An essay on different aspects of racism. By Shreya Khatau
             Race, in the sense of being relevant to racism, refers to a human group that defines itself or is defined by others as culturally different by virtue of innate and immutable physical characteristics. Thus, under racism, a race is defined socially but on the basis of physical characteristics. Such physical characteristics have no inherent significance, but only such significance as is socially attributed to them in a given society. If a group in a given society is defined in terms of its skin colour, its hair texture, its facial features, its body build and so on, then it is a 'race', in racist terms. Presumably, if a group were socially defined in terms of sharing a common language, a common set of religious beliefs or some other cultural characteristics - without physical considerations - then it would be an 'ethnic group'. In the case of both race and ethnic group, the defining criterion is relative to a given society, and the same person or group may be differently defined in different societies. Thus a black North American may be a 'Negro' in his own country but a 'Yankee' in Mexico. The first label is racial, the second ethnic or cultural. The phenomena of prejudice and racial discrimination that are commonly linked with differences between human groups are not markedly different whether one deals with a race or ethnic group. The on essential distinction is that culturally based groups tend to be more open and flexible in composition than physical based ones. One can convert to another faith or learn another language, where as what one can do to one's physical appearance is decidedly limited. Parallel to the problem of distinguishing between race and ethnic group is the problem of distinguishing between racism and ethnocentrism. Presumably, the distinction is that in ethnocentrism, the alleged inferiority, disabilities and negative traits of the 'out' group are thought ...