Glossary

A social construct that artificially divides people into distinct groups according to specific characteristics such as physical appearance (i.e. skin color), ancestral heritage, cultural affiliation, cultural history, ethnic classification, and the social, economic, and political needs of a society at a given time. Most sociologists believe that race is not “real” in the sense that no distinctive genetic or biophysiological characteristics exist that genuinely distinguish one group of people from another. Instead, different groups share overlapping characteristics.