Mainstream social science historically treated race as a static independent variable.

Evidence

In prevailing social science research, race was conceptualized and operationalized ina fixed and static manner that failed to recognize the changing meaning of race over historical time and in varied social settings. Race was understood much too simply: as an independent variable that was correlated with other variables to assess the scope and degree of economic inequality, health disparities, residential segregation, or incarceration rates. — Michael Omi, Howard Winant, Racial Formation in the United States, 11

Categorization

• QUESTION: Worth investigating how this critique of race-as-variable bears on the reader’s own data-driven work across domains.