Race (human categorization)

High school (ages 12+)
People & Society

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/race-human-categorization

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is race and how did it start?Race is a way people have grouped themselves by looks. It was invented during the Enlightenment and later used by European colonizers to create a hierarchy that put Europeans at the top.
2. Why do scientists say race is not a real biological thing?Scientists now know that human genetic differences are gradual and complex. There is more variation inside so‑called racial groups than between them, so race is not a biological fact.

Social Construct: A concept or idea that exists because society as a whole agrees that it exists, influencing behavior and perception.
Clinal Variation: Gradual changes in the frequency of a trait or gene across geographic areas.
Systemic Racism: Policies and practices embedded in social institutions that result in racial inequality.
Essentialism: The belief that things have a set of characteristics that make them what they are; in race, the idea of fixed, inherent qualities.