Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

To sociologists, race is a system of stratification based on physical differences (“phenotypes”) that are seen as essential and permanent. These differences may be real or they may be imagined. Though individuals can and do come to identify in racial terms, race is most important as a system of categorization which is externally imposed. The fact that race is imposed externally is the major difference between it and the concept of ethnicity. While people have always found ways to stratify and differentiate in-groups from out-groups, the concept of race emerged relatively recently in human history. Many historians of race believe that the concept of race emerged with modernity and was in particular the consequence of two major developments in European society: first, the development of a capitalist ethos which blamed those who did not progress for their own fate; and second, the British experience of colonizing (and “othering”) the Irish, which lay the ground for future experiences in colonization and racial hierarchies ( Smedley 1999 ). Other analysts point to the important role of Christian religious thought in developing conceptions of race. In particular, these analysts point to the Myth of Ham, a biblical tale which tells how Noah's son Ham and his descendants were condemned to servitude because Ham “looked upon the nakedness of” his father ( McKee Evans 1980 ). This story was ... log in or subscribe to read full text