Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-cphqk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-27T23:12:13.652Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Number of Black Widows in the National Academy of Sciences

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2022

Michael Root
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Studies in the social and biomedical sciences of racial differences in socioeconomic status or health within a population view the race of members as fixed and look for a difference in the frequency of a trait like average income or disease risk between racial subgroups. But, as I explain in this paper, there are good reasons to allow the race of members to vary with the trait whose variation within the population is to be described or explained. According to such a view of race, racial categories are more scientifically significant if membership in the categories is allowed to vary with differences in scientific interest rather than held constant across a variety of interests.

Type
Race and Science
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 72 , Issue 5: Proceedings of the 2004 Biennial Meeting of The Philosophy of Science Association. Part I: Contributed Papers , December 2005 , pp. 1197 - 1207
Copyright
Copyright © The Philosophy of Science Association

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Brainard, Jeffrey (2003), “National Academy of Sciences Elects Record Number of Women”, Chronicle of Higher Education, “Today’s News,” April 30 (http://chronicle.com/prm/daily/2003/04/2003043003n.htm).Google Scholar
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (2002), Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System Survey Questionnaire. Atlanta: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Google Scholar
Edmonston, Barry, Goldstein, Joshua, and Tamayo, Juanita, eds. (1996), Spotlight on Heterogeneity: The Federal Standards for Racial and Ethnic Classification. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.Google Scholar
Fordham, Signithia, and Ogbu, John (1986), “‘Black Students’ School Success: Coping with the Burden of Acting White”, ‘Black Students’ School Success: Coping with the Burden of Acting White 18:176–206.Google Scholar
Friedman, Daniel, Cohen, Bruce, Averbach, Abigail, and Norton, Jennifer (2000), “Race/Ethnicity and OMB Directive 15: Implication for State Public Health Practice”, Race/Ethnicity and OMB Directive 15: Implication for State Public Health Practice 90:1714–1719.Google Scholar
Harris, David R. (2000), “Demography’s Race Problem”, paper presented at the 2000 meeting of the Population Association of America (http://www.nichd.nih.gov/about/cpr/dbs/sp/harris.htm).Google Scholar
Harris, David R., and Sim, Jeremiah Joseph (2002), “Who Is Multiracial? Assessing the Complexity of Lived Race”, Who Is Multiracial? Assessing the Complexity of Lived Race 67:614–627.Google Scholar
Jones, Camara Phyllis (2001), “Invited Commentary: ‘Race’, Racism and the Practice of Epidemiology”, Invited Commentary: ‘Race’, Racism and the Practice of Epidemiology 154:299–304.Google ScholarPubMed
Kaufman, Jay S., and Cooper, Richard S. (2001), “Commentary: Considerations for Use of Racial/Ethnic Classification in Etiological Research”, Commentary: Considerations for Use of Racial/Ethnic Classification in Etiological Research 154:291–298.Google Scholar
McLeod, Howard L. (2001), “Pharmacogenics: More than Skin Deep”, Pharmacogenics: More than Skin Deep 29:247–248.Google Scholar
Risch, Neil, Burchard, Esteban, Ziv, Elad, and Tang, Hua (2002), “Categorization of Humans in Biomedical Research: Genes, Race and Disease”, Categorization of Humans in Biomedical Research: Genes, Race and Disease 3:1–13.Google ScholarPubMed
Root, Michael (2003), “The Use of Race in Medicine as a Proxy for Genetic Differences”, The Use of Race in Medicine as a Proxy for Genetic Differences 70:1173–1183.Google Scholar
Tapper, Melbourne (1999), In the Blood: Sickle-Cell Anemia and the Politics of Race. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.Google Scholar
van Den Oord, Edwin J. C. G., and Rowe, David C. (2000), “Racial Differences in Birth Health Risk: A Quantitative Approach”, Racial Differences in Birth Health Risk: A Quantitative Approach 37:285–298.Google Scholar
Weaver, David A. (2000), “The Accuracy of Survey-Reported Marital Status: Evidence from Survey Records”, The Accuracy of Survey-Reported Marital Status: Evidence from Survey Records 37:395–399.Google ScholarPubMed
Williams, David R. (2000), “Race/Ethnicity and the 2000 Census: Recommendation for African American and Other Black Populations in the United States”, Race/Ethnicity and the 2000 Census: Recommendation for African American and Other Black Populations in the United States 90:1728–1730.Google Scholar