Over the years, that notion has been abused in order to separate groups of people often by skin color and to declare, through some bastardization of science, the superiority of one race over others.
Classifying humans into races, whatever Blumenbach's intentions, continues today. The term "Caucasian" is still rolled out occasionally, and not only on bad TV police dramas. People wish to hold onto the special designation exemplified by this term, 'Caucasian.
Beyond Caucasian, the U. Census Bureau has its own definition of race — "a person's self-identification with one or more social groups" — and asks respondents to choose from its own categories: "White, Black or African American, Asian, American Indian and Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander.
The Census Bureau's definition of race — that it's self-identified, and based on social groups — is different than Blumenbach's in that it is notably unscientific. And it supports the now widely accepted finding that race is not something that is supported by science. Genetically speaking, someone can't be of the White Race, or the Caucasian race. People aren't of the Mongolian race.
They are of one species. Still, if it's being used in an attempt to show some genetic difference between humans, a well-defined race, it's clear that the term "Caucasian" belongs on history's scientific scrap heap. Johann Friedrich Blumenbach often is blamed for adding scientific credence to racial divides, but in a paper in the academic journal The BMJ , author Raj Bhopal disputes that view: "His original words Blumenbach's name has been associated with scientific racism, but his arguments actually undermined racism.
Sign up for our Newsletter! Mobile Newsletter banner close. Mobile Newsletter chat close. Mobile Newsletter chat dots. Mobile Newsletter chat avatar. Mobile Newsletter chat subscribe. Words that were once perfectly acceptable become dated and offensive.
For most Americans, the terms are interchangeable. Quotations related to Caucasian "[T]he status of Caucasian…as a scientifically credible racial category…is arguably no better than that of an Aryan race.
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