Race (human categorization)

=== Sociology ===
{{see also|Sociology of race and ethnic relations}}
[[Lester Frank Ward]] (1841–1913), considered to be one of the founders of American sociology, rejected notions that there were fundamental differences that distinguished one race from another, although he acknowledged that social conditions differed dramatically by race.<ref name=":2">{{cite journal |last=Frazier |first=E. Franklin |date=1947 |title=Sociological Theory and Race Relations |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_american-sociological-review_1947-06_12_3/page/265 |journal=[[American Sociological Review]] |volume=12 |issue=3 |pages=265–271 |doi=10.2307/2086515 |jstor=2086515}}</ref> At the turn of the 20th century, sociologists viewed the concept of race in ways that were shaped by the [[scientific racism]] of the 19th and early 20th centuries.<ref name=":0">{{cite book |title=Classical and Contemporary Sociological Theory |last1=Appelrouth |first1=Scott |last2=Edles |first2=Laura Desfor |publisher=[[Sage Publishing]] |date=2016 |isbn=978-1-4522-0362-1 |location=Thousand Oaks, California}}</ref> Many sociologists focused on African Americans, called [[Negro]]es at that time, and claimed that they were inferior to whites. White sociologist [[Charlotte Perkins Gilman]] (1860–1935), for example, used biological arguments to claim the inferiority of African Americans.<ref name=":0" /> American sociologist [[Charles Cooley|Charles H. Cooley]] (1864–1929) theorized that differences among races were "natural", and that biological differences result in differences in intellectual abilities<ref>{{cite journal |last=Cooley |first=Charles H. |date=May 1897 |title=Genius, Fame and the Comparison of Races |journal=Annals of the [[American Academy of Political and Social Science]] |volume=9 |issue=3 |pages=1–42 |url=https://brocku.ca/MeadProject/Cooley/Cooley_1897.html |via=Brock University |doi=10.1177/000271629700900301 |hdl=2027.42/66770 |s2cid=144674315 |hdl-access=free }} Republished as: {{cite book |chapter=Genius, Fame, and Race |date=1995 |pages=417–437 |title=The Bell Curve Debate: History, Documents, Opinions |editor1-first=Russell |editor1-last=Jacoby |editor2-first=Naomi |editor2-last=Glauberman |location=Toronto |publisher=Random House}}</ref><ref name=":2" /> [[Edward Alsworth Ross]] (1866–1951), also an important figure in the founding of American sociology, and a [[Eugenics|eugenicist]], believed that whites were the superior race, and that there were essential differences in "temperament" among races.<ref name=":2" /> In 1910, the ''Journal'' published an article by [[Ulysses G. Weatherly]] (1865–1940) that called for white supremacy and segregation of the races to protect racial purity.<ref name=":2" />

[[W. E. B. Du Bois]] (1868–1963), one of the first African-American sociologists, was the first sociologist to use sociological concepts and empirical research methods to analyze race as a social construct instead of a biological reality.<ref name=":0" /> Beginning in 1899 with his book ''The Philadelphia Negro'', Du Bois studied and wrote about race and racism throughout his career. In his work, he contended that [[social class]], [[colonialism]], and [[capitalism]] shaped ideas about race and racial categories. Social scientists largely abandoned scientific racism and biological reasons for racial categorization schemes by the 1930s.<ref name=":3">{{cite book |last=Fitzgerald |first=Kathleen J. |title=Recognizing Race and Ethnicity: Power, Privilege, and Inequality |date=2014 |location=Boulder, Colorado |publisher=Westview Press}}</ref> Other early sociologists, especially those associated with the [[Chicago school (sociology)|Chicago School]], joined Du Bois in theorizing race as a socially constructed fact.<ref name=":3" /> By 1978, [[William Julius Wilson]] argued that race and racial classification systems were declining in significance, and that instead, [[social class]] more accurately described what sociologists had earlier understood as race.<ref>{{cite book |last=Wilson |first=William Julius |date=1978 |chapter=The Declining Significance of Race: Blacks and Changing American Institutions |pages=765–776 |title=Social Stratification: Class, Race, and Gender in Sociological Perspective |editor-first=David B. |editor-last=Grusky |location=Boulder, Colorado |publisher=Westview Press}}</ref> By 1986, sociologists [[Michael Omi]] and [[Howard Winant]] successfully introduced the concept of [[Racial formation theory|racial formation]] to describe the process by which racial categories are created.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |chapter=Racial Formation in the United States |last1=Omi |first1=Michael |last2=Winant |first2=Howard |title=Social Stratification: Class, Race, and Gender in Sociological Perspective |edition=4th |publisher=Westview Press |date=2014 |editor-last=Grusky |editor-first=David B .|location=Boulder, Colorado |isbn=978-0-8133-4671-7 |page=683}}</ref> Omi and Winant assert that "there is no biological basis for distinguishing among human groups along the lines of race".<ref name=":1"/>

[[Eduardo Bonilla-Silva]], Sociology professor at Duke University, remarks:<ref>{{cite book |title=Race, Class, and Gender in the United States (text only) |edition=7th |first=P. S. |last=Rothenberg |page=131}}</ref> "I contend that racism is, more than anything else, a matter of group power; it is about a dominant racial group (whites) striving to maintain its systemic advantages and minorities fighting to subvert the racial status quo."<ref name="autogenerated2006">{{cite book |first=Eduardo |last=Bonilla-Silva |title=Racism Without Racists |edition=2nd |date=2006 |publisher=[[Rowman and Littlefield]]}}</ref> The types of practices that take place under this new color-blind racism is subtle, institutionalized, and supposedly not racial. Color-blind racism thrives on the idea that race is no longer an issue in the United States.<ref name="autogenerated2006" /> There are contradictions between the alleged color-blindness of most whites and the persistence of a color-coded system of inequality.{{citation needed|date=November 2016}}

Today, sociologists generally understand race and racial categories as socially constructed, and reject racial categorization schemes that depend on biological differences.<ref name=":3" />