3. Defining race and culture
Race is a much debated concept. It is based on the idea that humans are divided into fixed categories with identifiable physical characteristics. The main objection in the debate surrounds the issue of race being defined in biological terms. Stuart Hall (1992) argues that categorising people in this artificial way based on the idea of ‘natural’ differences helps to justify discrimination and unequal treatment on the basis of their belonging to a particular racial group.
An understanding of race and racism is crucial for tutors who teach this subject and for their students. For example, it is important to take into account and challenge the way historical racial categorisation and classification have persisted in different forms and in ways which compound the already entrenched understandings to the detriment of many BME people.
Recently, social scientists have suggested that race is a social construction rather than biological or genetic in origin (Omi and Winant H 1986 and Winant H 2004). This perspective is supported by work in physical anthropology showing that there is at least as much variation among people within racial groups as there is between different racial groups (Jacoby and Glauerman 1995). Racial categories do, therefore, have potent social meaning. To access this meaning, we need to examine and understand the historical process whereby racial categories in Britain and the USA have been constructed and legislated to create and justify patterns of privilege, colonial relationships and disadvantage. This shows how various racial categories have been created or changed to meet the emerging economic and social needs of the privileged. Therefore, racial categories artificially emphasise the relatively small external physical differences among people and leave room for the creation of artificial notions of mental, emotional, and intellectual differences.
Defining and categorising people in this way can lead to racism. Racism is based on a set of beliefs and social processes, which operate to discriminate against some people because they are assumed to belong to a particular racial group, and the status of that racial group in relation to another racial group. Racism helps to categorise ‘others’ as naturally different and serves to justify the disadvantages particular groups of people experience when compared with other groups. These assumptions to a large extent restrict the range of opportunities available to BME people and their access to public services. This inequality is based on the idea of race, with the practice of racism seen as the basis for discrimination and disadvantage (Miles 1982). However, this has done little to reduce the continued use of the concept of race in medical, social and political contexts. This module will help to create a dialogue that will encourage staff members, course participants and students to understand the nature and impact of racism, and to become clearer about how their own racial identities can influence their experience of relative privilege or disadvantage.
Culture is a complex word with many different applications and usages. It is often used to refer to the shared rituals, symbols and practices that give a group its sense of identity. Expressed through things like language, food, dress and art, culture is a dynamic and changing concept. However, it is also used to emphasise foreignness and difference and to describe local and national communities in terms of difference.
Please complete activity 5.4 in your learning log.
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