When distinguishing races of the first (large), second (small) and third order (subraces), as well as anthropological types, they are guided by the principle of the taxonomic value of racial features, depending on the time of formation of the racial trunk and the territory on which this feature delimits groups of people. The later the sign was formed, the less it is suitable for distinguishing between large races. Thus, large races are distinguished primarily by the degree of pigmentation and the structural features of the face and head, that is, by the signs of appearance that have separated mankind since ancient times. Races are not suitable for signs that can change by themselves over time. (For example, zygomatic size, skull shape - top view).

The antiquity of the origin of a racial trait is determined by the breadth of its geographical distribution. If it manifests itself in many human populations over wide areas of the continent, this indicates an ancient and local formation. Signs that change in a complex way are also an indicator of belonging to a large race.

The famous anthropologist N.N. Cheboksarov in 1951 gave a classification of racial types, which included three large races: equatorial, or Australo-Negroid, Eurasian, or Caucasoid, Asian-American. The major races include a total of 22 minor races, or races of the second order. In 1979, Cheboksarov found it possible to single out the Australoid race separately as a race of the first order.

big races

Equatorial race (Fig. IX. 1). Dark skin color, wavy or curly hair, wide, slightly protruding nose, low or medium nose bridge, transverse nostrils, protruding upper lip, large mouth gap, protruding teeth.

Eurasian race (Fig. IX. 2). Light or dark skin color, straight or wavy hair, abundant beard and mustache growth, narrow and sharply protruding nose, high nose bridge, longitudinal nostrils, straight upper lip, small mouth opening, thin lips. Often there are light eyes and hair. The teeth are set straight. Strong canine fossa. It makes up 2/3 of the world's population.

Asiatic-American race (Fig. IX. 3). Dark skin tone, straight, often coarse hair, weak growth of beard and mustache, average nose width, low or medium nose bridge, slightly (in Asia) and strongly (in America) protruding nose, straight upper lip, average thickness of lips, flattened face, inner crease of the eyelid.

The spread of large races. The Eurasian race (before the era of the Great Geographical Discoveries) occupied Europe, North Africa, Western and Central Asia, the Middle East, India - a temperate and Mediterranean climate, often a maritime climate, mild winters.

Distribution of the Asian-American race, - Asia, Southeast Asia, Indonesia, islands Pacific Ocean, Madagascar, North and South America - all climatic and geographical zones.

The territories occupied by the equatorial race are south of the Tropic of Cancer in Africa, Indonesia, New Guinea, Melanesia, Australia (savannahs, tropical forests, deserts, oceanic islands).

Minor races

Eurasian race

Atlanto-Baltic minor race. The range of the race is Scandinavia, the British Isles, the northern regions of Western and Eastern Europe.

Represented by Norwegians, Swedes, Scots, Icelanders, Danes, Russians, Belarusians, Baltic peoples, Northern French, Germans, Finns. The race is light-skinned, the eyes are most often light, often blond hair. The growth of the beard is average and above average. Body hair is medium to light. The face and head are large (long-average annual); the face is long. The nose is narrow and straight, with a high nose bridge. In the history of the composition of the race, depigmentation has occurred.

White Sea-Baltic minor race. The range is from the Baltic to the White Seas. The most lightly pigmented race, especially the hair. The length of the body is less than that of the Atlanto-Baltic minor race, the face is wider and lower. More short nose, often with a concave back. This option is a direct descendant of the ancient population of Central and Northern Europe.

Central European small race. The range is all of Europe, especially the North European Plain from the Atlantic to the Volga. The race is represented by Germans, Czechs, Slovaks, Poles, Austrians, northern Italians, Ukrainians, Russians. More dark color hair than that of the White Sea-Baltic race. The head is moderately wide. Average face size. The growth of the beard is average and above average. Nose with a straight back and a high nose bridge, the length varies.

Balkan-Caucasian minor race. The area is the Eurasian mountain belt. Body length is average and above average. The hair is dark, often wavy. The eyes are dark and mixed shades. Strong tertiary hairline. The head is brachycephalic (short). The width of the face is medium to above average. The nose is large, with a convex back. The base of the nose and the tip are lowered.

Indo-Mediterranean minor race. Range - some southern regions of Europe, North Africa, Arabia, a number southern regions Eurasia to India. Represented by Spaniards, Portuguese, southern Italians, Algerians, Libyans, Egyptians, Iranians, Iraqis, Afghans, peoples Central Asia, Indians. Body length is average and below average. Skin color is dark. Hair is wavy. The eyes are dark. Tertiary hairline is moderate. The nose is straight and narrow, the bridge of the nose is high. The eyeball is wide open. The middle part of the face predominates. The fold of the upper eyelid is poorly developed.

Laponoid minor race. The area is the north of Fennoscandia. The basis of the anthropological type of the Lapps (Saami). In ancient times, it was widely distributed in northern Europe. A mixture of Caucasoid and Mongoloid characters. The skin is light, the hair is dark, straight or broadly wavy, soft. The eyes are dark or mixed shades. The tertiary hairline is weak. The head is large. The face is low. The nose is short and wide. The interorbital distance is wide. The body length is short. The legs are relatively short, the arms are long, the body is wide.

Asian American

Pacific Mongoloids.

Far Eastern minor race. It is part of the population of Korea, China, Japan. Skin color is dark. The eyes are dark. Epicanthus is common. The tertiary hairline is very weak. Height is average or above average. The face is narrow, of medium width, high, flat. High brain skull. The nose is long, with a straight back, slightly-medium protruding.

South Asian minor race. The skin color is darker than that of the Far Eastern race. In comparison with it, the epicanthus is less characteristic: the face is less flattened and lower; lips are thicker; the nose is relatively wider. The skull is small and broad. The forehead is convex. The body length is short. The area is the countries of the South and South East Asia.

Northern Mongoloids

North Asian minor race. The skin color is lighter than that of the Pacific Mongoloids. The hair is dark and dark blond, straight and coarse. The face is high and broad, very flat. The brain skull is low. There is a very low nose bridge. Part of the epicanthus. The eye section is small: the body length is medium and below average. It is part of many indigenous peoples of Siberia (Evenks, Yakuts, Buryats).

Arctic minor race. It is part of the Eskimos, Chukchi, American Indians, Koryaks. The pigmentation is darker than that of the North Asian minor race; the face is more prognathous. The hair is straight and coarse. Epicanthus occurs in 50% of the race. Nose protrudes moderately. Wide lower jaw. The bones and muscles are strongly developed. The body and arms are short. The chest is rounded.

American race

The range is the vast territory of America. Large nose, sometimes convex. The flattening of the face is moderate. Epicanthus is rare. The face and head are large. Massive body.

Australo-Negroid race

African Negroids

Negro minor race. The range is the savannah and forest zone of Africa. Skin color is dark or very dark. Eye color is dark. The hair is heavily curly and spirally curled. The nose is wide in wings. Low and flat bridge. Lips are thick. Severe alveolar prognathism. Tertiary hairline is medium and weak. The palpebral fissure is wide open; the eyeball protrudes somewhat forward. The interorbital distance is large. Body length is average or above average. The limbs are long, the body is short. The pelvis is small.

