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{{Race}}

The term '''race''' or '''racial group''' refers to dividing the human species according to physical characteristics that are [[heritable|inherited]].<ref>Heritable = passed on to [[wikt:succeeding|succeeding]] [[wikt:generations|generations]]</ref> The most widely used human racial types are those based on visual [[Trait (biology)|traits]] (such as [[human skin colour|skin colour]], [[cranium|cranial]] or [[face|facial features]], [[hair|hair texture]]).<ref>Bamshad, Michael and Steve E. Olson. [http://schools.tdsb.on.ca/rhking/departments/science/bio/evol_pop_dyn/does_race_exist.pdf "Does race exist?"], ''Scientific American Magazine'' (10 November 2003).</ref>

When classifications of human races were first done, there were relatively few inter-racial marriages. Since then the number of mixed-race people has increased greatly. For them, the old structure does not work well. Official forms, such as the [[census]], usually ask responders to describe their [[ethnic]] origin. This is a way of saying "what racial group do you think you are?"

Some scientists argue that although race is a safe [[taxonomy|taxonomic]] concept in other species, it cannot be applied to humans.<ref>Keita S.O.Y. ''et al.'' 2004 Conceptualizing human variation. ''Nature Genetics'' '''36''', S17-S20 [http://www.nature.com/ng/journal/v36/n11s/full/ng1455.html]</ref>

More recent genetic studies indicate that skin colour may change radically over as few as 100 generations, or about 2,500 years.<ref>[http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=100057939 Your family may once have been a different color] by Robert Krulwich. Morning Edition, National Public Radio. 2 Feb 2009.</ref>

==The criteria==
===The 18th and 19th centuries===
[[File:Huxley races.png|thumb|275px|[[Thomas Henry Huxley|Huxley]]'s rather complex map of apparent 'racial categories' from ''On the geographical distribution of the chief modifications of mankind'' 1870. {{legend|#a14308|1: [[Capoid|Bushmen]]}}
{{legend|#682b05|2: [[Negroid|Negroes]]}}
{{legend|#060606|3: [[Negrito]]es}}
{{legend|#ffcccc|4: [[Mediterranean race|Melanochroi]]}}
{{legend|#328a85|5: [[Australoid]]s}}
{{legend|#ff0000|6: [[White people|Xanthochroi]]}}
{{legend|#efc417|7: [[Pacific Islander|Polynesians]]}}
{{legend|#c6520a|8: [[Mongoloid|Mongoloids A]]}}
{{legend|#cb780a|8: [[Mongoloid|Mongoloids B]]}}
{{legend|#cb970a|8: [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|Mongoloids C]]}}
{{legend|#f9b90d|9: [[Eskimo|Esquimaux]]}}
Huxley states: 'It is to the Xanthochroi and Melanochroi, taken together, that the absurd denomination of "Caucasian" is usually applied'.<ref>[[Thomas Henry Huxley|Huxley T.H.]] 1870. [http://aleph0.clarku.edu/huxley/SM3/GeoDis.html On the geographical distribution of the chief modifications of mankind] ''Journal of the Ethnological Society of London''</ref>]]

[[Johann Friedrich Blumenbach]]'s classification, first proposed in 1779,<ref>The anthropological treatises of Johann Friedrich Blumenbach. Google Books [http://books.google.com/books?id=u9QKAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA312#PPA312 The anthropological treatises of Johann Friedrich Blumenbach]</ref> was widely used in the 19th century, with many variations.
*the [[Caucasian race]] or white race
*the [[Mongoloid race|Mongolian]] or yellow race
*the [[Malay race|Malayan]] or brown race
*the [[Negro|Ethiopian]], or black race
*the [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|American]] or red race.

===The early 20th century===
[[File:Meyers b11 s0476a.jpg|thumb|275px|thumb|Map from Meyers (1885-90) with breakdown of Hungarians, Finns, American Indians (Amerindians) and Turkic peoples to the "Mongoloid race" and Semites by the "White race"]]

By about the [[First World War]] the scientifically inclined Europeans were sub-dividing the 'White race' in to 3 or 4 supposed sub-races, which were:
* Blond hair, white skinned, blue or grey eyes = [[Aryan]]s/[[Nordic]] (e.g. across northern Europe from [[Russia]] to northern Britain)
* Dark haired, white skinned, brown eyed = [[Alpine]] (e.g. some Russians, English and [[Welsh people|Welsh]]).
* Dark haired, suntanned/olive skinned, brown eyed, aquiline nose = Mediterranean (e.g. southern Italians and [[Maltese people|Maltese]]).
* Red hair, suntanned/olive or white skinned, brown eyes = [[Anglo-Celtic]]/[[Gaelic]] (e.g. [[Scots]], [[Irish people|Irish]] and Dutch).

