Throughout history, people have attempted to define racial groups based on physical characteristics, social perceptions, and self-identification. Various definitions of race and ethnicity have emerged, including categories like white, black, Indian, and Asian. These classifications can confuse research, stigmatize individuals and groups, and impose unfair standards of race and ethnicity.1
Although there are many differences between race and ethnicity, they have some important things in common. Both are social constructs that influence our attitudes and perceptions, both are influenced by culture and genetics, and they both affect how we live our lives. In fact, some of the most significant differences in how we live our lives are a result of social constructions of race and ethnicity.
In the United States, we use the concept of race to organize our society and to determine who receives certain benefits and privileges while others do not. It is clear that race has serious, real, and definitive consequences on people’s everyday experiences and that ignoring or downplaying the role of race in our society will lead to an injustice for many people.
Race has become one of the most pervasive and insidious features of the American identity, and racial hierarchy is woven into all aspects of American life, including how people interact with each other, how they learn about the world around them, how they are treated by others, and what their chances are for success and opportunity.
The current system of racial classification in the United States has several important flaws that must be addressed to end racism and its harmful effects on all Americans. The most important flaw is that it creates inequalities by dividing people into distinct, unequal groups that are defined and influenced by cultural perceptions and historical events. These inequalities then have far-reaching economic and political implications.
For example, a recent study found that African Americans have significantly less wealth than their white counterparts because of a complex interplay of factors including housing discrimination and the long-lasting effects of slavery.3 These structural inequalities make it difficult for African American families to save and build wealth. This lack of wealth, in turn, makes it even harder for them to gain access to mortgage market lending and tax-advantaged retirement savings.4
Another key flaw in the current system is that it uses a combination of fst and evolutionary lineage definitions of race to categorize individuals. The fst definition requires that the genetic differentiation exceeds a quantitative threshold, while the evolutionary lineage definition requires that the genetic separation fits a tree-like evolutionary structure. Both of these requirements are flawed, but neither is sufficient on its own to support the existence of races in humans.
Despite the flaws in the current system, it is likely to be a while before there is a consensus on how to better identify and categorize a population of individuals. Until then, researchers need to be careful in how they use and present data that includes information about a person’s racial group.