Bushman minor race. The area of ​​\u200b\u200bsettlement is the desert and semi-desert regions of South Africa. Yellowish-brown skin color. Hair and eyes are dark. The hair is spirally curled and grows slowly in length. The nose is wide, with a low nasal bridge. The tertiary cover is weak. The section of the eyes is smaller than that of the Negro race, epicanthus is found. The face is small, somewhat flattened. Small lower jaw. Body length below average. Strong development of fat on the buttocks. Wrinkling of the skin. The Bushmen are a remnant of the ancient race of Africa of the ancient Middle Stone Age.

Negril minor race. Aborigines of the African rainforest. Pigmentation and shape of hair, like that of the Bushmen. The nose is broader, but protrudes more strongly. The incision of the eyes is significant, the eyeball protrudes strongly. The tertiary hairline is strongly developed. The length of the body is very small, the legs are short, the arms are long. The joints are mobile.

Oceanic Negroids

Australian minor race. Indigenous people of Australia. The skin color is dark, but lighter than that of the Negro race. Hair color is brown to black. The shape of the hair - from wide-wavy to narrow-wavy and curl. The eyes are dark. The tertiary hairline is well developed on the face and weakly on the body. Nose very wide, low bridge of nose. The eye section is large; the position of the eyeball is deep. Lips of medium thickness. Jaws protrude forward. Body length is average and above average. The body is short, the limbs are long. The chest is powerful, the muscles are well developed, the neck is short. The skull, unlike the skeleton, is very massive.

Melanesian minor race. The distribution area is New Guinea and the islands of Melanesia. Unlike Australians, curly-haired people have a smaller stature, the tertiary hairline is less developed. Papuans often have a large nose with a convex back and a lowered tip (similar to the Western Asian Caucasoids).

Vedoid minor race. The range of the race is the islands of Indonesia, Sri Lanka, South India. It is a smaller version of the Australians. Moderately dark skin, wavy hair, medium lip thickness, moderate jaw protrusion. The nose is narrower in the wings, the bridge of the nose is not too low. The tertiary hairline is weak. Body length is average and below average. Often this race is combined with the Australian into one. In antiquity, both options were widespread.

contact races

At the junction of the ranges of large races, contact races are distinguished, which have a special classification. On the territory where Caucasoids and Mongoloids contact, the Ural and South Siberian small races stand out; a mixture of Caucasians and Negroids gave the Ethiopian minor race; Caucasoids and Veddoids - a Dravidian minor race.

Ural small race. The range of the race is the Urals, Trans-Urals, part of Western Siberia. The skin is light. The hair is dark and dark blond, straight and broadly wavy, often soft. Eye color - mixed and dark shades, a little light. The nose is straight or with a concave back, the tip is raised, the bridge of the nose is of medium height. The face is small and relatively wide, low and moderately flattened. Lips of medium thickness. The tertiary hairline is weakened. The Ural race is similar to the Laponoid, but people are larger and have a Mongoloid admixture. The Ural race is represented by Mansi, Khanty, Selkups, some Volga peoples, some peoples of the Altai-Sayan highlands.

South Siberian small race. The range of the race is the steppes of Kazakhstan, the mountainous regions of the Tien Shan, Altai-Sayan. The skin color is dark and light. Hair and eye color, like the Ural race. Nose with a straight or convex back, large, bridge of medium height. The face is rather high and broad. The hair is often straight and coarse. Average height. The variant is more massive than the Ural one. This race includes Kazakhs and Kirghiz.

Ethiopian minor race. Distributed in East Africa. Skin color - with brown tints. Dark hair and eyes. Hair is curly, finely wavy. The tertiary cover is weakened. The nose is straight, with a rather high bridge of nose, not wide. The face is narrow, the lips are of medium thickness. Body length is average and above average; body is narrow. An ancient version of humanity (from the middle and new stone age).

Dravidian (South Indian) minor race. Distribution area - South India at the junction of the southern Caucasians and Veddoids. Brown skin. The hair is straight and wavy, the proportions of the face and its details tend to average values.

Ainu (Kuril) small race. The area is the island of Hokkaido. Skin color is tan. The hair is dark, coarse, wavy. The eyes are light brown. Epicanthus is rare or absent. The tertiary hairline is highly developed. The face is low, broad, slightly flattened. The nose, mouth and ears are large, the lips are full. The arms are long, the legs are relatively short. The physique is massive. The Ainu are sometimes considered a distinct large race; they are also referred to as Caucasoids or Australoids.

Polynesian minor race. The area is the islands of the Pacific Ocean. New Zealand. The skin is swarthy, sometimes light or yellowish. Hair is dark, wavy or straight. The tertiary hairline on the body is weak, on the face is medium. The nose of the media is not protruding, relatively wide. Lips are full. Large sizes body. It remains unclear what great races were included as components of mixing in this variant.

The population that forms the race. The total number of populations belonging to the equatorial races (without transitional and mixed forms) is about 260.1 million people (calculations were made by S.I. Brook with the participation of N.N. Cheboksarov in 1975-1976). The oceanic (Australoid) branch accounts for 9.5 million people. Among the Negroids, the most numerous are blacks (250.2 million people, 215 million people live in Africa, 35 million people live in America). There are about 200 thousand African Pygmies (Negrillies), Bushmen - 250 thousand people. The most numerous in South and Southeast Asia are Veddoids - 5 million people, Melanesians and Papuans - 4.26 million people. The Australians number about 50 thousand people, the Ainu - about 20 thousand people.

The total number of populations transitional between the equatorial and Caucasian races is about 356.6 million people (the South Indian group - 220 million people, the Ethiopian group - 45 million people).

The total number of Caucasoid populations, not mixed or very little mixed with other large races, reaches 1803.5 million people. Light Caucasians make up 140 million people, dark Caucasians - 1047.5 million people, the rest are transitional types. In the former USSR, Caucasians numbered 220 million people, in foreign Europe - 478 million, in Africa - 107 million, in America - 303 million, in Australia and Oceania - 16.5 million people. Light Caucasians predominate in the north of Europe and North America, dark ones - in the Caucasus, in the countries of the Middle East, in South Asia, in southern Europe, in Africa, and Latin America. Mixed and transitional forms between Caucasoid and Asian Mongoloids number 44.8 million people. Thus, the South Siberian race has 8.5 million people, the Urals - 13.1 million people.

The third main group of races - Mongoloid - is estimated at 712.3 million people. Northern Mongoloids (continental) number 8 million people, the number of Pacific (eastern) Mongoloids reaches 671.1 million people (most in China and Korea). The Arctic (Eskimo) group of types numbers 150 thousand people (transitional between continental and Pacific Mongoloids). American Mongoloids (sometimes distinguished as a separate large race) include approximately 33 million people.

