Chapter 2 outline

Chapter 2: Conceptual Issues in Race/Ethnicity and Health Introduction Race and ethnicity is a factor in every aspect of society including: politics, economics, music, art and literature. Race is most frequently used concept in research More than 60% of studies publish in 3 U.S. based scientific journals included race and ethnicity studies Origins of the race concept Scholars did not develop a set of categories to classify humans until the 17th century Many people were credited for coining the term race Francois Bernier ? specified the term Georges-Louis Leclerc Buffon ? originated race concept Johann Fredrich Blumenbach ? presented 5 classifications of man Caucasian or white Mongolian or yellow Malayan or brown Negro or black American or red By 1970, many scientist believed that there was no biological evidence to support the existence of race groups Although there is no biological evidence, races are social categories that have an impact on people?s lives and health. Problems with race concept Major Problems with the term race Has not been clearly defined/ consistently applied The race of a person depends on which society they were born into and which time frame they were born. Pre-1989 in United States Only classified white if both parents were white Every other case, race was determined by the father?s race ?One-drop rule?- one drop of non-white blood makes person a member of the non-white race Post-1989 in United States Race of mother determines race of child Pre-1985 in Japan Race was determined by father Post-1985 in Japan Japanese amended constitution to be that if either parent was Japanese, then child was Japanese. Brazil?s policy Mixed races were put into another racial category called mulattos Mulattos further divided by lightness or darkness of skin Race is often used synonymously with ethnicity and nationality Not synonymous No consensus on the definition of race Many dictionaries define race differently Existence of races has little support from biological or genetic research Changing measurement of Race in U.S. Census Difficult to compare statistics across states or across time periods Pre- Mid 20th century Only classified as white and non-white Mid 20th century Classified as white, black, or other 1980s Added Hispanics and asian Americans Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Directive 15 Standardized collection of data on race and ethnicity Version 1 ? 1977 Established 4 categories of data American indian or Alaska Native Asian or Pacific Islander Black White Version 2 -1997 (adopted 3 changes to the categories) Divided Pacific Islander category into two separate categories Asian Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander Option of selecting more than one race Adds Latino to Hispanic Conceptual model of Race/Ethnicity and Health LaVeist (1994) developed a conceptual model of race known as the Physiognomy model of race and health Race is viewed as a latent factor in which skin color is the most commonly used manifest indicator Left side ? Social Pathway Social health risks Examples Occupational health hazards Poor quality housing Exposure to discrimination or racism Poorer quality health care Social Risk factors ?variables that both impact helath and are out of the control of the individual Examples Racism Sexism Socioeconomic status Social support Population density Housing quality Racial segregation Stress Right side - Behavioral Pathway Characteristics of the culture of an ethnic group that influence health or illness behaviors 3rd pathway ? societal factors to health and illness behavior Examples Race may lead to lower socioeconomic status that may lead to underutilization of health services. Physiognomy- art of judging human character from facial features Summary Term race causes confusion Often we think of race as different species of man, but there is no evidence. Race and ethnicity are social categories Key words Race ? Ethnicity ? Species ? OMB Directive 15 ? standardization of race and ethnicity in data Physiognomy- art of judging human character from facial features Lecture notes on Chapter 2: