Abstract

KATTMANN, Ulrich. Conference. Genes, race and culture. Rev. Cien. Soc. [online]. 2021, vol.34, n.48, pp.175-192.  Epub June 01, 2021. ISSN 0797-5538.  https://doi.org/10.26489/rvs.v34i48.8.

The concept of race has no genetic basis, DNA and genetic patterns are not confined by continental boundaries and do not agree with any classification of so-called races. The genes that determine appearance traits are only a small subset of all human genes. Furthermore, appearance shows no genetic similarity or kinship between human groups. This classification is a fundamental resource of racism, and culturalism emerges directly from racism and imitates it. Racial conceptions assume that human groups have developed in isolation and survive in the grip of completely different and hostile cultures, which has recently been expressed as a “clash of civilizations”, a renaissance of the 19th century “kulturkreislehre”. A fundamental element of racism and culturalism is generalization, and this often becomes a trap of simplification. The keys to overcoming racist and culturalist thinking are centered on the individual, in this way typological thinking could be abolished and the special character of human diversity recognized.

Keywords : race; culture; racism.

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