The number of mixed and transitional forms between the Mongoloids and the Equatorial races can be judged from the South Asian contact race, connecting the Eastern Mongoloids with the Australoids, which has 550.4 million people.

The Polynesian Contact Group has about 1 million members. It occupies a middle position between all the great races of mankind.

The number of all Mongoloid-Equatorial populations is estimated at 674.1 million people.

Russian historian, archaeologist and numismatist. Although most of Molchanov's works are devoted to history, archeology and numismatics Ancient Russia, he gained fame as a researcher of Cretan writing.

Shatova Polina

human races

The modern racial image of humanity was formed as a result of the complex historical development of racial groups that lived apart and mixed, evolved, and disappeared. It is of particular importance for us to study all that we can learn about the human races in order to understand what really defines the human race. Even without outside clues, by observing, one can be sure that people in the world are divided into different groups. The members of each are in some way more closely related to each other than to the members of the other group. For this reason, they are more similar to each other than to others.

The section of anthropology - racial studies - summarizes data on the study of the anthropological composition of the peoples of the globe in the present and past, that is, on the formation and distribution of races on Earth; considers the problems of classification of races, their origin, settlement around the globe, development and interaction in connection with the specific history of human populations, based on data from morphology and physiology, genetics and molecular biology. The main problems of this section are the history of the formation of races, the relationship between them at different stages of historical development, the disclosure of the causes and mechanisms of racial differentiation.

A large place in racial science is occupied by the study of delimiting racial characteristics, their heredity, dependence on the surrounding natural-geographical and socio-cultural environment, gender differences, age dynamics, geographical variations and epoch-making changes. Racial data are used to refute pseudoscientific racist concepts and form a correct idea of ​​the differences in the morphological appearance of people.

The origin of the term "race" is not exactly established. It is possible that it is a modification of the Arabic word "ras" (head, beginning, root). There is also an opinion that this term is associated with the Italian razza, which means "tribe". The word "race" in approximately the sense in which it is now used is already found in the French scientist Francois Bernier, who published in 1684 one of the first classifications of human races.
Races exist predominantly in a social sense and are one of the forms of social classification that is used in a given society. However, in the biological sense, a clear division into races does not exist. Anthropology does not deny the existence of a distinct morphological and genetic diversity of mankind. Different researchers in different periods under the "race" meant different concepts.

Races are historically formed groupings (population groups) of people of different sizes, characterized by the similarity of morphological and physiological properties, as well as the commonality of the territories they occupy.

Large races of man

Since the 17th century, many different classifications of human races have been proposed. Most often, three main, or large, races are distinguished: Caucasoid (Eurasian, Caucasoid), Mongoloid (Asian-American) and Equatorial (Negro-Australoid). The Caucasoid race is characterized by fair skin (with variations from very light, mainly in Northern Europe, to swarthy and even brown), soft straight or wavy hair, horizontal slit eyes, moderately or strongly developed hair on the face and chest in men, prominently protruding nose, straight or slightly sloping forehead.

In the Mongoloid race, the skin color varies from dark to light (mainly in North Asian groups), the hair is usually dark, often coarse and straight, the protrusion of the nose is usually small, the palpebral fissure has an oblique incision, the fold of the upper eyelid is significantly developed and, in addition to in addition, there is a fold (epicanthus) covering the inner corner of the eye; hairline is weak.

The equatorial race is distinguished by dark pigmentation of the skin, hair and eyes, curly or broadly wavy (Australian) hair; the nose is usually wide, slightly protruding, the lower part of the face protrudes.

Small races and their geographical distribution

Each major race is subdivided into minor races, or anthropological types. Within the Caucasoid race, the Atlanto-Baltic, White Sea-Baltic, Central European, Balkan-Caucasian and Indo-Mediterranean minor races are distinguished. Now Caucasians inhabit virtually the entire inhabited land, but until the middle of the 15th century - the beginning of the great geographical discoveries - their main range included Europe, North Africa, Western and Central Asia and India. In modern Europe, all small races are represented, but the Central European variant prevails numerically (often found among Austrians, Germans, Czechs, Slovaks, Poles, Russians, Ukrainians); in general, its population is very mixed, especially in cities, due to migrations, miscegenation and the influx of migrants from other regions of the Earth.

Within the Mongoloid race, the Far Eastern, South Asian, North Asian, Arctic and American small races are usually distinguished, the latter sometimes being considered as a separate large race. The Mongoloids inhabited all climatic and geographical zones (Northern, Central, East and Southeast Asia, the Pacific Islands, Madagascar, North and South America). Modern Asia is characterized by a wide variety of anthropological types, but various Mongoloid and Caucasoid groups predominate in number. Among the Mongoloids, the Far Eastern (Chinese, Japanese, Koreans) and South Asian (Malays, Javanese, Probes) small races are most common, among Caucasians - the Indo-Mediterranean. In America, the indigenous population (Indians) is a minority, compared with various Caucasoid anthropological types and population groups of representatives of all three major races.

The equatorial, or Negro-Australoid, race includes three small races of African Negroids (Negro, or Negroid, Bushman and Negrillian) and the same number of Oceanic Australoids (Australian, or Australoid, a race that is distinguished in some classifications as an independent large race, as well as Melanesian and vedoid). The range of the equatorial race is not continuous: it covers most of Africa, Australia, Melanesia, New Guinea, and partly Indonesia. In Africa, the Negro minor race is numerically predominant; in the north and south of the continent, the proportion of the Caucasoid population is significant.
In Australia, the indigenous population is a minority in relation to migrants from Europe and India, and representatives of the Far Eastern race (Japanese, Chinese) are quite numerous. Indonesia is dominated by the South Asian race.

Along with the above, there are races with a less definite position, formed as a result of a long-term mixing of the population of certain regions, for example, the Lapanoid and Ural races, combining the features of Caucasoids and Mongoloids, or the Ethiopian race - intermediate between the Equatorial and Caucasoid races.

Race and psyche

From time immemorial sharp psychic differences have been incorrectly attributed to races. The famous Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus (1707-1778) was the first of the scientists to propose a more or less scientific classification of human races according to their physical characteristics, but at the same time he vainly attributed, for example, cruelty, melancholy, stubbornness and stinginess to the “Asiatic man”; "African" - anger, cunning, laziness, indifference; "European" - mobility, wit, ingenuity, that is, high mental abilities. Thus Linnaeus extolled the "white" race over the others.

Darwin, unlike Linnaeus, recognized the existence of a fundamental similarity in the manifestations of higher nervous activity in people of different races.
Darwin was very far from explaining the low cultural level of the Fuegians by their mental racial characteristics. On the contrary, he sought explanations for this in social factors.

Speaking about the expression of emotions, or emotional experiences, with the help of the mimic muscles of the face, Darwin comes to the conclusion that representatives of different races have a striking similarity or identity in this respect.
In another place, Darwin draws attention to the fact of the extraordinary similarity of the forms and methods of producing stone tips for weapons, collected from the most diverse countries of the earth and belonging to the ancient eras of mankind. He explains this by the closeness of the inventive and mental abilities of the most diverse human races in past times.

