At the very outset we must face three possible alternatives as we consider the concept of race: |
At the very outset we must face three possible alternatives as we consider the concept of race: 1) there is such a thing as race in mankind; 2) there is not such a thing as race in mankind; 3) even if race in mankind exists, it can have no significance save as people think of it and react to their conception of it. In the first alternative we shall turn to those physical anthropologists who treat race as a biological phenomenon, separating and classifying groups of mankind according to certain descriptive and mensurational categories. In the second alternative we must turn to those few geneticists and fewer physical anthropologists who, when they refer to mankind, use “race” in quotation marks as if by so doing they can, in effect, recognize its existence while denying its implications. In the third alternative we must turn to those social anthropologists who treat race principally in terms of social interaction.
Wilton Marion Krogman, “The Concept of Race,” in The Science of Man in the World Crisis, Ralph Linton, ed., (New York: Columbia University Press, 1945), 38.
Tags: Ralph Linton, Wilton Krogman, Wilton Marion Krogman