Race and Ethnic Relations

Polygenism, which posits that humans stem from a diversity of races and, therefore, have distinctions, is the converse of monogenism that posits that all of humanity is from one undifferentiated origin.

Whilst it is true that we each have our distinct cultural background and that these cultural backgrounds can be, occasionally, hugely different in values, practices, ways of thinking, opening, beliefs and so forth, monogenism, such as Christianity, nonetheless believes that we descend from one single set of parents i.e. Adam and Eve and have all been created by God. Banton sees 'race as descent' as the differences between races that could have likely occurred through moral (i.e. social / cultural) or physical (i.e. genetic or behavioral) causes. These differences exist. Monogenists believe that men came from the same source and had acquired these differences later due to environmental and correlated changes, whilst polygenists believe that men were different to begin with and these differences sharpened as their genetic pool grew.

In this way, there is a difference between the categories of 'race as type" and race as descent," where 'race as descent' is seen as more of a physical nature that can change by inter-breeding, whilst 'race as type' divided homo sapiens into different subtypes, species, or subspecies. 'Typologists' saw man as a genus divided into types with each type able to flourish best in a certain geographical zone just as fauna and flora is. Many 'typologists' argued that races had to be kept distinct for thus nature ordered.

Darwin was a firm monogenist claiming in his book The Descent of Man (1871) that all men came from undifferentiated source and gradually evolved to their current status. This became known as the single-origin hypothesis. A chapter in that work was even dedicated to refuting polygenism and showing the common ancestry of all races. Individuals adapted to the region where they lived and thus assumed distinct characteristics but these characteristics could be altered by migration. In this way, Darwin contradicted 'typologists' who saw racial type as permanent.

Today, race in its original context of 'type' and 'descent' as per ideology appear quaint. There are very few credible scientists who still insist in separation of races and books that inoccasionally appear on the subject are considered pseudo-scientific and generally condemned by the larger audience. Race is still used but it is used primarily for government and political purposes such as for creating precise definition of ethnic or racial identification to be used for censuses, legislation and social or academic research that almost always is ultimately applied for civic purposes.

Until comparatively recently, five racial / ethnic categories were used to distinguish people. These were: American Indian or Alaskan Native; Asian or Pacific Islander; Black / Negro; Caucasian / White; and Hispanic. Many of these terms are still used. The term 'non-white' is no longer acceptable, and in the case of an individual being of 'mixed racial and/or ethnic origin', he is categorized by that which "most closely reflects the individual's recognition in his community" (Banton, 64).