The opinion about the natural fundamental difference in the psyche of different races is often tried to be substantiated by the fact that the weight of the brain in different racial groups varies within several hundred grams. However, a person's abilities cannot be judged by the weight of his brain.

Outstanding people come from a variety of races. Mao Tse-tung is the greatest statesman of the new China, where a people of 600 million, having overthrown the yoke of foreign invaders-imperialists and completely freed themselves from the yoke of feudalism, are busy peacefully building a new, happy life. worldwide famous singer Paul Robeson is the most prominent fighter for peace, laureate of the Stalin Prize "For the strengthening of peace among peoples." There are many such examples.

Reactionary bourgeois scientists, with the help of special psychotechnical tests, the so-called tests, seek to show the alleged mental superiority of one race over another. Such attempts were made more than once and, moreover, without taking into account the difference in social status, in the education received and upbringing among the groups examined and compared with each other. Genuine scientists, of course, are sharply negative about these toasts, as they are means unsuitable for determining mental abilities.

Some reactionary German anthropologists at the International Congress on Anthropology and Ethnography, held in Copenhagen in August 1938, tried to prove the existence and inheritance of mental racial traits in their reports and speeches. racial psyche" have almost died out, while the Maori from the island of New Zealand successfully perceive European culture, since, according to these anthropologists, they belong to the Caucasoid race.

At the same congress, however, strong objections were raised by a number of its more progressive members. They denied the presence of natural racial traits in the psyche and pointed to differences in the level of culture, which are reflected in the mental makeup of tribes and peoples. The scientific evidence is inconsistent. with statements about the existence of a special "racial instinct", which allegedly causes enmity between the races of mankind. Under favorable social conditions, peoples of any racial composition can create an advanced culture and civilization. The psyche of individuals national character, behavior is determined and shaped under the predominant, decisive influence of the social environment: racial characteristics in the development of mental activity do not play any role.

The outstanding Russian ethnographer and anthropologist Nikolai Nikolaevich Miklukho-Maclay set as one of the chains of his study of the uncultured peoples of Oceania the determination of the level of their natural intelligence. Having spent many years in friendly communication with the Papuans, he met with many striking facts confirming that these inhabitants of New Guinea have the same high mental characteristics as the Europeans. For example, when Miklukho-Maclay was drawing a map of the area in which he lived, a Papuan who had been observing his work and who had not known the map before immediately discovered a mistake made when drawing coastline, and corrected it very accurately.
Miklukho-Maclay characterizes the Papuans as intelligent people, not devoid of artistic taste, skillfully carving figurines of their ancestors and making various ornaments.

As a result of many years of anthropological and ethnographic research, which made the works of Miklouho-Maclay classic, he irrefutably proved that the Papuans are quite capable of unlimited cultural development. In this respect, they are in no way inferior to Europeans.
The studies of Miklouho-Maclay revealed the unscientific and biased opinion of the racists about the natural inability of the dark-skinned races to creatively master the spiritual wealth accumulated by mankind.

Miklouho-Maclay devoted his entire short life to the struggle for the idea of ​​the biological equivalence of human races. He considered people of all races fully capable of the highest achievements in the field of culture. The principles of progressive scientific and social activity of Miklukho-Maclay developed at the time when the revolutionary-democratic views of the greatest Russian thinker Nikolai Gavrilovich Chernyshevsky, who was especially interested in questions of human races, were taking shape. Chernyshevsky, dwelling on the features of racial difference and similarity, denied the claims of the racists about the physical and mental inequality of human races. He rejected the influence of race on historical development and, using the example of Negro slavery in the USA, revealed the reactionary essence of racism. In his views on race and racism, Chernyshevsky relied on solid scientific data. Among the latter, he especially highly valued the achievements of the physiology of the nervous system, which were clearly marked in Russian science thanks to the brilliant works of Ivan Mikhailovich Sechenov.

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RACES OF HUMANS We - people differ from each other in eye color, hair, skin tones, height, body weight, facial features. All of these are individual differences. But there are signs that distinguish entire communities of people - races. A race is a historically established group of people united by: - ​​a common origin; - the territory of residence; - common morphological and physiological - hereditary features; - traditions and customs. Francois Bernier
The question of the origin and classification of races has a long history. The first attempt to describe the human races was made in the 17th century. French Bernier. Carl Linnaeus
Later, K. Linnaeus singled out four races: American, European, Asian, African. At present, most scientists distinguish three large races and several dozen small ones. Large races - equatorial (Australian-Negroid), Eurasian (Caucasian), Asian-American (Mongoloid). Representatives of the equatorial race live mainly in some tropical regions of the Old World. They are characterized by dark skin, wavy or curly hair, a wide flattened nose with large nostrils, and thick lips. The area of ​​distribution of the Eurasian race is Europe, part of Asia, North Africa, America. Its representatives are characterized by light, sometimes swarthy skin, straight, sometimes wavy soft hair, a long nose, thin lips, and usually well-developed facial hair (mustache, beard). The Asian-American race is common in America, Central and East Asia. The representatives of this race have straight, black, coarse hair, and their mustaches and beards grow weakly. The skin is more dark than fair. The nose of the Mongols is of medium width, protrudes little, while the nose of the American Indians is long, strongly protruding. The most characteristic features of this race are a wide face, protruding cheekbones, a narrow palpebral fissure, lips of medium thickness, and an upper eyelid closed with a leathery fold (“third eyelid”). However, even within the same race there are groups of people who differ from each other. For example, a Malay does not outwardly look too much like a Buryat or an Evenk. The Negroid Pygmies of the Congo River are different from the Bushmen of the Kalahari Desert. Caucasoids of Northern Europe (Norwegians, Swedes) - light-eyed, fair-haired, fair-skinned - bear little resemblance to southerners, mostly brown-eyed and dark-skinned. Therefore, scientists distinguish several dozen smaller races - the second and third order. Currently, people are actively moving around the world, moving from place to place. Representatives of different races intermarry. Races have been around for a very long time. The first division into two large trunks, the Mongoloid and the Caucasian-Negroid races, occurred 90-92 thousand years ago. It is believed that the separation of Caucasians and Negroids occurred 50 thousand years ago. Scientists are still arguing about the mechanism of formation of races. Many characteristics of races are clearly adaptive in nature. So, the dark skin of Negroids protects them better from ultraviolet rays than the light skin of Caucasians. Curly hair is a good heat insulator in the sun. An important factor in the formation of races could be their isolation. In groups of people living in isolation from the rest of the world, some new signs arose - the shape of the nose, lips, etc. e People - carriers of this trait married only within their group. Their offspring also intermarried within this group. Over time, the new sign became the property of all members of this group. Despite the differences between races, all modern humanity is represented by one species - Homo sapiens. Races should not be confused with the concepts of "nation" and "people" Representatives of different races can be members of a single state and speak the same language. The presence of speech centers is a biological feature of the human species. What language a person speaks does not depend on belonging to a particular race or nationality, but on social factors - on who the person lives with and who will teach him. Through speech, the ability to control one's behavior is realized: an adult, a mature reasonable person first sets goals, plans his actions, and only then acts.

