The Social Construction of Race
Rashawn Ray

Since race is real in its consequences, individuals assume that race must be real in its circumstances. In the previous column, we discussed the science of race regarding how race was invented and by whom. Accordingly, there is no gene for race. The science of race is only skin deep. Humans are one species regardless of skin color, dialect, eye shape, and/or hair texture. In fact, individuals show more genetic variation within races than among them.

Several notable social theories were used as the science of race. Linneaus’ Chain of Being placed individuals in four racial categories—white, yellow, brown, and Black. Darwin’s theory of evolution was utilized as a major justification for racial classification. Furthermore, Galton’s Eugenics theory established the scientific operation of the science of race. Collectively, this spurred Social Darwinism where scientific studies sought to justify the classification of racial groups.



The features that have been purported as classifying racial groups (e.g. skin color, hair color, eye color) actually change over the life course based on how these genetic features interact with the environment. Furthermore, there are several genes and alleles that determine an individual’s phenotypic features. The interaction between genotype and phenotype has often been conceptualized by the following relationship:

A slightly more in-depth version of the relationships is:

Do you have a different hair color or eye color from when you were born? Does your skin color change with exposure to light? Does your hair color or eye color change from season to season depending on the temperature of your environment? If you answered yes to some of these questions, you are not alone. Most individuals’ phenotypic features change over the life course. And yet, these features that change were used as justification for racial classification.

Furthermore, white is classified as purity, cleanliness, and innocence. White is the color that brides wear. It is the color that doctors and nurses traditionally wear. Taken together, white is the absence of color and the essence of what is considered good and positive. On the contrary, Black is classified as evil, bad, and satanic. Black is the color people wear at funerals and symbolizes death. However, if you take a historical perspective on Black before it was racialized and utilized for the social construction and exploitation of race, Black symbolized authority, power, and royalty.

For example, the pictures of Barbie and Aunt Jemima display this duality. Barbie is shown as pretty, queen-like, and angel-like, while Aunt Jemima is displayed as Black like tar, over-weight, and ugly.





Based on the messages that individuals receive about race from institutions such as the government, media, education, community, and the family, collectively shape how individuals are socially constructed to view race, currently and historically. We receive unconscious messages on a daily basis in all facets of our lives that reinforce the ideology of race. Thus, the ideology of racial classification is not only engrained in whites’ racial attitudes, but everyone’s racial attitudes and shapes all aspects of social life that has real consequences for individuals’ opportunities and social interactions. Even children are continuously subjected to messages and images that racially classify groups. See Alicia Burns-Wright article under EngageRace, entitled Bratz: Friend of Foe to the Movement towards Racial Equality?



To further highlight this point, Drs. Kenneth and Mamie Clarks’ Doll Experiments found that Black children often preferred to play with dolls compared to Black dolls and often classified their own skin color as a lighter shade than it actually was. Additionally, children often viewed white as good and pretty and Black as bad and ugly. The Clarks concluded that racial identity and self-awareness develops as early as three years old. While it would seem as though this racial identity is a thing of the past, unfortunately it is not. In a 2005 documentary, entitled A Girl Like Me, that replicated the Clarks’ Doll Study found similar results (click on the link below to see the short documentary). Clearly, the social construction is still prevalent.



Girl Like Me

Dr. Kenneth Clark was the first Black to obtain a PhD from Columbia University in 1940 with his wife right behind him as the first Black woman to obtain a PhD from Columbia University in 1943. Dr. Kenneth Clark became a full professor in 1942 at City College in New York City and later became the President of the American Psychological Association. Collectively, Drs. Kenneth and Mamie Clark founded the Northside Development Center for Child Development in Harlem. The Clarks were expert witnesses in the Brigg v. Elliot Case, which was one of the influential cases that set the tone for the infamous Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court Case.



References are available upon request