The Nature of Race: How Scientists Think and Teach about Human Difference / Edition 1

by Ann Morning

Overview

What do Americans think “race” means? What determines one’s race—appearance, ancestry, genes, or culture? How do education, government, and business influence our views on race? To unravel these complex questions, Ann Morning takes a close look at how scientists are influencing ideas about race through teaching and textbooks. Drawing from in-depth interviews with biologists, anthropologists, and undergraduates, Morning explores different conceptions of race—finding for example, that while many sociologists now assume that race is a social invention or “construct,” anthropologists and biologists are far from such a consensus. She discusses powerful new genetic accounts of race, and considers how corporations and the government use scientific research—for example, in designing DNA ancestry tests or census questionnaires—in ways that often reinforce the idea that race is biologically determined. Widening the debate about race beyond the pages of scholarly journals, The Nature of Race dissects competing definitions in straightforward language to reveal the logic and assumptions underpinning today’s claims about human difference.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780520270312
Publisher:	University of California Press
Publication date:	06/24/2011
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	328
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Ann Morning is Assistant Professor of Sociology in the Department of Sociology at New York University.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations vi

Acknowledgments ix

1 Introduction: What Is Race? 1

2 What Do We Know about Scientific and Popular Concepts of Race? 22

3 Textbook Race: Lessons on Human Difference 66

4 Teaching Race: Scientists on Human Difference 103

5 Learning Race: Students on Human Difference 142

6 Race Concepts beyond the Classroom 191

7 Conclusion: The Redemption of Essentialism 219

Appendix A Textbook Sample Selection and List 249

Appendix B Interview Research Design and Methodology 257

Appendix C Faculty Questionnaire 263

Appendix D Student Questionnaire 267

Notes 271

References 279

Index 305

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"Well-written, well-researched, and well-argued, [it] does an excellent job of tracing out the power of knowing how race is defined."—American Journal of Sociology

Editorial Reviews

"The Nature of Race challenges both the scholarly and the lay reader to rethink taken-for-granted beliefs about the state of racial knowledge in the United States, making it a boon to students and scholars alike. It deserves to be widely taught in both undergraduate and graduate courses on race."

Journal of American Ethnic History

"The Nature of Race makes a major contribution to sociology by broadening the scope of the field. Mutual understanding and the development of our ideas about race have resulted in a space where the power of science continues to be ever present. Morning finds that beliefs about fixed biological differences among human beings remain dominant among scientists, and as a result are accorded added legitimacy in society."

Contemporary Sociology

Morning provides a useful overview and critical analysis in this much-needed study on how contemporary Americans conceptualize and understand race.

CHOICE

"Beginning with a critique of race as a form of exclusion, a measurement of difference, and more generally as an unwarranted mode of sociological profiling, the author moves through a rigorous investigation of the ways in which race is understood, talked about, and likewise silenced by dominant cultural norms and social etiquette. . . . Researchers working on race in the United States should certainly read this book."

Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute

Well-written, well-researched, and well-argued, [it] does an excellent job of tracing out the power of knowing how race is defined.

American Journal of Sociology

"Beginning with a critique of race as a form of exclusion, a measurement of difference, and more generally as an unwarranted mode of sociological profiling, the author moves through a rigorous investigation of the ways in which race is understood, talked about, and likewise silenced by dominant cultural norms and social etiquette. . . . Researchers working on race in the United States should certainly read this book."

Journal of the Royal Anthropological Ícaro|Ícaro|Ícaro|Institute

"Researchers working onrace in the United States should certainly readthis book."

Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute (JRAI) - Ian Vincent McGonigle

“Well-written, well-researched, and well-argued, [it] does an excellent job of tracing out the power of knowing how race is defined.

American Journal Of Sociology