514 THE CHANGING GENERATIONS 



groups tend to be recognized in all. Some of the seeming differences are 

 merely those of terminology; the primary divisions of Homo sapiens, for 

 example, are variously termed "subspecies," "great groups," "primary 

 races," or "stocks," and a single race may go under several names. Some- 

 times there are differences in opinion as to the origin and status and 

 consequently the proper position and "rank" of a group of people that 

 is nevertheless recognized by all systems. When we consider that the 

 human species is composed of numerous subordinate Mendelian popula- 

 tions, forming a hierarchy that begins with clans, tribes, and various 

 economic and cultural isolates, continues on up through races and major 

 groups, and finally culminates in the species Homo sapiens, it becomes 

 clear that just how many and what races we recognize by giving them 

 names is purely a matter of convenience. The groups and subgroups and 

 sub-subgroups exist, regardless of how we classify them. It follows that 

 there is no one "true" or "best" classification but only more useful and 

 less useful ones, in so far as they do no violence to the facts. 



The great groups of mankind. Three major divisions of the human 

 species are recognized in practically all classifications: European (Cau- 

 casoid, "White"), African (Negroid, "Black"), and Asiatic (Mongoloid, 

 "Yellow"). Taxonomically these should be called subspecies, but it will 

 be more convenient to speak of them as great groups, and of their sub- 

 divisions as races. Together these three account for some 90 per cent of 

 all nations and tribes and for an even larger proportion of all living people. 



In addition there are a few much smaller groups, well differentiated 

 and accepted in all classifications, the rank of which is more doubtful. 

 Thus, in the classifications mentioned, the Australians are placed as a 

 fourth great group by Howells, Coon, and Boyd but are treated as a 

 "composite race" by Hooton and are tentatively assigned to the Negroids 

 by Krogman. Others regard them as a very primitive, black race of the 

 "White" stock. The American Indians are often included among the 

 more generalized Mongoloids but are made a primary group by Boyd 

 and Coon. The Polynesians, usually treated as a composite race, are left 

 unplaced by Boyd and are given primary rank by Coon. Finally we have 

 the puzzling Sovith African Bushmen, dismissed as an unsolved enigma 

 by many anthropologists and by others forced into the Negroid group 

 for want of a better place to put them. 



We shall be on the conservative side in recognizing four great groups 

 (subspecies) of man: European, African, Asiatic, and Australian. The 

 characteristics and some of the racial subdivisions of these will be out- 

 lined below. 1 



1 For those who desire further information on the topics covered in this chapter we 

 recommend the following books, from all of which we have drawn freely: Hooton, 

 Up from the Ape, The Macmillan Company, New York, 1947; Kroeber, Anthropology, 



