Because the “biological grouping” isn’t one. It’s been a social grouping all along. You realise that groups have joined and left “white” at different times over the past few centuries, right? The historical definitions of races are amazing stuff. The Wikipedia article is a good start (and I link that in particular because you can be sure it’s been closely inspected by all interested sides).
A century ago I would not have been ‘white’ - I’d be hopelessly ethnic.
Half-Italian-half-Polish with a dash of ashkenazi jewish five generations back? Waaaaay down in the caste system of even 1930. Nowadays? Just another white guy.
That’s like arguing that because the line between “dog” and “wolf” is socially constructed, there’s no need to worry if one’s chihuahua is replaced by a timber wolf, or saying that because the Greeks thought of water as a basic substance, “hydrogen” is actually a social grouping.
It’s true in the trivial sense that every grouping humans refer to is in some sense a social grouping, but that doesn’t alter the underlying biology. Think of it as lumpers and splitters in action—disagreements over where to draw the boundary of a group don’t change the characteristics of group members.
Wolf brains produce way more adrenaline than dog brains on a regular basis. That is one reason why wolves are likely to be far less predictably docile, even if you raise one from a pup onward. That is why you still have to be careful around a tame wolf.
Domestication is different than taming. Taming involves conditioning an animal’s behavior; domestication involves breeding actual genetic/physiological changes.
Do we have evidence that whites and non-whites have different average levels of certain neurotransmitters? Are there actual gross physiological differences in white and non-write brains? If so, then there is more than just social-construction at work. If not, then social-construction is all there is.
I don’t think all of this is just a semantic game.
Do we have evidence that whites and non-whites have different average levels of certain neurotransmitters? Are there actual gross physiological differences in white and non-write brains? If so, then there is more than just social-construction at work. If not, then social-construction is all there is.
Well we certainly have evidence that they behave differently. I don’t know about neurotransmitters (I’m guessing the experiment hasn’t been performed, imagine trying to get approval for it), also I don’t see why the exact details of the causal mechanism matter here.
The experiments have been performed. For instance, this dopamine receptor has a single nucleotide polymorphism that emerged in the middle east 40000 years ago (and therefore has very different prevalence across ethnic groups) and causes ADHD. There is a just-so evolutionary argument that states that as humanity spread out from Africa, novelty-seeking becomes advantageous as people adapt to new environments. This novelty-seeking is then pathologised as ADHD in the modern world.
Because the “biological grouping” isn’t one. It’s been a social grouping all along. You realise that groups have joined and left “white” at different times over the past few centuries, right? The historical definitions of races are amazing stuff. The Wikipedia article is a good start (and I link that in particular because you can be sure it’s been closely inspected by all interested sides).
A century ago I would not have been ‘white’ - I’d be hopelessly ethnic.
Half-Italian-half-Polish with a dash of ashkenazi jewish five generations back? Waaaaay down in the caste system of even 1930. Nowadays? Just another white guy.
That’s like arguing that because the line between “dog” and “wolf” is socially constructed, there’s no need to worry if one’s chihuahua is replaced by a timber wolf, or saying that because the Greeks thought of water as a basic substance, “hydrogen” is actually a social grouping.
It’s true in the trivial sense that every grouping humans refer to is in some sense a social grouping, but that doesn’t alter the underlying biology. Think of it as lumpers and splitters in action—disagreements over where to draw the boundary of a group don’t change the characteristics of group members.
Wolf brains produce way more adrenaline than dog brains on a regular basis. That is one reason why wolves are likely to be far less predictably docile, even if you raise one from a pup onward. That is why you still have to be careful around a tame wolf.
Domestication is different than taming. Taming involves conditioning an animal’s behavior; domestication involves breeding actual genetic/physiological changes.
Do we have evidence that whites and non-whites have different average levels of certain neurotransmitters? Are there actual gross physiological differences in white and non-write brains? If so, then there is more than just social-construction at work. If not, then social-construction is all there is.
I don’t think all of this is just a semantic game.
Well we certainly have evidence that they behave differently. I don’t know about neurotransmitters (I’m guessing the experiment hasn’t been performed, imagine trying to get approval for it), also I don’t see why the exact details of the causal mechanism matter here.
The experiments have been performed. For instance, this dopamine receptor has a single nucleotide polymorphism that emerged in the middle east 40000 years ago (and therefore has very different prevalence across ethnic groups) and causes ADHD. There is a just-so evolutionary argument that states that as humanity spread out from Africa, novelty-seeking becomes advantageous as people adapt to new environments. This novelty-seeking is then pathologised as ADHD in the modern world.
Because they could allow us to predict which kinds of interventions would have which effects.