The term race describes a way of grouping people based on their physical traits. Most scientists today believe that race is a social construct without biological validity, but it is not uncommon to open a scientific journal and see that researchers still use categories like “white” and “black.”
For many Americans, the concept of race is closely associated with discrimination, inequality and prejudice. However, there is disagreement among scholars, lawyers, teachers, and policymakers about how best to address racism in society. Some argue that race is a complex, dynamic phenomenon that requires an understanding of history and culture, while others advocate for a more narrow focus on individual attitudes and behaviors.
The idea of race emerged from the European Enlightenment of the 17th century. It was part of a broader movement toward secular reasoning and rationality as a replacement for religious beliefs about the world. Scientists began to categorize the natural world anew, and eventually extended this new thinking to human beings.
By dividing humanity into different racial groups, scientists could explain differences in behavior and appearance that they previously found impossible to account for. Swedish taxonomist Carl Linnaeus divided humanity into racial types based on his belief that there were common essences shared by all humans. He described Europaaus as white, sanguine and governed by law, while Asiaticus was yellow, melancholic and ruled by opinion. These racial classifications helped justify the exploitation of slaves and other nonwhite laborers.
Race is used in some legal and criminal contexts in the United States, for example to identify suspects and victims of terrorism or other crimes, and to allocate resources within law enforcement agencies. In addition, information about a person’s race is required for many Federal programs and is important to the nation’s policymaking processes. States also use race data to meet legislative redistricting principles and promote equal employment opportunities.
In these contexts, the term race is often a useful shorthand for describing an individual’s general appearance or traits such as skin color, hair texture and eye shape. For law enforcement officers seeking to apprehend a suspect, it is generally more important to describe the individual’s overall appearance than it would be to assign them to a particular genetically defined racial category.
Some athletes also use the concept of race to structure their training and goals. For example, a runner may set an objective such as winning their age group, beating a friend or getting a personal best in order to motivate themselves through hard training. In fact, a study by the Harvard Medical School found that runners who trained with specific goals were more successful than those who simply set a target distance such as a marathon. This type of training teaches runners to be more disciplined and focus on a goal, which can also help reduce the reliance on stereotypes that can influence how a runner performs. The study was published in the journal Psychology of Sport and Exercise in 2012.