Is Race Real?

Here is a post by Wife of Publius (suggestions for a nickname are welcome) about Armand Marie Leroi's op-ed in the New York Times. The gist of his article is that while the conventional wisdom among biologists is that race is just a social construct, Leroi believes that race is a real, concrete thing.

Enjoy....

I expected to be upset by this article, but scientifically it's fairly sound. I do take exception to his use of the word "race", when really what he is talking about is not what is usually defined as race. This is a horribly loaded word, and I would not like to see it used. What he's talking about is that you can trace someone's genetic ancestry to Europe, East Asia, Africa, Australasia, and America. This should come as no surprise, as these are CONTINENTS and were isolated for thousands of years, so of course the gene pools can be identified.

But: overall these populations are more alike than different. Yes, there are traits that spread throughout each population. Yes, some populations are more susceptible to some diseases than others. But when looking at the overall genome, humans are more alike than different. The traditional use of the word "race" was often meant to refer to subspecies, or distinct populations within a species. Attempts were made in the 18th and 19th centuries to classify the different "races" as different species of humans. I do not want to see this practice revived, and even though Dr. Armand Marie Leroi probably has good intentions (enabling people to get the correct healthcare, for example), it is naive to think that some people won't take this information/opinion and twist it to their own racist aims.

I would like to register one huge objection:

He says: "When we glance at a stranger's face we use those associations to infer what continent, or even what country, he or his ancestors came from - and we usually get it right."

For anyone who thinks that's true, try this quiz.

Then tell me you agree with him.