Why Genes Don’t Count (For Racial Differences In H

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Amin Zoud Anthropology 4311 – Medical Anthropology Dr. Margaret A. Graham January 30th, 2012 Critical Summary: Why Genes Don’t Count (for Racial Differences in Health) – MAR #5 In the article, “Why Genes Don’t Count (for Racial Differences in Health), the author Alan Goodman explains how using the term “race”, when clarifying biological similarities and differences, is inadequate. It depicts race as non-useful biological concept since there is no clear distinction between racial groups. “Race” was created culturally to explain biological variation in humans, but inevitably are just factors of racism and racialization. The article explains that since there is more variation in genetics within groups than between groups, that it is wrong to attribute health inequalities to genes. The profound message throughout this section is that race is not a scientifically effective biological category, and yet it remains as a socially constructed category. The article describes how race is not a proper representation for genetic or biological variations, and is rather that racial differences in disease are due to genetic differences amongst races. Within the chapter, it is explained with (six different) reasoning points on how it is harmful to think of race in terms of human biological differences. The following reasoning’s are what contributes to the idea of the myth of race as biology. 1. The concept of race is based on the idea of fixed, ideal, and unchanging types. 2. Human variation is continuous. 3. Human variation is non-concordant. 4. Within-group genetic variation is much greater than variation among “races.” 5. There is no way to consistently classify by race. 6. There is no clarity as to what race is and what it is not. The concept that each of these reasons alone does not withdraw the idea of using racial differences in

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