Insights from the Application of Darwinian and Boasian Theory to the Concept of Race

Race seemed to be the hot topic of today, having been discussed in my bio anthro course, various conversations with my friends, and of course, Dr. Joseph Grave’s talk titled “Evolutionary versus racial medicine: why it matters.” Prior to these events, race as a biological construct was completely foreign to me; I only perceived it as a social construct. Dr. Graves defined the biological construct of race as classification by morphology or phenotype, geographical location, frequency of genes, and unique evolutionary lineage. He defined the social construct of race as arbitrary use of aspects such as morphology, culture, language, religion, etc. in the service of a social dominance hierarchy. Here, his definition of the social construct of race associates this construct of race with a dominance hierarchy and assumes that a dominance hierarchy is inherent in the notion of social construct. I argue that it is the application of Darwinian theory and evolutionary biology to this social construct of race that establishes a social dominance hierarchy and that the social construct of race does not inherently imply hierarchy.

Boasian theory focuses on cultural relativism, historic particularism, and salvage ethnography. The foundation of his theory is based upon the beliefs that all cultures matter and the need to assess each culture individually through their own lenses. Application of Boasian theory on race frames race as a cultural construct. I argue that all that is a social construct is also a cultural construct, and therefore, race, in both a cultural and social sense, is inherently neutral. It is merely a classification scheme whereby separate groups are created for the purpose of differentiating people of different cultures. An analysis of the implication of what is meant as a social construct of race when viewing race purely through a social and culture sense does not imply any notion of hierarchy, dominance, or subordination. It is separation of cultures to differentiate people, and through Boasian theory, each culture should be viewed in its own lenses with each one seen as significant and important in its own light. It is the application of biological notions and thus Darwinian theory onto these social constructs that applies the relevance and conversation of hierarchy to culture and society.

Darwinian theory applies universal laws to human beings. The application of universal laws diminishes the complexity of culture and social order to essentially one single label. The viewing of all human beings as subject to these universal laws, especially of survival of the fittest, adds a hierarchy to the social construct of race. The application of “survival of the fittest” and the evolution of species based on the traits more suited for survival associates specific indicators of power and better survivability to the notion of race as a social construct. It associates wealth and power to separate neutral classifications that serve only to distinguish groups of people in order to better understand the holistic nature of humans by studying the intricacies of each group.  It provides a label for each social group within the context of strength and even importance. In Darwinian theory, within species, there are those that are better adapted and those that are more poorly adapted to their environments. An emergence of a new species (known as speciation) may even occur because new traits that are more adapted to survival are kept. This suggests that in the context of this specific environment, the traits of the new species are better and that the old species is weaker and thus more likely to die. This characterizes these older species as less important, and this characterization as less important in “weaker” species is incorporated in race. The term “weaker” in evolutionary biology is very much dependent of location and time. One adaptation may be suitable for a certain environment at a certain time, but in a different environment and time, it may not be. Looking at the human race as a single species allows us to create that categorization of “weaker” upon others because it disregards location and time. Humans through Boasian theory exist in cultures, and cultures are different throughout the world and change over time. It is therefore in a Boasian context that social hierarchy and power-related discourses are irrelevant to race, while in a biological Darwinian context such factors are very much relevant to the concept of race.

The application of Darwinian theory asserts universal laws upon the social construct of race. The acceptance of universal laws is essentially a verification of the mental reconstruction of race as a single, simplistic force that asserts itself to all humans. It is the view and treatment of race as a single variable that leads to the use of the race concept for exploitation and personal means. Boasian theory reinforces the complexity of human cultures and humankind by signifying the importance and meanings that each culture can share to the overall conversation of humankind. It is thus embracing such a theory and sole focus on culture with the absence of evolutionary theory and Darwinism that may lead to viewing and defining race separate from a social dominance hierarchy.