Oakland Community College Sociohistorical Process of Race Discussion

Oakland Community College Sociohistorical Process of Race Discussion

Introduction to Sociology
Assignment 5: Understanding Race

Use the film, “Power of an Illusion” and
website, www.understandingrace.org, to find the following things.

Find an example that demonstrates race is a social construction and not a pure biological category. Explain the example and why it shows that race is a social construction using specific details from the website.

Find one example of the sociohistorical process of race. That is, what is one way the definition of race AS A BIOLOGICAL CONCEPT has been created, changed, destroyed in American history? This is not how rights have changed. Explain the example. When did that it occur and why?

In which module, or section of the website, would you find the following quote: “As some groups moved into regions farther from the equator where UVR levels are lower, natural selection favored lighter skin, which allowed enough vitamin D-forming UVR to penetrate their skin”?

Play the “Game of Life” (and/or use the film What is one statistic that jumped out to you about the differences in experiences, or life chances, between racial/ethnic groups?

Does race matter? Why or why not?You must proofread your paper. But do not strictly rely on your computer’s spell-checker and grammar-checker; failure to do so indicates a lack of effort on your part and you can expect your grade to suffer accordingly. Papers with numerous misspelled words and grammatical mistakes will be penalized. Read over your paper – in silence and then aloud – before handing it in and make corrections as necessary. Often it is advantageous to have a friend proofread your paper for obvious errors. Handwritten corrections are preferable to uncorrected mistakes.
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