This is possibly trigger warning, but I mean these questions honestly and literally, without any sort of racist implication.
Why do we say that the differences among humankind (such as White, Black, Asian, Hispanic) are attributed to what we call ‘race’, and not, for instance, breed or subspecies? (Like it would be with animals.) We have different traits, such as skin color, build, and disposition to certain allergies and diseases. But yet we wouldn’t say we are a different species, we would say that we are a different race.
But why is the term race never used for anything else outside of humankind? There could be some differences among types of rams, for instance, but we would not say that the rams are of two different races. No, we would say that they are a different subspecies or something like that, even being sexually compatible just like us. And if that wasn’t the perfect example for you, then suppose that two different groups of animals are perfectly and analogously different to each other in the same way two groups of humans are different to each other racially. We would still say that the humans have a difference in race, but the animals have a difference by some other category. Why is that?
Thanks in advance, and again, I’m not saying different races are a different species, I really am just curious as to this whole naming convention. What makes differences among humans racial, but those same differences to other animals would not be racial?
In: Biology
Because our notions of race are based mostly on social convention and don’t have much to do with genetics or taxonomy.
Nominally our definitions of different races are based on skin tone which is governed by genetics but those racial definitions vary across cultures, nations, and history. Genetics determines how dark or pale your skin is but whether you’re ‘white’ or ‘black’ is pretty much based on a hodge podge of societal conventions and retroactive justification.
Meanwhile, breeding and the taxonomy of species do depend on more rigorous scientific methods including genetics but even then its messy. Scientists change their minds all the time whether or not two particular breeds of animals are a distinct species or not.
Meanwhile with breeding it really only matters to people who use animals for a particular purpose. If you’re trying to win the Westminster Dog show you’re going to need to ensure the dog meets the breeding standards set by the people at the Westminster Dog show. But if you just want a buddy to hang out with then the actual breeding requirements like the shape of the ears or length of the tail matter less than temperment or size.
Latest Answers