The definition of race has changed over time, a race is a grouping of humans based on shared physical or social qualities into categories generally viewed as distinct by society. First the term race was used to refer to speakers of a common language and then to denote national affiliations. Although through till the 17th century the term race began to refer to physical traits, traits that can be physically seen.

There is a debate or a belief that anthropologists have argued whether or not race really truly exists and questions whether there are actually biological differences amongst the human population that separate individuals into distinct categories, also considered to be races. The American Association of Physical Anthropologists (AAPA) has a position statement claiming that all humans living today belong to a single species, Homo Sapiens, and they all share a common descent. All living populations on earth have evolved from that ancestral group over the same amount of time.

The American Anthropological Association (AAA) claims that “Race” thus evolved as a worldview, a body of prejudgments that distorts our ideas about human differences and group behavior. Racial beliefs constitute myths about the diversity in the human species and about the abilities and behavior of people homogenized into “racial” categories. The myths fused behavior and physical features together in the public mind, impeding our comprehension of both biological variations and cultural behavior, implying that both are genetically determined. Racial myths bear no relationship to the reality of human capabilities or behavior. Scientists today find that reliance on such folk beliefs about human differences in research has led to countless errors.

These statements show that Race is a real cultural, political and economic concept in society, but it is not a biological concept. Overall genetic differences indicate that that genetic lineages rapidly spread out to all of humanity, which means that human populations have always had a degree of genetic contact with one another, but historically they don’t show any distinct evolutionary lineages within humanity. Instead all of humanity is a single long-term evolutionary lineage.

I think this concept is really interesting and to me personally, I’ve never even thought of race not really existing as this concept of race in America is so ingrained as being biologically based and scientific. Looking over the readings and videos assigned this week I realize these social influences that have created this sense of what race is and how to categorize people. In this day and age, I think society is working so hard to eliminate these categories and these barriers that come with them and I think it’s really surprising to see that race is not rooted biologically but rather social.

I think it’s important to remember that we are all human beings that share a common descent and really this idea of race doesn’t exist. I believe if everyone knew this and everyone understood how the term race evolved and what limits it puts on individuals in society, I believe we would all be living in a completely different way of the world.