Race And Ethnicity In America Essay

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The United States is known as the melting pot of the world. There are many different races and ethnicities represented within the United States. Many applications you are required to complete requires you to check a box and classify yourself in one of many demographics that exist. For example you are required to mark a box to identify your gender: male or female? Identify your marital status: Married or single? Some paperwork asks your “race,” or “ethnicity” such as Caucasian, Black, Asian, Latino, Pacific Islander or other? The concepts of race and ethnicity are often used to describe the same things. “A distinction can be made between the race and ethnicity. Race is nature and ethnicity is nurture; that is, birth characteristics versus cultural heritage” ("What Is the Difference"). However, there seems to be a tendency for people to substitute ethnicity for race "Some educators and researchers use ethnicity interchangeably with race because we believe they are still uncomfortable with race, racism and its role in education. But, if we abandon the concept of ‘race’ we also abandon discussions of power, domination and group conflict, economic exploitation, political power and powerlessness” (The Socially Constructed Nature of Race).…show more content…
Macionis explains that race is a concept invented by scientists over a century ago. Macionis defines race as “a socially constructed category of people who share biologically transmitted traits that members of society consider important” (Macionis 300). In other words, your race is genetic and refers to recognizable physical characteristics that are dissimilar from other races such as skin color, skin tone, eye and hair color. Race does not have customs or globally learned behavior. However, regardless of race, all humans are 99.9% genetically similar. The biggest genetic difference that exists between any two human beings is their gender ("What Is the

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