Racial categories vary across the world. Thus, identical twins separated and raised in different countries could end up identifying their race differently.

“Racial categories vary across the world. Thus, identical twins separated and raised in different countries could end up identifying their race differently. Similarly, were we able to send a person back through time, his or her race might change. Social scientists point to this variation in racial categories across time and space to argue that race is a social construct. Further support for the fluidity of race also comes from recent studies that show that some people report membership in different races at different times in their lives. The race that one selects often depends upon one’s current social position.”

Brooke A. Cunningham, MD, PhD, “Race: A Starting Place,” Virtual Mentor: American Medical Association Journal of Ethics, Volume 16, Number 6 (June 2014), 474. http://virtualmentor.ama-assn.org/2014/06/msoc1-1406.html.

Tags: ,