There was much prejudice based upon this perception of the world. The Europeans and Orientals both regarded themselves as superior to the other skin colours. Racism, a non-scientific theory or [[ideology]], was that a particular race was [[superior]] or [[inferior]]. It advocated that in the races that make up the human race, there are deep, biologically determined differences. It also states races should live separately and not intermarry. A supporter of racism is called a [[racist]]. These attitudes in turn supported the horrors of African [[slavery]], [[Apartheid]], the [[Jim Crow law]]s, [[Nazism]] and [[Japanese imperialism]].

===Mid 20th century===
[[File:Stoddard race map 1920.jpg|thumb|225px|Stoddard 'race' map from the 1920s which divides humanity in to 4 skin colour groups (Black, Brown, Yellow and White).]]

The mid 20th century racial classification by American anthropologist [[Carleton S. Coon]], divided humanity into five races:

*Caucasoid (White) race
*Negroid (Black) race
*Capoid (Bushmen/Hottentots) race
*Mongoloid (Oriental/ Amerindian) race
*Australoid (Australian Aborigine and Papuan) race

In his landmark book ''[[The Races of Europe]]'', Coon defined the [[Caucasian Race]] as encompassing the regions of [[Europe]], [[Central Asia]], [[South Asia]], the [[Middle East]], [[North Africa]], and [[Horn of Africa|Northeast Africa]].<ref>Carleton S. Coon 1962. [http://www.snpa.nordish.net/racesofeurope.htm ''The origin of races''] New York: Knopf.</ref> His work drew some charges of obsolete thinking or outright [[racism]] from a few critics, but some of the terminology he employed continues to be used even today, although the "-oid" suffixes now have in part taken on negative connotations.<ref>"Race" in [http://www.bartleby.com/64/C006/057.html#RACE The American Heritage Book of English Usage] A practical and authoritative guide to contemporary English.</ref>

In the 21st-Century, Coon's role came under further critical scrutiny when [[Prof. John P Jackon Jr]], noted that the American Coon, "actively aided the segregationist cause in violation of his own standards for scientific objectivity.".<ref>John P Jackon Jr 2001.[http://www.springerlink.com/content/p88h611675861p41/ “In ways unacademical”: the reception of Carleton S. Coon's ''The Origin of Races''. ''Journal of the History of Biology''.]</ref>

==Social Darwinism and race==
[[Social Darwinism]] refers to various ideologies based on a concept that competition is active among all individuals, or even whole nations as [[social evolution]] in human societies.<ref>{{cite book|last=Johnson|first=D. Paul|title=Contemporary Sociological Theory|publisher=Springer|location=Berlin|year=2008|pages=492|chapter=The historical background of social darwinism|quote=In the social realm the competitive struggle may be among individuals or among different groups within society, different societies, or different racial or ethnic populations.|isbn=0387765212}}</ref>

It is a social adaptation of the theory of [[natural selection]] as proposed by [[Charles Darwin]]. ''[[Natural selection]]'' explains success in various animal populations as the outcome of competition between individual [[organism]]s for limited resources. This idea is popularly known as "[[survival of the fittest]]", a term first used by [[Herbert Spencer]], not Darwin.

Fascist movements have commonly held [[Social Darwinism|social Darwinist]] views of nations, races, and societies <ref>Payne, Stanley G. 1945. pp. 485-486</ref> In[[Nazi]] [[Germany]], the Nazis used social [[Darwinism]] to promote their [[Racialism|racialist]] idea of the German nation was part of the [[Aryan race]] and believed in the competition of races.<ref>Hawkins, Mike. 1997. ''Social Darwinism in European and American thought, 1860-1945: nature as model and nature as threat''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 282 & 284</ref> The Nazis tried to strengthen the ‘Aryan race’ in Germany by murdering those they regarded as inferior. By this they meant Jews, [[Slavs]], [[Gypsey|gypsies]] and [[disabled people]].

