Does

‘Race’ Exist Essay, Research Paper

DOES RACE EXIST.

Many sociologists believe that races do not exist therefore have to find alternative groupings to study racism or patterns of racial disadvantage in the United Kingdom. There exist many differing theories but no finite method of determining the true cause of racism. This dissertation will outline the different theories used by sociologists and attempt to show the patterns of ethnic disadvantage present in Britain.

Racism is thought by many to be the notion that some ethnic groups are naturally superior to others. The Oxford Dictionary s definition of the word race is

A group of persons of common stock

and that racism is the belief that

Human abilities are determined by race .

(Oxford Dictionary 1986: 445)

Although Race and Racism are defined in the oxford dictionary sociologists claim that races do not exist. They have considered the work of human biologists who in turn have studied the genes of many individuals that are said to be associated with different races . The results of these studies show that there is no distinctive gene that defines which race a person belongs to. Blood groups have been examined and results show that while some races have higher tendencies to certain blood types, no one race has been found to have one particular blood type unique to their origin. Due to there being no conclusive biological evidence biologists refer to different races as different populations. Any cultural differences are said to be ethnic differences, not differences in race.

There is a belief that if race does not exist then sociologists can t rightfully use the term in their study of different populations. It is due to this belief that they must find alternative ways of analysing population differences. The history of race is important to examine in the attempt to show why ordinary people, known as actors, still think that race exists.

Racism is thought to have always existed. The Romans considered slaves as being inferior to themselves, but there has been no scientific evidence to support claims of superiority. In the early 18th century until early in the 19th century there was a progressive belief that there was basic similarity between all men, that social differences were due to the environment. This view was overridden by the rise of scientific racism where all social differences found previously were labelled and explained as natural . But again race has never been a scientific concept. It was due to this that in the 20th century political/moral reasons forced scientific racism into decline and was eventually replaced by cultural racism, which shares the same beliefs.

Racism is thought to be a set of beliefs and racial discrimination the set of practices that are synonymous with these beliefs. There are several contrasting views of racism and racial discrimination. The functionalist model looks upon it via the perspective of race relations, that racism exists due to the creation of bad relations between races . Due to race not existing, functionalists study situations that are apparent in society. They look at events which actors define as racial, and by this expedient they examine the processes of racialism.

John Rex a radical weberian believes in the conflictional view that competition over scarce resources in different markets is the cause of conflict between Afro-Caribbean s, Asians and whites in relation to employment and housing (Bulmer et al, 1999:335). He say s that it is not due to the lower wages which ethnic minorities receive.

The Marxist perspective focuses on labour relations. An ideology masking contradiction of capital between capitals need for free labour and nationalism. Robert Miles, a hard line Marxist believes that class is the determining factor and all inequalities derive from class inequalities. Miles is very much alone in his claim but gives the example of the white working class fearing immigrants due to a rise in unemployment levels and a decline in standard of living. However, Miles states that the immigrants were not the cause of this. He claims that capitalism was. He states many find this hard to see because:

We are offered definitions and theories of racism which are so specific to the history of overseas colonisation (that is specific to the domination of white over black as so many writers express it) that they are of little value in explaining any other non-colonial) context

(Miles, R (Bulmer et al, 1999:344))

Another Marxist theory focuses on wider relations. Race has no reality but can be used in analysis, this theory is concerned with racial politics and how they may be independent of class. Marxists who follow this belief say that groupings and conflicts intersect, and may not actually be connected with class.

With the term race being seen as invalid by many people the question has arisen. Are we better to talk about ethnicity rather that race .

Ethnicity is a sense of identity to a group that shares a common history. Ethnic groups are also held together by ties of language, culture and group spirit that are now referred to as nationalism. There are also territorial ties, although many ethnic groups had previously left their homeland they still share a common geographical link. The term ethnicity is often confused with race , again when talki