Final answer:
The concept of essentialism in race, where certain traits are thought to be inherent to racial groups, has been invalidated by research. Instead, race is acknowledged as a social construct without biological grounding, as most traits exhibit more variation within racial groups than between them and cannot be linked to concise racial categories. This perspective is supported by major social science organizations.
Step-by-step explanation:
According to Lawrence Blum, popular thinking about race often does away with the biological basis but retains the concept of essentialism, the notion that certain traits of mind, character, and temperament are inseparably linked to a racial group's 'nature' and dictate its racial destiny. This view has been debunked by research which indicates that differences such as IQ scores are more attributable to environmental factors rather than innate racial qualities. The social construction of race is a more accurate perspective, recognizing that race is not biologically identifiable and that historical racial categories were grounded in pseudoscience and used to justify discriminatory practices.
Anthropologists and geneticists affirm that genetic markers for physical traits such as skin color or hair texture do not support the traditional racial categories used in society. Instead, biological diversity is far too complex for such simplistic categorization, with human traits varying across a spectrum without discrete racial groupings. The field of biological anthropology, with contributions from scholars like AgustÃn Fuentes and Nina Jablonski, provides evidence that underlines the invalidity of biological racial categories.
Modern scientific consensus supports the view that race, when considered biologically, is an insufficient construct, and instead, the focus should be on understanding human diversity in terms of ancestry rather than race. Biological variance is greater within racial groups than between them, implying the irrelevance of race in genetic research. Social science organizations, including the American Anthropological Association, the American Sociological Association, and the American Psychological Association, reject biological explanations of race, recognizing it as a social, rather than a biological, reality.