Why do people believe there is no such thing as race?

Question

The scientist that came to the conclusion there is 'no such thing as race', and 'there is more variation within populations than between them' was shown to be only correct in the most limited sense when you dealt with one gene at a time. That argument was blown out of the water by a paper titled 'Lewontin's fallacy', and yet I still keep seeing people typing out the stats from his work (which is now more than 35 years out of date, and done when DNA analysis was in it's infancy). I've even seen it in the American anthroplogical Association statement on race.

Why does this one persons incorrect conclusion still dominate the media, when better studies showed him to be wrong? Studies on multiple genes showed that is was near imposible to mis-identify someones ancient geographic race when you are studying more than fifteen loci?

Answer 1

Most people that work in the field recognize various subspecies of Homo sapiens.  (H sapiens sapiens, H sapiens africanis, H sapiens tasmanius,etc) but do not use the words race or tribes because there is no further need for subdivision as there is in, for example, orchids.

ALso, there dosn't seem to be a good formal defintion or crtiteria for using the word race when people try to apply it to human beings.  Most people that consider themselves racists really should consider themselves "subspeciesest" but probably don't because they know it will hold thems up for even more ridicule.

Answer 2

Scientifically:

There is undeniable evidence proving that tribal groups living differently and geographically isolated from other tribes, took on unique characteristics.

Some shortened, or grew taller. Some became stocky and thick, others elongated. Skin tones adapted to meet the environmental stresses.

The human body adapts to its environment. Recent technological advances in travel have changed the phenomena, allowing the once isolated human tribes to share alleles. So perhaps race among humans only exists until barriers keeping them isolated break away.

Socially:

Which countries follow the belief of race among humans?

This idea has ,at times, been grossly manipulated to bolster nationalism and create fear through alienation and possibly a hate toward any outsiders. Religion is another tool that can be unnaturally manipulated to make citizens see differences where, before, none existed.

In conclusion humans haven't been living long enough, nor been isolated from each other for enough time to evolve into incompatible and seperate races. The variations evident are proof that evolutionary lines may have seperated humans into groups, had the process continued for a while longer (not sure on the time hear).

P.S. Brian's Answer seems the most honest so far... (including my own answer). But his answer is also the least relevant as it gives no answer at all. Bra__Vo!

Answer 3

Race of course exists, but not in the strictly defined 19th & early 20th century context. Certain characteristics can be attributed to race, as a general rule, because of genetic inheritance.  Political correctness has infected the Social Sciences to the point where many honestly "believe" the concept of race doesn't exist.  Granted racism has long been a thorn in the side of the scientific World, but denying that races exist is far flung fantasy.

I personally perfer Haplogroups as a means of identifying a person's heritage... although a person containing very remote ancestors can be improperly identified as a person of that "race"  if only MtDNA & Y Chromosome DNA are tested.  We've identified other genes that are more reliable than those at determining a person's characteristics.

Undoubtably Africa contributed the majority of sapien genes, but far from all of them.  The "Out of Africa" crowd of Anthropoligists have been some of the main purveyers of misinformation on genetics... possibly due to ignorance but possibly due guarding some of their closely held hypothesis too.

Answer 4

I do realize there are variations in a race and there is no race that is 100 per cent pure and there are blending along borders (that sort of thing) but I agree that clearly there are races.  I am married to a Chinese woman.  Her family clearly shares physical characteristics in common that are easily recognizable.  The same is true for the Kung! San, the ******, Caucasian, Polynesians, etc.  I hear the term "ethnic group" being more favored but clearly for me I still believe there are races. I believe we are close enough so that none can be assumed superior to others.  That might be why some people want to get rid of the term so that it isn't used to suggest some sort of superiority.. Science shouldn't work that way.  You shouldn't close your eyes to an obvious fact purely for social reasons IMO.  I like your rainbow analogy.  Just because there isn't blurring around the edges doesn't mean that there is no red, for example

Answer 5

there is a race...we are all Earthlings, with slight regional variations

Answer 6

That's life. The weirder one always wins, which is not necesarly the right one.

Answer 7

Because some people think that wishful thinking can change reality.

Answer 8

interesting. i've read all the answers and your question. the reason i think there is no such thing as "race" is because it was beaten into me all of a sudden by my anthropology class, as well as the textbook. although, i have to admit, when i first heard it from the professor,  the term "politically correct" popped into my head and  i was very skeptical. then he made us read an article by a couple UCLA professors saying that the concept of "race" is bad biology, and the article also explained that we cannot naturally and scientifically be separated into "races" and went on and on, and i felt i was in no position to go against all of these sources when i knew so little about the subject.

now i dont kno what to believe as of right now. what my professors, textbook, and other professors claim. or what ive read from some random people on the internet (no sarcasm meant). i'll just keep an open mind, and decide for myself when i learn more of physical anthropology.

Answer 9

The problem with race is that it assumes that there are certain physical (and, often, personality) characteristics that are linked when, in fact, they are not.  It also assumes that one can divide people into strict, separate groups.

Answer 10

You are right. There are 5 races. White, Black, Red, Yellow, and Brown. The Mongolians are a sub-race. The vast majority of scientific knowledge comes from the white race.

Answer 11

cats mate and produce cats with other cats

dogs ditto

ducks ditto

geese ditto

cattle ditto

etc., etc

then human beings ditto?!?! Well now what does that tell you? Well it tells me that indeed there should be no such thing as racial divisions as if we were not supposed to be the same (ie., incompatible genetically) unions of 'different' people would not produce offspring. You don't need to be a scientist to understand that simple fact!