20 November 2009

Race Classifications...

Are Sociologist and Cultural Anthropologists right by having only THREE classifications for Race? Do those classifications need to change? If so, how would you classify them?

26 comments:

JSanterre said...

I believe that they three classifications are accurate. i fit into only one group when i examined the certain characteristics of each group. the three groups are accuarte however we should add some more things to each group to ensure people fall within only one group beacuse there are certain circumstances where a person may be a mixture of a mongaloid, caucasiod or negroid.

Anonymous said...

When it comes to having classifications for race, i don't feel that sociologists and cultural anthropologists are necessarily wrong by having three essential classifications, but i think they are outdated. In today's day and age, especially in this country, you can't look at someone and simply categorize them as a "Caucasoid, Mongoloid, or Negroid". For example, by definition, a person who is considered "Caucasoid" would have fair skin with straight or wavy hair. On the contrary, i know many fair-skinned people who have curly hair. In addition, "Negroids" are said to have dark skin and "wooly" textured hair. I think that's inaccurate because today hair texture for dark skinned people consists of curly, straight, thin, thick, etc. Therefore, i believe up-to-date classifications should be established for race. If it was up to me i would classify people by pretty much the same characteristics, hair texture, skin color etc. But i would diversify the 3 primary classifications to expand on them. For instance, adding more classifications so instead of 3 maybe there could be 10 or 15, because i believe there are just too many mixtures of characteristics of people to break it down into 3 groups, especially with a growing population around the world.

TMarie said...

I agree with Laila on her post. That sociologists aren't wrong with the categories of caucasoid,mongoloid, and negroid. However, those categories were best used to describe people then when many people weren't mixed races. Now there is so many mixes within a person that it doesn't make sense to have only three categories. In todays age we need many categories to have someone really fit fully somewhere.

melissa m said...

I don’t think they are wrong about having three classifications but like everybody else has said they should create more than three classifications. On the other hand I don’t think it is necessary to classify people by the way they look. For example when you apply for college if they are looking for diversity they shouldn’t just ask you your race but they should also ask you your ethnicity. This will make people better rounded by personality and not just looks. Especially since more and more people in the world are mixed races we shouldn’t really care about labels on how we look but really by what heritage we identify with.

Molly Martin said...

These classifications are becoming more and more inaccurate due to the mixing of cultures. Decades ago these would be more accurate because more people would easily fall into a category. With time they will become obsolete. At this point some people to fall into a category. I, for example, match the caucasiod category exactly. Others do not fit in as easily. Many people have different textured hair and skin tone, placing them in two different categories. I would say it is time for new classifications that change with the times.

vasile said...

I don't think there should be a change because I think that it's very staight foword. I also fit in to my classification, but I think these three classifications are messed up because it's basicly saying if youre this race you will look like this and you have this and sometimes it's not right because alot of people might have the traits of two or even all three of the charateristics. All I'm saying is that these three classifications are true most of the times, but it works in a stereotypical way.

Big Griff said...

I believe that classifying people in only three simple groups is unrealistic and also over simplified. There are so many racial and ethnic groups in the world that many of these groups don't necessarily fall in either of these. For example, middle easterners, like Pakistanis. Where do they fall? they don't have woolly hair or distinct folds over eyes, but they are dark skinned. If i were to change the classifications, i would add groups. I would make a group for middle easterners, Hispanics, and pacific islanders. I'm sure there are more classifications that could be taken into account but i think these three cover the vast majority of races left out of the previous three classifications.

Anonymous said...

I find that these three classifications for race are correct but might have some small touch ups to them. If someones white and has curly hair then they fit into the one that says they're a caucasiod. There might be some differences where a person might have characterlistics to fit into all three classifications but i think that we can make an exception for them.

Anonymous said...

