Race’s specificity is positional rather than essential yet remains real

Evidence

Among sociologists it is common to talk about different forms of racism, processes of ‘racialization’, and even ‘racism without races’. The notion that ‘race’ is a social construct is more familiar today and indeed widely affirmed even outside the university and across the political spectrum. Just because something is a social construct, that doesn’t mean it doesn’t drive or explain individual and group outcomes in the real world. — Runnymede Trust (ed. Farah Elahi & Omar Khan), Islamophobia, 105 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Racial identity as a sign must give way to positional, political subjectivities; Race is a political and social construct, not a scientific category; Racial distinctions operate as active structuring principles, not mere historical residues (+6 more)

Related

• Socially constructed race still drives real-world outcomes for groups (similarity 0.91)
• Race exists only as a specter produced by racism, not as reality (similarity 0.86)
• Race is a social reduction to sheer force, not a natural trait (similarity 0.85)
• Race has no genetic basis yet produces real material consequences. (similarity 0.85)
• Race in racism is an explanatory idea, not an object of scientific study. (similarity 0.85)
• If race is social, race is an amalgam of practices, not proxies like phenotype (similarity 0.84)
• Race is social construction with real material consequences, not biology (similarity 0.84)
• Race is socially constructed rather than biologically real but has powerful social effects (similarity 0.84)
• Racial essences gained epistemic force from strategic shifting attributes, not fixed ones. (similarity 0.84)
• Racism is real while race itself is a myth (similarity 0.84)
• Race has no biological reality but is a potent social force (similarity 0.84)
• Ancient notions of race as biology do not match reality (similarity 0.84)
• Race and racism must be distinguished analytically and politically (similarity 0.83)
• Race is an unstable, fully-fledged social fact like class or gender (similarity 0.83)
• Race operates as an active structuring principle of present society, not a residue. (similarity 0.82)

Broader Connections

• Race has no biological reality but is a potent social force #corroborates (0.90)
• Racial distinctions operate as active structuring principles, not mere historical residues #expands (0.85)
• Socially constructed race still drives real-world outcomes for groups #expands (0.85) — Runnymede Trust (ed. Farah Elahi & Omar Khan), Islamophobia, 105
• Race lacks a singular transhistorical essence and is not fully determined by economics #corroborates (0.82)