socio-politically constructed definitions of human genetic variation, race, and health differences.

The Human Genome Project caused some new medical applications which are unique to some races. In June 2005, the first and only race-specific drug, BiDil, for the treatment of congestive heart failure among self-identified blacks was approves by the U.S. Federal Drug Administration. The approval of BiDil adonly for "Blacks” has been widely discussed. In 2007, Duster has indicated that BiDil has raised a number of concerns about the future direction of health dissimilar research and role of race in clinical decision making.

Before genetics researches, biological assumptions were much more sharp. In this period, some biologists use the term race to refer to breeds of domesticated species like dogs, cattle, corn, wheat, etc. Results of genetic studies were surprising for the scientists, but further studies showed that this minor difference is meaningful in terms of medicine. It was seen that some genetic disorders are unique to some races. This is significant to show that race is not only visual differences of people, but also a physiological property of them.

After this biological perspective, “racism” appears as an ideological belief. The place to begin is to notice the essential difference between “racist theory” and “racist practice”. Racism is more likely an unequal practice which is applied on a racial group. Since racism, as a practice that is discrimination, is an essential part of an unequal system, one should not be surprised to see that it has been supported by different theories such as the Evolutionary Theory throughout the history. This inequality can be listed under a series of topics such as social status, education, and economic. Lower racial groups are enforced to be in the lowest economic level by different intended applications. This causes social and educational gap between racial groups. Avrutin indicates that “Patterns of discrimination based on immutable and indelible physical characteristics formed the essence of modern racism(s), although the precise contours varied according to each social, political, economic, and cultural context.”

This phenomenon is created in a person's mind during childhood period by cultural codes of dominant culture. Racism is more likely to be related with cultural identity of a person which is learned by time in the early period of the lifetime. This identity becomes an integrated part of personal point of view of during person's maturation.

Common understanding of racism is rooted most fundamentally from history of humanism instead of biological sooths, not as a theory but as a practice.

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