===Race and intelligence (IQ)===
It was believed until recently that race and [[IQ]] were connected. The fact that environment, such as [[school]]ing and [[alcohol]] consumption/boozing has a significant effect on IQ undermines the case for the use of IQ data as a source of genetic information.<ref name="race_myth">{{cite web|url=http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0813533023/ |title=biological theories of race page165 |publisher=Amazon.com |date= |accessdate=2009-04-18}}</ref><ref name="race_myth"/><ref name="race_myth2">{{cite web|url=http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/B000F7113I/ |title=page183 |publisher=Amazon.com |date= |accessdate=2009-04-18}}</ref><ref name="race_myth2"/>

This prejudice was partially applied in Europe and the USA to the [[Aborigines|Australian Aborigines]], [[Native Americans|Amerindians]], [[Black people|Blacks]], [[Roma people|Gypsies]], [[Russians]] and Russia's [[Chechnya|Chechen]]s tribes.

== Biology ==
In [[Race (biology)|biology]], a race is a [[population]], a group within a [[species]]. The race will show differences from other groups in the species, but not so much as to form a [[subspecies]]. A subspecies is a formal category in the [[biological classification]] system; a race is not.

==Pictures and maps==
<gallery>

File:JimCrowInDurhamNC.jpg|A racially segregated bus station in [[Durham, North Carolina]], 1940. The [[Jim Crow Law]]s racially separated parts of America between Blacks and Whites.

Image:BilliardHallForColored.jpg|A billiard hall for only [[African Americans]], in [[Memphis, Tennessee]], 1939.

File:WhiteDoorColoredDoor.jpg|The cafe has two entry doors for two rooms: one for "Whites" only and "Coloureds" only.

Image:Segregation 1938b.jpg|An African-American youth at a drinking ‘coloured only’ [[water fountain]] in a courthouse lawn in [[Halifax, North Carolina]], 1938.

File:Åmlibunad skaut.jpg|[[Norway|Norwegians]] were classed as ‘Aryans‘.

File:Bandana.jpg|[[Portugal|Portuguese]] were classed as ‘[[Mediterranean]]s‘.

File:AnatolyPushkov.jpg|[[Mayor]] Mr [[Anatoly Pushkov]], of [[Togliatti]] in [[Russia]], would have been classed as an 'Alpine'. He was [[elected]] in 2008.

File:Iraqi girl smiles.jpg|Arabs were classed as ‘Middle Eastern’.

File:Khotan-melikawat-chicas-d02.jpg|The Chinese [[Urger]] were classed as ‘Orientals’.

File:Hmong women at Coc Ly market, Sapa, Vietnam.jpg|The [[Vietnam]]ese [[Hmong people|Hmong]] tribe were classed as ‘Orientals’.

File:Apache bride.jpg| Amerindians, like the [[Apache]], were classed as ‘Orientals’.

File:Komi peoples.jpg|The [[Komi]] of [[Siberia]] were classed as supposed ‘Orientals’ or an Oriental and Aryan mix.

File:Azerigirls.JPG| [[Azeri]]s would have been classed as either 'Orientals' ''or'' 'Middle Eastern'

File:Jaipur-India n001.jpg|[[India]]ns were classed as ‘Indics’.

File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-R04247, Ungarn, Sinti und Roma beim Tanzen.jpg|Gypsies were classed as ’Indics’, They face persecution even in 1920's [[Hungary]]. The picture was taken in 1928.

File:On the beach galleryfull.jpg|[[Gambian]]s were classed as ‘Negroids’.

File:Iglu building 1 1998-03-30.jpg|The [[Inuit]] were once wrongly classified as an 'early offshoot' of the [[human race]].

File:Pitesamisk beiarn 2005.jpg| [[Lapps]] were also once classified as a supposed early off shoot of the human race.

</gallery>

== Related pages ==
*[[Racism]]
*[[Apartheid]]
*[[Nazis]]
*[[Fascist]]
*[[Discrimination]]
*[[Race (biology)]]

==Sources==
{{Reflist|2}}

[[Category:Migration]]
[[Category:World War II]]
[[Category:History]]
[[Category:Biology]]
[[Category:Nazism]]