Is Caucasian a race or an ethnicity?

Question

Is Caucasian a race or an ethnicity?

Answer 1

race

Ethnicity would be an origin like indian or japanese etc...

Answer 2

Hi,

It is one of the races.

Cheers,

Michael

Answer 3

A race.

Answer 4

An ethnicity..if you are refering to white people the actual term is europoid..look it up

Answer 5

The construct of "race" is a social construct that hard scientists and the majority of sociologists and social scientists do not recognise in the accepted sense. Neither is Caucasian an ethnic grouping such as Italian, Mexican or Anglo-Saxon. So Caucasian is in essence a  label used to justify the hierarchy of "race" that is prevalent in western cultures to the detriment of the non white peoples.

Answer 6

The confusion stems from the fact that until recently, science taught us that there were three races" Caucasoid, ******* and Mongoloid.

We didn't know, at the time, that this was...bad science.

Now the human genome has been traced...we are all the same race. So, a Caucasian is an ethnic group, not a race.

I just read that the sanctimonious bots at YA have deleted the term Neg roid, as socially unacceptable.

I suppose it matters not that the term is an accepted scientific term.

Our race is: Homo Sapien Sapiens.

Welcome your black, brown, red and yellow relatives; we are all one race.

Answer 7

neither, it is a langauge family spoken in eastern europe and western asia.

Answer 8

race.

race has to do with skin color, ethnicity is cultural.

Answer 9

It is a complex issue and there seem to be no clear and simple answer, I suppose. If ethnicity is cultural and race is physical attribute, as many of my friends seem to have answered above, here is my concern. Let’s take two Frenchmen, for example.  One is white and the other is black although such clear cut divide-black & white is dubious.  They, the two French guys, were born and spent almost all their time in France. They practice French culture (s) and fluent speakers of the French language. Can we safely say they belong to the same ethnic group?  What I am saying is that cultural attributes alone may not do justice or satisfy the complexity surrounding ethnicity and race. My answer to you is that race and ethnicity overlap of course to a larger extent. Ethnicity is much broader than race. I often find the following definition of ethnic not ethnicity useful. Ethnic refers to: "Of or relating to a sizable group of people sharing a common and distinctive racial, national, religious, linguistic, or cultural heritage" (http://www.thefreedictionary.com/ethnic)...  However, race appears to be mostly a physical attribute.

Answer 10

If you are talkin scientifically, then it is a race.  The same as with Asian, Neggroid, Polynesian, NativeAmerican (First Nation) etc.

Socially it can be anything.

Answer 11

Well really its neither unless your from the Caucus Mountain region. There is no such thing as race, it was just thought up by scientist to classify human beings and for Europeans to make themselves feel superior than the rest of the world. The term Caucasian was coined by J.F Blumenbach.He attributed racial differences to the influences of climate. He did not believe ranking based on presumed mental ability. He felt whites set standard and other races followed. He coined the term “Caucasian” because he felt the people of the Caucus Mountains “produced the most beautiful race of men.” These included people from Europe, western Asia and North Africa. He used the term degenerations in the literal meaning of departure from the original or initial form of humanity at creation. He felt that humans were one species and our differences stemmed from the different regions and climates that humans lived.  

If you'd like to know more about this subject I suggest you may want to read The Mismeasure of Man

by Stephen Jay Gould. I had to read that for a physical Anthropology class it was real good book.

Answer 12

Per M-W Dictionary:  Race

category of humankind that shares certain distinctive physical traits

Ethnicty would tie in country of origin.

Answer 13

a race

Answer 14

race

Answer 15

It's a race; therefore, it's a social construct, and its roots are ridiculous.

Answer 16

race. like if you're black, that's a race. if you're against blacks, then you're a RACEist. Get it?

Answer 17

ethnicity

Answer 18

Ethnicity: Identity with or membership in a particular racial, national, or cultural group and observance of that group's customs, beliefs, and language.

Race: 1. a group of persons related by common descent or heredity.  

2. a population so related.  

3. Anthropology. a. any of the traditional divisions of humankind, the commonest being the Caucasian, Mongoloid, and *****, characterized by supposedly distinctive and universal physical characteristics: no longer in technical use.  

There you go! :-)

Answer 19

It's a racial classification, generally applied to Europeans, Arabs, some Indians and Pakistanis, Afghanis,North Africans and some people from the horn of Africa countries.

It is NOT an ethnic classification.

Cau·ca·sian (kô-kzhn, -kzhn)

adj.

1. Anthropology Of or being a major human racial classification traditionally distinguished by physical characteristics such as very light to brown skin pigmentation and straight to wavy or curly hair, and including peoples indigenous to Europe, northern Africa, western Asia, and India. .

2. Of or relating to the Caucasus region or its peoples, languages, or cultures.

3. Of or relating to a group of three language families spoken in the region of the Caucasus mountains, including Chechen, Abkhaz, and the Kartvelian languages.

n.

1. Anthropology A member of the Caucasian racial classification. Not in scientific use.

2. A native or inhabitant of the Caucasus.

3. The Caucasian language family.