Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

What if race is more than a social construct?
Globe & Mail ^ | 5/10/2014

Posted on 05/10/2014 12:45:28 PM PDT by Altura Ct.

Nicholas Wade, a leading science writer whose specialty is human evolution, likes to ask interesting questions. Here are some examples:

Why has the West been the most exploratory and innovative civilization in the world for the past 500 years?

Why are Jews of European descent so massively overrepresented among the top achievers in the arts and sciences?

Why is the Chinese diaspora successful all around the world?

Why is it so difficult to modernize tribal societies?

Why has economic development been so slow in Africa?

Contemporary thinkers have offered lots of provocative answers for such questions. It’s all about geography. Or institutions. Or rice culture. Or the devastating legacy of colonialism. Or Jewish mothers. Now comes another explanation, one that bravely explores the highly dangerous elephant in the room. Mr. Wade argues that human history has also been profoundly influenced by genetics.

Part of his new book, A Troublesome Inheritance: Genes, Race and Human History, is a summary of new findings in genetic science, and part of it is highly speculative. All of it is bound to be deeply unpopular among social scientists, because it challenges their entrenched belief that race is nothing more than a social construct. The wide diversity in human societies around the world can be explained entirely by culture, they insist. We’re all the same under the skin.

Except we’re not quite. Since the sequencing of the human genome in 2003, evidence of subtle genetic differences has been piling up. As our ancestors branched out of Africa, different groups of people evolved in slightly different ways to adapt to local conditions...

(Excerpt) Read more at theglobeandmail.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: genetics
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-6061-80 ... 261-267 next last

1 posted on 05/10/2014 12:45:28 PM PDT by Altura Ct.
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: Altura Ct.
These guys thought had the answers:
2 posted on 05/10/2014 12:48:14 PM PDT by BenLurkin (This is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion or satire; or both.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: BenLurkin

Right - cause acknowledging race differences means you’re a ‘hater’.


3 posted on 05/10/2014 12:50:50 PM PDT by Altura Ct.
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: BenLurkin

Godwin’s Law!

(You lose!)


4 posted on 05/10/2014 12:51:10 PM PDT by null and void ( They don't think think they are above the law. They think they are the law.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: null and void

I’ll gladly lose for telling the truth —if those are the rules.


5 posted on 05/10/2014 12:54:19 PM PDT by BenLurkin (This is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion or satire; or both.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: Altura Ct.

I’m pretty sure — in fact I’m confident — that God sees no “racial differences” when he look down upon his creation.


6 posted on 05/10/2014 12:55:45 PM PDT by BenLurkin (This is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion or satire; or both.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Altura Ct.

bump for later read


7 posted on 05/10/2014 12:56:05 PM PDT by Tomato lover ( Jesus is Lord of all)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: BenLurkin

Source please?


8 posted on 05/10/2014 12:58:44 PM PDT by null and void ( They don't think think they are above the law. They think they are the law.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: Altura Ct.

I guess genetics affects some organs, but never the brain.


9 posted on 05/10/2014 1:00:35 PM PDT by polymuser
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: BenLurkin

I’m taking from your post that you think discussion about differences between races translates into calls for elimination of the races which are deemed ‘lessor’.

Please correct me if I took the wrong meaning.

Assuming I’m correct, how would you describe ‘The Bell Curve: Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life’, which is a scientific analysis of the differing intelligence levels between races?


10 posted on 05/10/2014 1:01:55 PM PDT by Balding_Eagle (Want to keep your doctor? Remove your Democrat Senator.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Altura Ct.

Those are only “interesting” questions because we live in a sickeningly PC society. In a logical society they would simply be “questions”.


11 posted on 05/10/2014 1:02:30 PM PDT by TalBlack (Evil doesn't have a day job.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: polymuser

Jewish and Chinese cultures place high value on education.


12 posted on 05/10/2014 1:03:38 PM PDT by Lisbon1940
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: null and void

That’s only my opinion based upon reading scripture and lifetime of Christian instruction. In fact — I’ve never heard any Christian suggest to the contrary.

But I make no claim to speak for the Creator. I can only follow Him and His Son, and pray for an indwelling of His Spirit.


13 posted on 05/10/2014 1:04:04 PM PDT by BenLurkin (This is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion or satire; or both.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: Balding_Eagle

It certainly seems to be a popular work among some who wish to divide Americans on the basis of skin color.


14 posted on 05/10/2014 1:05:46 PM PDT by BenLurkin (This is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion or satire; or both.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: TalBlack
Those are only “interesting” questions because we live in a sickeningly PC society.

Here is an "interesting" answer. One of the posters at the article stated:

The NBA is composed of 78 percent black players. According to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), African Americans constitute six times the rate of whites in prison. How can we ignore that ? It is clear that playing Basketball leads to criminality.

I hate these PC times.

15 posted on 05/10/2014 1:07:11 PM PDT by roadcat
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: Altura Ct.

“For a variety of reasons, including brutal population pressures, people developed a cluster of traits – nonviolence, literacy, thrift and patience – that gradually became the values of society as a whole. “

Yeah. They developed them. Hauled them out of the ether and put them on like a shirt. Then everything was cool.


16 posted on 05/10/2014 1:11:03 PM PDT by TalBlack (Evil doesn't have a day job.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Altura Ct.

Successful societies, before the industrial age, were the result of ample food supplies; by hunting, fishing or agriculture with beneficial water and good weather.

Geography - not genes.


17 posted on 05/10/2014 1:14:07 PM PDT by sodpoodle (Life is prickly - carry tweezers.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: BenLurkin

I was asking for what you thought of it.


18 posted on 05/10/2014 1:15:32 PM PDT by Balding_Eagle (Want to keep your doctor? Remove your Democrat Senator.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: Altura Ct.

If it is more than a social construct, then what? Would society change for better or worse? The problem with exploring this is that it seems to be the first step to segregation, apartheid and eugenics. It would contradict the rationale behind universal equality, and invite more specific categorizations deeper into genetics and beyond.

How would you feel, growing up knowing that people of your race are generally significantly better or worse to others in certain ways? Are you really going to act towards people of other races in the same way as you would your own, or view them as oppressors or liars or inferior beings?

If it is more than a social construct, and some ‘races’ are statistically more or less able to do certain things than others, wouldn’t that would facilitate self-imposed segregation? Wouldn’t that, in turn, inflame tensions between races?


19 posted on 05/10/2014 1:18:21 PM PDT by Corporate Democrat
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: sodpoodle

HuH?


20 posted on 05/10/2014 1:19:26 PM PDT by ansel12 ((Ted Cruz and Mike Lee-both of whom sit on the Senate Judiciary Comm as Ginsberg's importance fades)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-6061-80 ... 261-267 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson