The term
race or
racial group usually refers to the
categorization of
humans into
populations or
groups on the basis of various sets of
heritable characteristics.
[1] The most widely used human racial
categories are based on salient visual
traits (especially
skin color,
cranial or
facial features and
hair texture), and self-identification.
[1][2]Conceptions of race, as well as specific ways of grouping races, vary by culture and over time, and are often controversial for scientific as well as social and political reasons. The controversy ultimately revolves around whether or not the concept of race is biologically warranted;[3][4] the ways in which political correctness might fuel either the affirmation or the denial of race;[3][4] and the degree to which perceived differences in ability and achievement, categorized on the basis of race, are a product of inherited (i.e., genetic) traits or environmental, social and cultural factors.
Some argue that although race is a valid taxonomic concept in other species, it cannot be applied to humans.[5] Many scientists have argued that race definitions are imprecise, arbitrary, derived from custom, have many exceptions, have many gradations, and that the numbers of races delineated vary according to the culture making the racial distinctions; thus they reject the notion that any definition of race pertaining to humans can have taxonomic rigour and validity.[6] Today many scientists study human genotypic and phenotypic variation using concepts such as "population" and "clinal gradation". Many contend that while racial categorizations may be marked by phenotypic or genotypic traits, the idea of race itself, and actual divisions of persons into races or racial groups, are social constructs.[7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14] However, the concept of race may be useful in forensic anthropology. According to forensic anthropologist George W. Gill, "race denial" not only contradicts biological evidence, but may stem from "politically motivated censorship" in the belief that "race promotes racism".[4]
According to biology and anthropology, The genus Homo were differentiated only by about 1%-2% from their nearest cousins Pan (chimpanzee) about 4 million years ago. The genus homo had several sub-species Homo habilis, Homo Erectus, Homo Neanderthalis, and the lone survivor, Homo Sapiens. African people and Asian people became very slightly differentiated some 200,000 years ago, and the various Ethnic groups in Europe became differentiated from those in Asia only about 100,000 years ago. Since Africans, Asians, and Europeans became recognizably different very recently they all have only very minor adaptations rather than Genetic diversity. All Homo Sapiens are equally capable of cognition, communication and interbreeding regardless of appearance or location.
