The Individual and Society: Understanding Race as a Social Construct

The Individual and
Society
Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY ..................................................................................................................................3
Social construct theory ...............................................................................................................3
White racial identity model ........................................................................................................5
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Social construct is defined as something which does not have objective existence in
reality but is shaped and sustained because of human interaction. Social construct come in
hesitance because of humans agree and accept social construct as part of daily lives. The present
report aims to understand the extent to which race and racial identities are social constructed.
Suitable theories are used in this report to understand the modern concept of race it's extent as a
social construct. In addition to this, theories of racial identity are also used to highlight the social
construct of race.
MAIN BODY
To what extent is race socially constructed?
Social construct theory
Social constructionism is a theory is sociology theory which states that characteristics
which are usually understood as immutable and biological such as gender, race, class, sexuality
and ability are created by human interaction and shaped by cultural and historical contexts. This
theory uncovers the ways in which categories of race and gender such as men, women, Black,
White are concepts which are developed, changed and reproduced with the help of historical
processes within institutions and culture (Adams, 2019). This theory does not ignore existence of
bodily variation but it states that society constructs categories on the basis of certain bodily
features and attaches meaning to these categories. This leads to division of human in such
categories on the basis of their features which perpetuates such classification and acceptance of
the socially constructed category. This theory states that identities are not solely based on strict
biological characteristics but are based on social perceptions which are assumed and not factual
(Ali, 2020).
Race as per this theory is social construct because the basis on which people are divided
into racial categories is based on social perception instead of genetic differences which are
present in individuals with different bodily features such as their skin colour. In case of Africa
and Europe there is not single genetic different between native Europeans and native Africans
which depicts the absence of any biological basis for racial identity (Bowleg and et. al., 2017). In
addition to this the role of racial assumptions shaping and informing racial identity between
different region is another factor which furthers the idea of social construction of race. An