The Nature of Race: How Scientists Think and Teach about Human DifferenceWhat do Americans think “race” means? What determines one’s race—appearance, ancestry, genes, or culture? How do education, government, and business influence our views on race? To unravel these complex questions, Ann Morning takes a close look at how scientists are influencing ideas about race through teaching and textbooks. Drawing from in-depth interviews with biologists, anthropologists, and undergraduates, Morning explores different conceptions of race—finding for example, that while many sociologists now assume that race is a social invention or “construct,” anthropologists and biologists are far from such a consensus. She discusses powerful new genetic accounts of race, and considers how corporations and the government use scientific research—for example, in designing DNA ancestry tests or census questionnaires—in ways that often reinforce the idea that race is biologically determined. Widening the debate about race beyond the pages of scholarly journals, The Nature of Race dissects competing definitions in straightforward language to reveal the logic and assumptions underpinning today’s claims about human difference. |
Contents
What Do We Know about Scientific and Popular | 22 |
figures | 52 |
Lessons on Human Difference | 66 |
boxes | 77 |
Caucasoid Negroid and Mongoloid Groups 1995 | 79 |
Latin Americas Ethnic Diversity 2001 | 84 |
Selected Accounts of Racial Ancestry in World | 85 |
Malaria and SickleCell Anemia in Africa Europe and Asia 2002 | 89 |
Faculty Characteristics by Definition of Race and | 128 |
Students on Human Difference | 142 |
Student Characteristics by University | 146 |
Student Race Concepts by University | 175 |
Percentage of Department Faculty and Majors Defining Race as Socially Constructed | 182 |
Race Concepts beyond the Classroom | 191 |
The Redemption of Essentialism | 219 |
Races of Man 1958 | 238 |
SickleCell Anemia and Malaria in Africa Only 2002 | 90 |
The Races of Men 1952 | 93 |
Five Major Human Races 1976 | 97 |
Different Racial Groups 1998 | 98 |
Scientists on Human Difference | 103 |
tables | 111 |
Other editions - View all
The Nature of Race: How Scientists Think and Teach about Human Difference Ann Morning Limited preview - 2011 |
The Nature of Race: How Scientists Think and Teach about Human Difference Ann Morning Limited preview - 2011 |
Common terms and phrases
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