All humans living on planet earth currently belong to the same species - Homo sapiens. Within this species, scientists distinguish human races.

The human race is a historically formed group of people with common hereditary morphological features.

These features include: hair type and color, skin and eye color, shape of the nose, lips, eyelids, facial features, body type, etc. All of these features are hereditary.

A study of the fossil remains of Cro-Magnons showed that they had features characteristic of modern human races. For tens of thousands of years, the descendants of the Cro-Magnons lived in the most diverse geographical areas of the planet. This means that each human race has its own area of ​​origin and formation. Differences between human races are the result of natural selection in different habitats in the presence of geographical isolation. The long-term effect of environmental factors in places of permanent residence led to the gradual consolidation of a set of features characteristic of these groups of people. There are currently three major human races. They, in turn, are divided into small races (there are about thirty of them).

Representatives Caucasoid (Eurasian) race adapted to life in cold and humid climate. The distribution area of ​​​​the Caucasian race is Europe, North Africa, a small part of Asia and India, as well as North America and Australia. They are characterized by predominantly light or slightly dark skin. This race is characterized by straight or wavy hair, a narrow protruding nose and thin lips. On the face of men, hairline is expressed (in the form of mustaches and beards). The protruding narrow nose of Caucasians contributes to the warming of the inhaled air in cold climates.

People Negroid (Australian-Negroid) race are most represented in areas of the planet with a hot climate. They inhabit Africa, Australia and the Pacific Islands. Adaptations to these climatic conditions are dark skin color, curly or wavy hair. For example, the curly hair on the head of the Negroid race forms a kind of air cushion. This feature of the hair arrangement protects the head from overheating. Representatives of the Negroid race are also characterized by a flat, slightly protruding nose, thick lips and dark eye color.

Mongoloid (Asian-American) race distributed in areas of the Earth with a harsh continental climate. Historically, this race inhabited almost all of Asia, as well as North and South America. Mongoloids are characterized by swarthy skin, straight hard dark hair. The face is flattened, with well-defined cheekbones, the nose and lips are of medium width, the hairline of the face is poorly developed. There is a skin fold in the inner corner of the eye - epicanthus. The narrow slit of the eyes and the epicanthus of the Mongoloids are adaptations to frequent dust storms. The formation of thick adipose subcutaneous tissue allows them to adapt to low temperatures cold continental winters.

The unity of the human races is confirmed by the absence of genetic isolation between them. This is expressed in the possibility of the appearance of fertile offspring in interracial marriages. Another proof of the unity of races is the presence of arched patterns on the fingers of all people and the same pattern of hair arrangement on the body.

Racism- a set of teachings about the physical and mental inequality of human races and the decisive influence of racial differences on the history and culture of society. The ideas of racism originated when the laws of evolution of living nature discovered by Charles Darwin began to be transferred to human society.

The main ideas of racism are the ideas about the initial division of people into higher and lower races due to their biological inequality. Moreover, representatives of higher races are the only creators of civilization and are called upon to dominate the lower ones. So racism seeks to justify social injustice in society and colonial policy.

Racist theory existed in practice in Nazi Germany. The Nazis considered their Aryan race to be the highest and by this they justified the physical destruction of a huge number of representatives of other races. In our country, as one of the most affected by the aggression of the fascist invaders, any adherence to the ideas of fascism is condemned and punished by law.

Racism has no scientific justification, since the biological equivalence of representatives of all races and their belonging to the same species has been proven. The differences in the level of development are the result of social factors.

Some scholars have suggested that the main driving force behind the evolution of human society is the struggle for existence. These views formed the basis of social Darwinism, a pseudoscientific trend according to which all social processes and phenomena (the emergence of states, wars, etc.) are subject to the laws of nature. Supporters of this doctrine consider the social inequality of people as a consequence of their biological inequality, which arose as a result of natural selection.

Features of human evolution at the present stage

AT modern society at first glance, there are no clear signs of further evolution of the species Homo sapiens. But this process continues. The decisive role at this stage is played by social factors, but the role of some biological factors of evolution has also been preserved.

Constantly arising under the influence of environmental factors mutations and their combinations change the genotypic composition of the human population. They enrich people's phenotypes with new traits and maintain their uniqueness. In turn, harmful and life-incompatible mutations are removed from the human population naturally. Pollution of the planet, primarily with chemical compounds, is the reason for the increase in the rate of mutagenesis and the accumulation of genetic burden (harmful recessive mutations). This fact can somehow influence the evolution of man.

Formed about 50 thousand years ago, Homo sapiens has practically not undergone external changes to date. This is the result of action stabilizing natural selection in a relatively homogeneous human environment. One example of its manifestation was the increased survival rate of newborns with body weight within the average values ​​(3-4 kg). However, at the present stage, due to the development of medicine, the role of this form of selection has significantly decreased. Modern medical technologies allow nursing newborns with low body weight and enable premature babies to fully develop.

Leading role isolation in human evolution was traced at the stage of formation of human races. In modern society, thanks to the variety of means of transportation and the constant migration of people, the importance of isolation is almost negligible. The lack of genetic isolation between people is an important factor in enriching the gene pool of the planet's population.

In some relatively limited territories, such a factor as genetic drift. Currently, it manifests itself locally in connection with natural disasters. Natural disasters sometimes claim the lives of tens and even hundreds of thousands of people, as happened in early 2010 as a result of the earthquake in Haiti. This undoubtedly has an impact on the gene pool of human populations.

Therefore, the evolution of the species Homo sapiens currently only the mutation process is affected. The effect of natural selection and isolation is minimal.

All people living on planet Earth at the present time belong to the same species - Homo sapiens. Within this species, human races are distinguished. The signs of races were formed under the influence of environmental factors. Currently, there are three large human races: Caucasoid, Australo-Negroid and Mongoloid. At the present stage of the biological factors on the evolution of man in an unchanged form, only the mutation process acts. The role of natural selection and genetic drift has been significantly reduced, and isolation has practically lost its significance.

The population of our planet today exceeds 7 billion people. This figure is increasing every day.

Population of the Earth

Scientists have determined that in just a decade, the number of people on Earth will increase by 1 billion people. However, such dynamics of the demographic picture was not always so high.

A few centuries ago, the number of people increased slowly. People died from adverse weather conditions and diseases in early age because the development of science and technology was at a low level.

To date, the largest countries in terms of population are Japan, China and India. The population of these three countries becomes half of the world's population.

The smallest number of people live in countries whose territory covers equatorial forests, tundra and taiga zones, as well as mountain ranges. The bulk of the world's population lives in the Northern Hemisphere (about 90%).

Races

All mankind is divided into races. Races are organized groups of people who are united by common external features - body structure, face shape, skin color, hair structure.

