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Abandon "Race." Focus on Racism.
Paula Braveman1, Tyan Parker Dominguez2
1Department of Family and Community Medicine, Center for Health Equity, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, United States.
Frontiers in Public Health
|September 24, 2021
Summary
The term "race" is a social construct with no biological basis, originating from the slave trade. Replacing "race" with "ethnic group" can help dismantle racism and address health inequities.
Area of Science:
- Social Sciences
- Medical Ethics
- Genetics
Background:
- The concept of
- Race
- emerged in the 1600s to justify slavery and has persisted despite scientific evidence to the contrary.
- Official U.S. classifications inaccurately categorize groups like African Americans and European Americans as
- races
- while classifying Hispanic/Latino as an
- ethnicity
- , lacking scientific foundation.
- These categories reflect shared ancestry and historical experiences, including exploitation and colonization, not inherent biological differences.
Purpose of the Study:
- Propose abandoning the term
- race
- in favor of
- ethnic group
- to dismantle racism.
- Advocate for continued data collection on racialized groups to address health inequities caused by racism.
- Highlight the distinction between
- race
- (reinforcing biological notions) and
- ethnicity
- (evoking social characteristics).
Main Methods:
- Conceptual analysis of the term
- race
- and its historical context.
- Examination of scientific consensus on
- race
- as a social construct.
- Review of U.S. official classifications and their scientific validity.
Main Results:
- Race
- is a social construct with no biological basis, rooted in historical exploitation.
- Current U.S. classifications of
- race
- and
- ethnicity
- lack scientific validity.
- Geographic ancestry, while not a biological category for
- race
- , is crucial for understanding health inequities stemming from racism.
Conclusions:
- Abandoning the term
- race
- is a significant step toward dismantling racism.
- Using
- ethnic group
- instead of
- race
- can help shift focus from perceived biological differences to social and historical factors.
- Continued analysis of data from racialized groups is essential for addressing racism-related health disparities.
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