ABSTRACT
This chapter explores what makes humans alike and different. It focuses on biological variation, brain development, and sex determination. Racial ideologies are built on the assumption that humankind falls into a small number of genetically distinct groups which share physical features and are dissimilar under the surface as well. Assumptions about biological differences between racial groups lead health professionals to make instantaneous racial determinations based on patients' appearance. In anthropological genetics, genetic markers and patterns of epigenetic modifications are used to map migrations and trace historical relationships between populations. The chapter exposes the unscientific foundation for alleged group-level biological differences which is used to justify bigotry and sustain systems that produce inequalities - and the conditions to which humans respond biologically through plasticity and epigenetic marks. Like alleged racial differences in cognitive ability and behavior, gender differences in mental traits are attributed to genes but instead reflect the impact of social and cultural forces on brain development and activity.