Such external signs were formed as a result of the adaptation of human physiology to environmental conditions. There are three major races: Caucasoid, Negroid and Mongoloid.

The most numerous is the Caucasoid race, it includes about 45% of the world's population. Caucasoids inhabit the territory of Europe, part of Asia, South and North America and Australia.

The second largest is the Mongoloid race. The Mongoloid race includes people living in Asia, as well as the natives of North America - the Indians.

The Negroid race ranks third in terms of numbers. Representatives of this race live in Africa. After the slaveholding period, representatives of the Negroid race remained to live in South and North America.

peoples

Large races are formed by representatives of many peoples. Most of the world's population belongs to the 20 major nations, their number exceeds 50 million people.

Peoples are communities of people who lived in the same territory for long historical periods and are united by cultural heritage.

There are about 1500 peoples in the modern world. The geography of their settlement is the most diverse. Some of them are settled all over the planet, some are around within the limits of the settlement.

For about one million years from the beginning of the Quaternary period, during its glacial and interglacial epochs up to the post-glacial, modern era, ancient mankind settled more and more widely in the ecumene. The development of human groups often took place in certain regions of the Earth, where great importance had conditions of isolation and features of the natural environment. The oldest people evolved into Neanderthals, and Neanderthals evolved into Cro-Magnons.

Race - biological divisions of humanity modern look(Homo sapiens), differing in common hereditary morphological features, associated with the unity of origin and a certain area of ​​\u200b\u200bdwelling.

One of the first creators of racial classification was a French scientist Francois Bernier, published in 1684 a work in which he used the term "race". Anthropologists distinguish four large races of the first order and a number of intermediate ones, numerically small, but also independent. In addition, in each race of the first order, the main divisions are distinguished -

Negroid race: Negroes, Negrillies, Bushmen and Hottentots.

Characteristic features of the Negroid:

Curly hair (black);

Dark brown leather;

Brown eyes;

Moderately protruding cheekbones;

Strongly protruding jaws;

Thick lips;

Wide nose.

Mixed and transitional forms between the Negroid and Caucasoid large races: the Ethiopian race, the transitional groups of the Western Courts, the mulattos, the "colored" African groups.

Caucasoid race: northern, transitional forms, southern.

Characteristic features of the Caucasian:

Wavy or straight soft hair of different shades;

Light or dark skin;

Brown, light gray and blue eyes;

Weakly protruding cheekbones and jaws;

Narrow nose with high bridge;

Thin or medium lips. Mixed forms between Caucasoid

the great race and the American branch of the Mongoloid great race: the American mestizos.

Mixed forms between the Caucasoid great race and the Asian branch of the Mongoloid great race: Central Asian groups, South Siberian race, Laponoids and Suburalian Fig. 3.2. Caucasoid type, mixed groups of Siberia.

small races, or races of the second order, possessing (with some variations) the main features of their large race.

The signs on the basis of which races of different orders are distinguished are diverse. The most obvious are the degree of development of the tertiary hairline (the primary hairline already exists on the body of the embryo in the uterine state, the secondary - hair on the head, eyebrows - is present in the newborn; tertiary - associated with puberty), as well as a beard and mustache, hair shape and eye (Fig. 3.1; 3.2; 3.3; 3.4).

A well-known role in racial diagnosis is played by pigmentation, that is, the color of the skin, hair and growth. However, according to the degree of pigment-;

Mongoloid race: American races, Asian branch of the Mongoloid races, continental Mongoloids, Arctic race (Eskimos and Paleo-Asians), Pacific (East Asian) races.

Characteristic features of the Mongoloid:

Straight, hard and dark hair;

Weak development of tertiary hairline;

Yellowish skin tone;

Brown eyes;

Flattened face with prominent cheekbones;

Narrow nose, often with a low bridge of nose;

The presence of epicanthus (a fold at the inner corner of the eye).

Transitional groups between the Asian branch of the Mongoloid big race and the Australoid big race: South Asian race (Southern Mongoloids), Japanese, East Indonesian Fig. 3.3. Mongoloid group

Australoid race: Veddoids, Australians, Ainu, Papuans and Melanesians, Negritos. Characteristic features of the Australoid:

Dark coloration of the skin;

Brown eyes;

Wide nose;

Thick lips;

Wavy hair;

Strongly developed tertiary hairline.

Other racial types (mixed): Malagasy, Polynesian, Micronesian, Hawaiian.

There are significant differences in each race. For example, rather light-pigmented groups of the Negroid African population and very dark Caucasians, residents of southern Europe. Therefore, the division of mankind into whites, yellows and blacks, accepted in the literature, does not correspond to the actual data. The peculiarity of growth (short stature) is typical only for a few pygmy peoples of Asia and Africa. Among the more specific features used in racial diagnostics, blood types, some genetic features, papillary patterns on the fingers, the shape of the teeth, etc. can be named.

Racial signs were not only continuously fixed, but also leveled. Being increasingly different from one another due to differences in the geographical environment with which they were associated, and under the influence of labor, the development of culture and other special conditions, the races at the same time acquired more and more similarity with each other in the general features of modern man. At the same time, as a result of a qualitatively special path of development, the human races began to differ more and more sharply from the subspecies of wild animals.

The time of the formation of racial types is usually attributed to the era of the emergence of a modern human species, a neoanthrope, during which the biological stage of anthropogenesis was basically completed, which was expressed in the cessation of the overall action of natural selection. Began social development human societies.

The formation of the main races, according to scientists, took place 40-16 thousand years before the present. However, the processes of racial genesis continued later, but not so much under the influence of natural selection, but under the influence of other factors;

The study of the bone remains of Neanderthals and fossils of modern humans in the Old World has led some scientists to believe that about 100 thousand years ago, two large racial groups emerged in the bowels of ancient mankind (Ya. Ya. Roginsky, 1941, 1956). Sometimes they talk about the formation of two circles of race formation: large and small (Fig. 3.5).

In a large circle of race formation, the first initial branch of the human trunk was formed - the southwestern one. It was divided into two large racial groups: Euro-Asian, or Caucasian, and equatorial, or Negroid-Australoid. Appearing 2.5 million years ago in East Africa, more than a million years ago man began to populate Southern Europe and Southwest Asia, the natural conditions of which differed significantly from the natural conditions of Africa. The appearance of man coincides with the beginning of the epoch of glaciation, when mighty glaciers 2-3 km thick descended from the mountains to the plains and covered vast spaces, binding a huge mass of moisture. The ocean level dropped, the water surface was reduced, evaporation decreased. The climate everywhere became drier and colder. During the glaciation, ancient people left such harsh regions and migrated to places with a favorable climate. This contributed to their mixing (after all, before the beginning of the last glaciation, there were no characteristic racial differences yet).

The most significant difference between the two races in the process of their development in a large circle of racial formation was the color of the skin, as well as a number of other features.

