Final answer:
Race as a social construction means it is not based on any biological fact but created by societal practices. An example is the different treatment and categorization of various ethnic groups in U.S. history. Major social science organizations support the perspective that race is a socially created classification system, not rooted in biology.
Step-by-step explanation:
When we say that race is a social construction, it means that race is not a scientific fact based on biological difference but a concept that has been created and shaped by societal norms, practices, and institutions. An example of this can be seen in the way the names for racial categories change with the times and how race provides a source of identity. For instance, the excavation of material lives of different groups in the United States, like the Chinese, the Irish, and enslaved Africans, shows how the constructed notions of race influenced their lifestyles, housing, clothing, and property ownership.
Furthermore, social science organizations such as the American Association of Anthropologists, the American Sociological Association, and the American Psychological Association have all rejected biological explanations of race. Instead, they endorse the view that race is socially constructed. Research within this framework suggests that previous racial categories were arbitrarily assigned based on pseudoscience to justify discriminatory practices.
Race is understood to be a system of labeling that results in stereotypes—an oversimplification about groups of people—which affects the power dynamics between the dominant group and subordinate groups, such as the concept of White privilege. The powerful social reality of race can influence discrimination, subordination, solidarity, and sociopolitical policies like affirmative action, despite race not being a biologically identifiable category.