ABSTRACT
This chapter considers how, in spite of its problematic biological status, race continues to play a vital and significant role in the cultural, social, and political life of Americans. Clearly, race is real in America, but this kind of race is not biological. This version of race is what anthropologists refer to as a social or cultural construction, and is where the real power of the concept resides. Social constructions of race are the cultural beliefs and meanings associated with people of differing phenotypes, including skin color. Alan Goodman has also been an eloquent supporter of the importance of different cultural constructions of race, and that the true significance of race occurs at the level of the lived experience of individuals. While accepting the historical importance of these cultural and social aspects of race in America, some critics have suggested a “declining significance of race”, while others advocate for a “color-blind” society.