The three classifications for race are extremely general, and I believe this way of classification would have been more effective in the past. If you look back to a few decades ago, you could deffinitely see the distinction clearer between one race from another, since the practice of endogamy was much stricter. Nowadays, individuals of one race are constantly seen marrying an individual that belongs to a completely different race. As that progresses and new generations are born, many people will have a mixed race, and that will make a much more difficult to classify. Therefore, there should be a larger variety of classifications as many people are consisted of more than one race trait and don't necessarily just fit into one of the existing three, especially since they are so broad. The race classifications should be more specific, and should possibly consider native countries.

Unknown said...

I dont feel the three classifications arent accurate. Seeing that rasicm isnt as big a deal, marrying outside of races, allows for people to have characteristics which qualify them into more than one of the classification groups. i feel there should be about 6 groups. keel the three that already exist but add groups that incompany characteriatics from two groups into one so that people can be multi background and have a classification which they fit into.

Shai Hayes said...

The classifications that sociologists and cultural anthropologists made are becoming more outdated as the years continue. Therefore, these classification need to change. I believe that the names; caucasoid, mongaliod and negroid may remain as there are, but the classfications need to be more diverse. Because many people are more than one race and ethnicty, which would make them classfied into two classifications. As well as many biracial people there are, there are also people who are one race who do fit into these classifications by their skin color, but the texture of their hair is different than the classfication states, which would make the classifications invalid. As a result, the classifications title can remain the same but the requirements that allow a person to be classified need to be more broad and diverse, to fit today's society.

Toni M said...

I think that the three characteristics are somewhat accurate but very general. The classifications seem very outdated because not all caucasions have fair skin and straight hair, an explination for that could be that different races seem to be together more often. I know as a personal perspective I would consider myself under two categories seeing as though I do have fair skin however, I have no where near straight hair. I could be classified a caucasoid and a negriod, so I think there should be more than three classification but as a general classification it is fine. It would be much easier to place people into a category if there were more to choose from based on more specific characteristics.

Sam I said...

i agree with Laila's comment about how they aren't wrong on their classifications, just not up to date. Back in the day many people practiced endogamy, so different ethnic groups had genes associated with them. It was like an ongoing circle between the same people. Now a adays, people mixed up, which isn't bad at all, it just makes people more and more unique. Years ago, an italian would marry an italian; Straight, dark hair. Where as now a days, i know people who are italian that have blonde, curly hair. Where do they fit? Not only in Mongoloids, but maybe Negroids as well. The idea of having categories are a good idea because as different as we are people will have the same characteristics, it just depends on how you look at them. We just need to update those categories, maybe expand them more to fit in today's society and culture.

liz tipton said...

I believe that cultural anthropologists and sociologists are right by having only three classifications for race. The average person does fit in to one of the three classifications that they have come up with. The terms that the sociologists have come up with are just broad terms meant to help them differ between the many different people around the world today, and place them into broad categories. Yes, each person can be broken down into an assortment of other things, but basically all people fit into one of the three categories. So, I do not think that the three classifications for race need to be changed.

Unknown said...

I do not believe to three race classifications are accurate. You can’t divide the entire human race into three groups, it is too diverse. Most people could fit into several of these categories because they could fit the same characteristic of say a Caucasoid and a Mongoloid, would that make them a Caucmongoloid? I believe anthropologist should create more diverse categories for people or not categorize humans at all. It isn’t justified to place someone under a category based on a few physical characteristics.

Michael Niro said...

i believe that these three classifications are indeed outdated. These classifications are meant to put every single person in the world into three categories: caucosoid, mongoloid, and negroid. The caucosoid categorie is supposed to be light skin and straight or wavy hair. Mongoloids are yellow skin and wavy eyes. Lastly, negroids are dark skinned and wooly hair. Some of the people who fit in both are middle eastern people, carribean people, and indian people. The catgories should be extended because not all people fit into one group. Also, some people can be a mixture of one or more category because of the way they look. These groups were meant for a person to be put in only one distinct group and that is not present. These groups should be modified to fit everyone in one group.

ChristySJ said...

The three classification that sociologist use to classify people are mongaloid, caucasoid and negeroid are in my opinion are outdated because i don't fit into any of these group and i am sure that no one from india or middle eastern doesn't fit into this group. i don't fit into these three groups because i have brown but i don't have wooly hair so i don't fit into negeroid group. i think they have to make a new group to classify people or they have to stop classify people in these three groups.

DanielleG said...

I feel that the Sociologists' and Cultural Anthropologists' three classifications of race are not inncorrect but are also not very good catergories for people today. These categories are very broad and with the high amount of diverse relationships in the world, and especially the united states, more and more babies are being born that can be classified in many more than just one category. So I do not feel these categories are incorrect, just too broad for today's society, and there should either be more groups added or they should expand the ones already created.

Yash said...

The three classification based on the Anthropologist, and Sociologist research are not wrong with this three classifications, which are Mongoloid, Caucasoid, and negroid. They are not wrong because many people in the whole world can easily fit into one of these three categories, but the people that cant fit them self into one of these categories, they need to have more than just these three classifications. But what i learned was many can only fit into one category with the circumstances. They need to only change by adding more classifications and they can change by what people have, and what they do not by what their color, and ethnicity.

Kameron said...

I think that the sociologist aren't wrong for having the three classifications of race. Like many have posted that almost everyone in the world can classify themselves into at least one of those categories. But in a world where you are not restricted to marrying and having children with a women or man having your exact racial identity, their should be more classifications made. I wouldn't be sure which other classifications I would make, but I definitely know that there could be more classifications because those three don't sum up modern day racial identities anymore.

Emily Dombroski said...

I Beleve that the three classifications of race do work but they do not cover everyone. most fit into them wel but there are some who could be put in more the one class. I beleve that they should be exspanded to make them more reliable.

Alex Fretz said...

I agree with james and i believe that the three classifications are right but i think they need to a just them a little bit. Because what happens when you are a mix of two different groups. what do you classify them as? So i defiantly think they are not bad but they need to be updated.

Gstewart said...

The three classifications of race, I believe are outdated and based on today's standards are inaccurate. When these three categories were formed during the 19th century, people were less apt to travel and breed with other races. At this point in time there was still slavery taking place, immense prejudice, and the industrial revolution was just starting to take off. Therefore, people were more likely to practice endogamy when getting married and there weren't many forms of mass communication or easy travel, like there is today.
However, now there are people who are of many different backgrounds. As the world has become more open minded, the classifications have become less accurate. Negroids are described as having dark skin and "wooly" hair. Not every person with dark skin is going to have wooly hair. For example, in Mark Twain's book Pudd'nhead Wilson the main character Roxy is 1/16th African American, yet she is described as having lighter skin and hair. Also people of Middle Eastern descent don't have light skin, nor dark, and they don't have yellowish skin either. Based on the definitions given by the classifications, they wouldn't fit into any of the categories. In order to solve this issue, I feel that there should either be more classifications or subclassifications, thus people would be able to definitly fit into one or the other. Another solution would be to broaden the definitions within the three classifications. Either way, the three classifications are outdated for our modern times and customs.

chrisfusco said...

I do not think that it is right by only having three classifications for race. This is because most people aren't just classified by those three races, such as Tiger Woods who is black, white and asian. I think that these need to be changed so that it doesn't insult people or make them feel maybe uncomfortable about them. They could probably just be changed to enclose more races within them.

ChrisBennettson said...

THese classifications work perfectly, because everyone can be classified into these three terms, no matter who you are. The three groups ensure that each person falls into atleast one group, but there are cases when these groups are broken, but they can still be put into one of these groups, no matter what. Thes groups will need to be modifed over time though, due to changing times, and through bi-racial couples, but for now, people can be put into and stasy in these grpoups easily.

Nikkoleee :) said...

I don't feel the classifications need to change drastically; they just need to be broader in what they use for "criteria". Because of today's society and the fact that intermixing races is more "accepted" then it was when the three classifications were created, it is sometimes harder for someone to fit into just one. So I don't think we need to get rid of them or change them entirely, but adding to each one definitely couldn’t hurt any.