Race vs Species
• Race is a system of classification of human beings only, whereas species is the most refined division of all life forms.
• Race has no biological basis whereas organisms that can mate and produce offspring are classified under the same category of species.
Race and species are terms that are confusing for some people as they use these words interchangeably thinking them to be synonymous. Are dolphins a race or species? Why there are only human races while species among animals and fish. Even plants have species. This article takes a closer look at the two concepts to come up with their differences.
Species
Species is a class or group of organisms sharing many characteristics. The most important feature on the basis of which a group of animals is classified under the category of species is their ability to mate and produce offspring. There is a system of biological hierarchy that starts from the broadest division of life and gradually narrows down finally to the smallest taxonomical rank of a species. Though there is no universal definition of species, two organisms can be said to belong to a single species if they are able to mate and produce a natural healthy offspring. This definition does not apply to many kinds of bacteria that can reproduce in an asexual manner. Species remains a very refined level in the biological ranking system.
Race
Race is a system of classification of human beings that divides human beings into large subdivisions based upon their anatomical, physical, ethnic, cultural, and geographical differences. There is no biological basis to this system of human classification as all human beings ultimately belong to the same species of homo-sapiens. Race is a concept that is subjective as humans belonging to so called different races can mate and produce human beings naturally.
What is the difference between Race and Species?
• Race is a system of classification of human beings only, whereas species is the most refined division of all life forms.
• Race has no biological basis whereas organisms that can mate and produce offspring are classified under the same species category.
• If two life forms are genetically so different that they cannot interbreed, they are said to belong to two different species.
Thanks for Correcting The Record, now I know that if something can make babies with another thing then they’re the same species. I guess that means that many flowering plants are the same species. And race isn’t based off of biology/genes either. Wow, who would have guessed that physical characteristics in your race aren’t defined by your DNA? I guess I’m an African American Chinese Polish Jew with some Mexican-Muslim thrown in, after-all race is just a social construct, right?
Methinks you, a professional in social issues, shouldn’t be trying to talk about biology or genes without understanding them properly.
I am Creole. That is my social and ethnic group. I am Black under the American Law Legal description. That is where “race” comes in the United States and it Territories. My ancestry comes no way near this legal description because there is a mix of many ethnic groups and social groups going back to the 14th and 15th centuries in many European and Sub-Sahara parts of Africa. I know this because I have been researching my ancestry for over thirty years now. Now Specie is a total different area. One that is making to think of becoming Trans-human as a specie.
Excellent comeback The argument that Race doesn’t exist arose from Marxist teachings that Class was more important.
Communist ideas treat Race as a Social Construct . Race is not a Social Construct it is a genetic and biological fact.
The Marxist teachings about Race- utterly based on promoting a political view were enshrined into law in 1948 when the United Nations was founded.
Written into it’s founding principles is the statement that ‘Race is a Social Construct “.
Again a politically motivated statement.
Liberals who now dominate the halls of academia always base anti Race arguments with “We’re all the same under the skin”.
We’re not . Race exists & so do racial differences .Get over it.
Hear, hear, hear !!!
But wait, weren’t there different species of humans that interbred?
That’s what I was trying to look up originally when I came across this.
I thought that race was the different in between completely different animals, like a human and a dog. While species was for an example, a rabbit from the north and one from the south, they can create off spring if they were to meet, but the biggest difference in between them was that they had different features due to the environment they live in. So that´s not correct?
Race, as used by most humans, refers mainly to the regional, genetic, ancestral, evolutionary, etc differences between beings of similar species. The human species has groups within itself that divide themselves up by race. When speaking of animals or plants or whatever, we can pretty much swap words like ‘breed’ with race, so rather than asking what breed your new dog is, friends could ask instead, “What race did you get?” However, this is incredibly offensive, so don’t do that.
Different species CAN PROCREATE together!! Ever heard of a mule?
Hello! I am curious about one thing. In the article it is mentioned that “Race is a system of classification of human beings that divides human beings into large subdivisions based upon their anatomical, physical, ethnic, cultural, and geographical differences.” but continued to say that “There is no biological basis to this system of human classification as all human beings ultimately belong to the same species of homo-sapiens.”
Aren’t anatomical and physical differences actually biological differencies?
So if we conducted an experiment where we had a crowd divide themselves by race, then said to the divided crowd, “all of you who are a member of the human race please come together at the center” , what do you suppose the results would be?
Here’s my take. Take it for what it’s worth:
There seems to be a lot of bias in the evaluation of the meaning of words. The concept of “race” can be evaluated using hard science or soft science. One of the main differences between a hard science and a soft science is how well you can abstract said science mathematically. Psychology and sociology are largely soft sciences, allowing for more bias. Their hypotheses often link to hard sciences to help substantiate their claims.
Genetics, for instance, is a fairly hard science that can be used to evaluate the relevance of race. While a high level definition of race is not entirely a social construct, it is largely irrelevant in the context of genetics. One could point to the portion of our genetic codes that make up the phenotypes associated with race and compare those with the portions that represent genotypes not frequently associated with race. In doing so the genotypes far outweigh the phenotypes in relative quantity.
As an example, it would make more sense for us to separate out jocks and nerds as different races than people with different skin colors, at least according to the math.