RACE, ETHNICITY AND PREJUDICE

    Race and Racism  

 This historical concept of race has been subjected to significant scientific and philosophical challenges, with some leading thinkers disputing both the concept's logical coherence and the reality of races. Humans were once divided into only four races, according to certain philosophers. (usually white or Caucasian, black or African, yellow or Asian, and red or Native American), and minimized any biological or morphological differences within racial categories. Other theorists divided people into a plethora of racial groups, claiming, for example, that individuals “indigenous” to Europe might be divided into distinct Nordic, Alpine, and Mediterranean races. The ambiguities and confusion associated with determining the boundaries of racial categories have provoked a widespread scholarly consensus that discrete or essentialist races are socially constructed, not biologically real. Finally, substantial controversy surrounds the moral status of racial identity and solidarity and the justice and legitimacy of policies or institutions aimed at undermining racial inequality and racism, also called racialism, the belief that humans may be divided into separate and exclusive biological entities called “races”; that there is a causal link between inherited physical traits and traits of personality, intellect, morality, and other cultural and behavioral features; and that some races are innately superior to others.

  Ethnicity

Ethnicity is a scientific term that refers to the presence of culturally different (ethnic) groups and identities. When it comes to ethnic communities (peoples) from various locations, the term "ethnos" is more commonly employed in social science. Ethnicity refers to a group of people who have similar social, cultural, and historical experiences as a result of their shared national or regional origins, that distinguishes subgroups of a population from one another Similarly, an ethnic group is a subgroup of a population that shares a common set of social, cultural, and historical experiences, as well as relatively unique views, values, and behaviors, and a sense of belonging to the subgroup. The phrases ethnicity and ethnic group, when used in this way, eliminate the biological implications of the terms race and racial group. Many social scientists prefer the word ethnicity when discussing persons of color and those with different cultural heritages due to difficulties with the definition of race.

Culture 

Cultural claims political and legal spheres, there is widespread disagreement about what culture is, and the next section is focused on elaborating these distinct views of culture. There is however considerable agreement that whatever it is, it matters to people and the meaning and value it provides to the lives of individuals are among the most important reasons, if not the most important ones, to defend and protect it in legal and political spaces. Moreover, any one person can be a member of multiple cultures. Someone can be a member of the Canadian culture, Ottawa culture, the Jewish culture, and academic culture at the same time. Contextual considerations will explain why the norms, practices, and values that define each of these cultures become relevant at a particular moment. Finally, only some of these cultures have political and legal relevance; only those that do are the focus of this entry.

Prejudice

 Prejudice is an unjustified or incorrect attitude (usually negative) towards an individual based solely on the individual’s membership of a social group. For example, a person may hold prejudiced views towards a certain race or gender etc. (e.g. sexist).