Race is a social construct. It categorizes people by physical characteristics like skin color, hair texture, and facial features, but these categories are not biologically distinct. Genetic variation within racial groups is greater than variation between them. Race is real in its consequences, not in its biology.

The concept of race was invented to justify colonialism, slavery, and inequality. European scientists in the 18th and 19th centuries created racial hierarchies that placed white Europeans at the top. These ideas were false but powerful. They shaped laws, borders, and everyday life.

How race operates

• Social identity: how people see themselves and others
• Structural inequality: wealth, housing, education, health
• Institutional practice: policing, hiring, lending
• Symbolic meaning: media, language, stereotypes

Race changes across societies. A person who is Black in the U.S. might be classified differently in Brazil or South Africa. The categories are not fixed. They are contested, redefined, and sometimes abolished. But their effects persist.