In people negroid race: dark eye color, the predominance of dark skin pigmentation (with the exception of the Hottentots); dark coarse curly or wavy hair; poor development of the tertiary hairline, wide nose in the wings, thick lips, alveolar prognathism is common (strong protrusion of the front of the skull). Dark skin protects their body from harmful ultraviolet rays, curly hair creates an air gap that protects the head from overheating.

In people caucasian race: skin color varies from white to light brown, and eyes - from blue to black; hair is soft, straight or wavy; medium and strong development of tertiary hairline; significant profiling (protrusion) of the facial skeleton; narrow, strongly protruding nose; lips thin or medium. Northern Caucasians are characterized by light pigmentation of the skin and hair (blonds); among them there are albinos, almost devoid of pigmentation. Blue eyes predominate. Southern Caucasians are heavily pigmented, brunettes. Some groups of southern Caucasoids have a particularly sharp profiling of the face and a strong development of the hairline (assiroids). The eyes are usually dark. Large groups of Caucasians have intermediate pigmentation (brown, dark blond).

Natural selection determined the survival of narrow-faced (the minimum surface of the body surface unprotected by clothing), long-nosed (warming up the inhaled cold air), thin-lipped (preservation of internal heat), with a lush beard and mustache (they protect the face from the cold, according to polar explorers, better than a fur mask). A long winter weakened the body, especially for children, threatening rickets. The best cure for it is ultraviolet rays. Their excess causes a burn, Dark skin serves as protection against them. Light skin transmits ultraviolet rays, at a moderate dose they penetrate into the deeper layers of the skin, producing vitamin D, which is so necessary for the body - a panacea for rickets. Light hair on the head also does not retain ultraviolet rays, passing them to the skin. During the polar night, the northern lights, which emit the blue part of the spectrum, serve as an additional source of light. The dark iris of the eye absorbs this part of the spectrum, while the blue iris transmits it. Thus, in the Far North, a fair-haired, fair-skinned, blue-eyed race should have formed, which it is legitimate to call Nordic. To a greater or lesser extent, the features of this rice have been preserved by the peoples of Northern Europe.

Currently, the skin color is darker in the Negroid-Australoid! noah, races and those Caucasian races that were formed in the hotter southern countries. On the contrary, the territorial-northern Caucasoid racial groups gradually brightened. It is believed that at first there was a lightening of the skin, s @ 1, finally, of the hair.

In a small circle of formation in the North-East; Asia, to north and east of the Himalayan mountains formed mongolian race, which gave rise to several anthropological types. People of the Mongoloid race are characterized by yellowish; skin color, dark straight thicker hair, weak development of tertiary hairline, flattened facial skeleton with a protruding zygomatic part, alveolar prognathism, a peculiar structure of the eye, in which the lacrimal tubercle is covered by a fold (epicanthus), and other signs, in particular, the so-called spatulate incisors.

The features of this race were formed in the conditions of open steppe expanses, strong dust and snow storms. During the period) of the formation of the Mongoloids and their advancement across Eurasia 20-15 thousand years ago, the area of ​​​​glaciers increased, the level of the oceans dropped by 150 meters, the climate became even drier and colder. In a wide strip from the East European to the Great Chinese Plain, the rate of loess accumulation increased tenfold. The loess is a product of weathering, and its increase testifies to the raging loess storms. Natural selection led to the extinction of part of the population. - Those who had a narrow slit of the eyes, epicanthus - a fold of the eyelid that protected the lacrimal tubercle of the eye from dust, a snub nose, straight coarse hair, a sparse beard and mustache that did not clog with dust survived. Skin with a yellowish tinge marked people against the background of yellow loess soils. Thus, populations with Mongoloid features were formed. Archaeological finds indicate that during the peak of glaciation, hunter settlements were located in groups among uninhabited spaces.

In the east of Eurasia, the Mongoloids through Beringia - the landmass that connected Siberia with North America - penetrated into Alaska, free from glaciers. Further, the path to the south is blocked by the giant Canadian ice sheet. At the beginning of the peak of glaciation, when the level of the World Ocean was dropping very quickly, a land corridor formed along the western edge of the shield, along which hunters penetrated the Great Plains of North America. The way to the south was blocked by the deserts of Mexico, and the natural conditions on the Great Plains turned out to be very favorable. Although there were loess storms here, which caused the extinction of mammoths, countless herds of bison and deer served as an excellent object of hunting. The Great Plains are literally littered with stone spearheads. The similarity of natural conditions on the Great Plains and in Central Asia led to the appearance of a number of similar features among the Indians: skin with a yellowish tint, coarse straight hair, and the absence of a beard and mustache. Less ferocious loess storms made it possible to preserve large aquiline noses and a wide slit in the eyes. Archaeological finds indicate that the Indians are morphologically similar to the ancient inhabitants of the Baikal region, who lived there before the peak of glaciation. Settling further and further south along the mainland, this group eventually transformed into an Indian, or American, small race, which scientists usually divide into several anthropological types.

All racial differences were formed as adaptations to environment. Humans of all human races constitute one species. This is evidenced by their genetic unity - the same set of chromosomes, the same diseases, blood types, fertile offspring from interracial marriages.

With the settlement of mankind and the development of new ecological niches with different natural conditions small races separated themselves within the large races, and intermediate (mixed) races arose at the boundaries of contacts between large races (Fig. 3.6).

Caucasoids Mongoloids Mixed types Negroids Australoids

Caucasians Mestizos Mulattos Negroids

Mongoloid Indians

Rice. 3.6. Distribution of races in the world (Start)

In the course of history there has been a constant mixing of races, as a result of which practically pure races do not exist, and all of them show certain signs of mixing. In addition, there were many intermediate anthropological types, combining different racial characteristics. According to all the main morphological, physiological, mental and mental properties, the races do not have any fundamental, qualitative differences and constitute a single species Homo sapiens.

This process has been especially intensive during the last 10-15 thousand years. From the same time that Christopher Columbus discovered America in 1492, the process of mixing (or miscegenation) assumed enormous proportions. On the whole, the whole of mankind is more or less mixed; tens of millions of people are very difficult or simply impossible to classify even into any large race. Mixed marriages of Negroes - slaves from Africa and whites gave rise to mulattoes, Indians of the Mongoloids with white colonizers - mestizos, and Indians and Negroes - sambo. The main reason for the mixing of racial characteristics was the numerous migrations of the population (Fig. 3.7, 3.8).

However, near the borders of the ecumene, located in the marginal areas of human settlement, the factor of natural isolation played the greatest role. On Earth, peoples have survived that have pronounced complexes of racial characteristics; Such, for example, are the pygmies in the jungles of the Congo Basin in Africa; Indians in equatorial forests Amazonia; Lapps (Saami) in the Far North of Europe; Eskimos (Innuits) in the Far North of Asia and America; Indians in the Far South of South America; Australian Aborigines, Papuans of New Guinea; Bushmen in the South African Kalahari and Namib deserts.

