THINKING ABOUT KACE 1 



By S. L. Washburn 

 College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York 



Recently the subject of race has been lifted from comparative ob- 

 scurity to the headlines. Nazi racists have asserted the fabulous su- 

 periority of one race, while the Japanese have claimed pre-eminence 

 for their quite different physical type. On the other hand, people ap- 

 palled by Nazi misuse of the idea of race have made nearly as absurd 

 claims about the nonexistence of varieties of Homo sapiens. For ex- 

 ample, a recent paper started by claiming that there are no differences 

 of functional importance between living races, and proceeded in the 

 same paragraph to proclaim the value of dark pigmentation to people 

 in the Tropics. 



It is extremely difficult to try to give an unbiased presentation when 

 emotions are involved. Therefore in this paper I have tried to present 

 ways of thinking about race rather than any particular classification. 

 I hope that the methods outlined will aid the reader in evaluating any 

 racial system and will help to clarify ideas concerning race. 



In the first place, as has been repeatedly stated, races are groups 

 which are distinguished on the basis of inherited anatomical charac- 

 ters. Race has nothing to do with language, religion, nationality, or 

 social habits. Race is an expression of nature (inheritance), not 

 nurture (learning). Tozzer (1931) 2 has given an excellent account, 

 well worth the attention of anyone wanting more information on this 

 fundamental point. Psychological differences between races are 

 probably nonexistent, according to Klineberg (1935) who has made 

 an exhaustive study of this subject. 



Since racial classification is an anatomical conception, one might 

 think that anatomy would play a large part in discussions of race. 

 Actually the extent to which race has been discussed recently with 

 almost no mention of anatomy is surprising. For example, Kline- 

 berg (op. cit.) in the section of his book devoted to the biological 



1 Reprinted by permission from Science Education, vol. 28, No. 2, 1944. 

 * References to the literature are cited at the conclusion of this article. 



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