Race

The term race in its modern sense was first used in the 1700s by Europeans and European Americans to refer to what is now also called a “racial group.” Initially, race referred to biological differences believed to exist as distinctions between individuals or groups; however, racial groups can be understood as identity groupings as well as government-protected categories. Although race was once believed to signify significant biological differences, nearly all social scientists now refer to race as a social construct.

Race as a social construct can also signify differences or distinctions in an existing racial hierarchy. In a society, the process of racial “othering” or differentiation of “us” from “them” often causes significant changes in major societal institutions through embedded forms of racial discrimination, prejudice, and stereotyping. Given a racial hierarchy—a system of stratification—substantial inequality among a society's racially defined groups can persist for centuries. As a racial hierarchy can exist in various institutions, its effects continue as an outcome of inaccurate stereotyping and imaging. Although the initiation of racial stereotypes as a means of differentiating or categorizing individuals evolved centuries ago, they can still persist as a method of enforcement of a racial hierarchy.

As a concept, race is a societal problem in the area of social differentiation when manifested in racism, with its many types of discrimination. White-generated racism today takes various forms. Symbolic racism involves the beliefs held by many whites that blatant racial discrimination is no longer significant and people of color are now making illegitimate demands for social and racial change. A related view is color-blind racism. A consequence of symbolic or color-blind racism occurs through what some call “reverse discrimination.” Reverse discrimination is a recent term used to signify belief in the existence of unfair government remedial policies induced to benefit people of color at a direct cost to whites. Another term held by social scientists is systemic racism, which encompasses not only white prejudices and stereotypes but also white emotions, discriminatory practices, and discriminatory institutions that are integral to the long-term domination of African Americans and other Americans of color. The reality of systemic racism is visible in discriminatory practices in areas such as, but not limited to, housing, health care, education, labor markets, politics, and government.

In 1997, the Census Bureau revised its data collection methods of race to signify the self-selection of race by respondents. Now, the conception of race held by the Census Bureau reflects a social definition of race. The Census conception does not use biological or genetic criteria but refers to what an individual in question perceives his or her own race to be. Because of this change, the Census Bureau currently has racial categories of American Indian or Alaska Native; Asian; Black or African American; Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander; and White. In addition, a new category of “Other Race” now appears on the Census questionnaire, as well as an ethnic category of “Hispanic” to encompass people of Latin American origin, who can be of any race.