Date: Fri, 31 Oct 1997 14:13:49 -0500

From: Evan Morris words1[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]WORD-DETECTIVE.COM

Subject: Re: "race" (was PC Dictionaries?the N word? racism? race?)



At 05:50 AM 10/30/97 , Duane Campbell wrote:



In biology and taxonomy (which is what we are discussing here, whether we

know it or not), race is a subdivision of a species, that is, an organism

that has recognizable genetically transmitted attributes but is not

different enough from others of its ilk to constitute a separate species.

There are races of house sparrows and lab rats and begonias. Another word

for the same thing is sub-species, but I suspect that applied to humans

that could be even more offensive.



My understanding is that race (or subspecies) is defined in terms of

differential reproductive success. Inasmuch as there not different rates

of reproductive success in "interbreeding" between the various human

"races," there is no such thing, technically speaking, as a human

subspecies or "race."



The social category of "race" is, of course, another matter entirely, but

there's no biological basis for it.



--

Evan Morris

words1[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]word-detective.com

http://www.word-detective.com