Expert: Dana Krempels, Ph.D. - 11/28/2011

Question
QUESTION: Good day
Can you tell me if the genetic differences among different races and ethnic groups is quantifiable and can be identified in the genes of people of  specific races? What i am trying to do is establish how much of race is a social construct and how much is their evidence for a definate genetic basis? Can this question be answered in terms of quantifying how much genetic differences account for the social construct of race?
What i would like to know is how valid (based on biological differences) is the concept of race or is race more of a social construct?

Regards,
Sunil Mahabir (Sam)
Pembroke Pines, Florida

ANSWER: Dear Sunil,

There is more genetic variation among members of a single race of humans than there is between humans of different races.  While a few genetic differences between "races" have been identified, they are minor.  We are all members of the same species, capable of interbreeding to produce fertile, viable offspring.  Superficial populational differences that we call "race" are just that:  superficial.

Recognizable differences in morphology among human races is more akin to family resemblance, as people who belong to given ethnic groups share more recent common ancestry with each other than with others outside that ethnic group.  But one generation of intermarriage and producing children with a person of another ethnic group will usually erase those "family resemblances", revealing that race is more a social construct than a biological one.

I hope this helps.

Dana

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Dana
Thanks for the answer. Can you refer me to the study that suggests this. I have also read that there are scientific studies which suggest that there are major differences among the races and that race is not a superficial concept. Just refer me to a website to find the study or give me the name of the study and i will research more on it.

Regards,
Sunil

Answer
Dear Sunil,

There is no single study that tells us that the concept of race is superficial.  However, there are many studies on the genetic differences among races with respect to various characteristics. You can find a small sampling here:

http://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=human+racial+differences&hl=en&btnG=Search&a

Whether these differences are significant or not is a matter of opinion, and what you mean by "significant".  All humans are capable of interbreeding, and the genetic differences meld into nothingness in a generation or two.

The major differences between races are largely cultural these days, and these learned behaviors are not genetically based.

Dana