Encyclopedia of Opinion
Question
What is "race"?
Position‹2 of 3›

Race is a social construct

This position holds that race is a social construct rather than a biological fact. It argues that there is no scientific evidence that humans divide into distinct biological races, that racial categories shift across time and place, and that race is self-identified and changeable.

Supporting arguments · 3

  1. Racial categories are specific to time and place
    Racial categories vary across time and places all over the globe which is evidence that race is a shifting, social construct.
  2. Race is self-identified, self-determined, and subject to change
    Race is a part of one's identity that only the individual has the full potential to discover, expand, and determine. As people transition through different phases of life, understand aspects of their culture, and develop new meanings of race, they can also identify their race differently.
  3. There is no scientific evidence humans are biologically divided into races
    Scientific advances have allowed scientists to better understand human populations and migration.