Today, the geographical position is quite clearly fixed. modern races(see color incl. 7). Negroids live in most of the African continent and in the New World, where they were taken as slaves. The main areas of Mongoloid settlement are Siberia, Southeast, East and Central Asia, partially Central Asia, Polynesia and America. Caucasoids live in almost all parts of the world, but they are mainly settled in Pyrope. Northern, Central and South America, in a significant part of Western and Central Asia, in the northern regions of South Asia. Migrants from the Old and New Worlds make up a large part of the Caucasian population of Australia and New Zealand.

Representatives of the large Australoid (Oceanian) race are scattered (mostly in relatively small groups) over a vast territory from South Asia to Southeast and East Asia, Australia and Oceania.

Recognition of the fact of evolution at the end of the XIX century. meant the rejection of the Typological approach to species, since Darwinism emphasized

(Fig. 3.7. Mestizos from mixed marriages)

3.8. World migrations of the population in the XVII-first half of the XIX centuries.

and the fact of individual variability within species, and the constant transformation that each species undergoes. However, until recently anthropologists' thinking was distinctly typological, textbooks of physical anthropology contained for the most part descriptions and names of human races. Some authors (“unifiers”) named only a dozen human races, while others (“crushers”) named a myriad of them.

The difficulty with using these categories is that between different ways division of the human races there are too many contradictions. Are the Turks a white race, as evidenced by their appearance, or oil and belong to the Mongoloid tribes of Central Asia, which they (together with the Hungarians and Finns) have a linguistic

physical relationship? What to do with the Basques, who at first glance look like Spaniards, but whose language and culture are unlike any other in the world? Those who speak Hindi and Urdu in India create their own problem. Historically, they are a mixture of South Asian Dravidian natives, Central Asian Aryans (who are clearly Caucasian) and Persians. Should they be classified in the same group with the Europeans, whose languages ​​are derived from Sanskrit - Hindi and Urdu are very close to it, or should they be grouped with the inhabitants of South Asia because of their dark skin?

The attempt to compile more and more complex sets of characteristics of human types, which would correspond to the incredible diversity of people, eventually failed. Anthropologists no longer try to name and define races and subraces, because they understand that there are no pure human groups. The most striking feature of the general history of mankind is the incessant, small migration of the population and, consequently, the mixing of racial groups from different regions.

Most accepted classification of races proposed Ya. Ya. Roshch Ginsky and M. G. Levin(Figure 3.9).

Racial studies as a science in our country developed poorly, since the state artificially obscured the severity of the problem. However, during the years of pluralistic development spiritual life we have fascist and other extremely nationalistic movements that have absorbed the ideological attitudes of racism. That is why a scientific analysis of these problems is now so necessary.

Is race a biological or social phenomenon?

Author of the book "Cultural Anthropology" K.F.Kottak He writes that the scientific study of race as a biological formation is very problematic, it raises many questions and bewilderment. Researchers experience great difficulty in applying biological ideas to groups of people in the question of which or sets of external features are most significant in determining their racial affiliation in different people. If we give priority to skin color, then the terms themselves do not accurately describe the color. The HRC of this classification, entire peoples remain outside it: Polynesians, peoples of South India, Australians, Bushmen to the south! Africa cannot be assigned to any of the three races named above.

Moreover, mixed marriages, and their number is increasing, modify the phenotypes of races, and in life the problem comes down first of all to determining the status of the baby. In American culture, a subject is racially determined at birth, but race is not based on biology or simple inheritance.

Rice. 3.9. Major racial groups

In the traditions of American culture, a child born of a mixed marriage of an African American and a "white" child can be classified as "black", while, according to the genotype, it should probably be classified as "white". In the US, racial division is primarily a social grouping and has nothing to do with biological division. Other nations also have cultural norms that govern these relationships. For example, the Brazilian designation of someone's race can be expressed in one of 500 different terms. If we take the blood type as the basis for identifying a race, then the number of races may increase to a million. The conclusion from such a hypothesis will be the position that all races are biologically valuable for creating their own culture and possessing universal universals.

However, there are other anti-scientific theories. They affirm the biological inequality of races. Proponents of racism Ielat humanity into superior and inferior races. The latter are not capable of cultural development and are doomed to degeneration. In co-

According to their theory, the inequality of races is due to the origin of people from different ancestors: Caucasoid - from Cro-Magnons, and the rest - from Neanderthals. Representatives of different races differ in the level of mental development; not all of them are capable of cultural development. These fabrications are refuted by scientific data. The capacity of the cerebral part of the skull varies in people of the same race, without being reflected in mental capacity; All elements of culture are similar in people of different races, and the uneven pace of its development does not depend on biological characteristics, but on historical and social reasons.

Another anti-scientific direction - social Darwinism - transfers the action of biological laws (the struggle for existence and natural selection) to modern human society and denies the role of social factors in human evolution. The inequality of people in society, its stratification into classes co-j, tsial-Darwinism explains the biological inequality of people, and not social reasons.

The problem of race and intelligence also require separate consideration. Researchers believe that there are many groups in the world that have power and are socially dominant in societies that justify their privileges by declaring less | shinstva (racial, ethnic, social) inferior nd nature. Similar theories have been found to justify apartheid in South Africa, European colonialism in Asia, Africa and Latin America. In the United States, the alleged superiority of the white race was affirmed by the segregation doctrine. Confidence in the biologically substantiated backwardness of Native Americans - Indians gave grounds for their extermination, resettlement on reservations.

Scientific judgments have also appeared, trying to explain. that misfortune and poverty are nothing but the result of inferior intellectual faculties. American explorer A. Jensen, interpreting the observation, in the course of which it turned out that compared with "white" "black" Americans, on average, on testing, they show a lower level of intelligence, draws the following conclusion: "white" Americans are "smarter" than "blacks", "blacks" are hereditarily incapable of show the same level of intelligence as "whites". However, the same K. F. Kottak gives examples when measurements of IQ (intelligence index) among US Indians showed contrasting results; those who lived on reservations, in conditions of poverty and discrimination, showed an average IQ of 0.87, and Indians from more affluent areas with good schools for them 1.04. Today, in a number of states, such a study without the consent) of the test subjects is prosecuted by law.

It can be said that the original division of peoples into civilized and savage is already a thing of the past. Ethnographic data indicate that the ability to cultural evolution all races are equal. Moreover, it has been proven that in any stratified society, differences in social groups in terms of economic, social, ethnic and racial parameters reflect inequality of opportunity to a greater extent than genetic structure. Therefore, differences in wealth, prestige and power between social classes are due to social relations, property.

The concept of "race" turned out to be completely vague, which prompted UNESCO to recommend using the term "ethnos" instead. And although the concept includes anthropological features, a common origin and a single language of a separate group of people, it is not identical to the concept of "race" in the biological sense - as a group of organisms that are geographically isolated and have acquired hereditary morphological and physiological differences. In addition, despite the genetic relationship, in some cases the differences among neighboring ethnic groups are so great that they cannot be explained without resorting to the biological concept of "race".