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Home/Anthropology/Mains PYQ/2018/Paper I/Human Genetics & Human Biology
UPSC MainsAnthropology Optional Paper I 2018 10 Marks Model Answer Available

Race is a Myth — 2018 Paper I

Question · 2018 · Paper I · 10 Marks

Race is a Myth. Justify its Present Day Relevance.

Model Answer

VAID ICS

Approach

  • Demand of Question: Explain why race lacks validity as a discrete biological category while showing why racial classification remains socially consequential.
  • Structuring the Response: Use modern genetics to reject biological races, then distinguish biological invalidity from contemporary social relevance.
  • Key Dimensions to Cover: Boas, clines, gene flow, Lewontin, UNESCO, ancestry, racism, identity, health inequality and social race.

Model Answer

Introduction: The idea that humanity consists of a few discrete, pure and biologically homogeneous races is scientifically untenable. Modern biological anthropology instead describes human diversity through populations, ancestry, gene frequencies and clines.

Why biological race is a myth:

  1. Human traits show largely continuous geographical variation rather than sharp racial boundaries.
  2. Different traits—skin colour, blood groups, cranial form—do not share identical geographical distributions.
  3. Extensive gene flow and admixture have always occurred among human populations.
  4. Richard Lewontin (1972) showed that most human genetic variation occurs within rather than between conventional racial groupings.

Thus:

Human variation → Clinal + overlapping → No discrete biological races

Franz Boas had earlier challenged rigid racial determinism, while UNESCO statements rejected notions of racial hierarchy.

Present-day relevance: Race nevertheless remains important as a socially constructed category because racial classification affects:

  • discrimination;
  • identity;
  • political representation;
  • social inequality;
  • health outcomes;
  • access to opportunities.

In biomedical research, genetic ancestry and specific population history are scientifically preferable to crude racial labels.

Conclusion: Race is largely a myth as a fixed biological taxonomy, but it remains a powerful social reality whose consequences for inequality, identity and health require anthropological study.

2026 Canalization and catch-up growth. 2026 Genetic polymorphism and natural selection. 2026 Numerical chromosomal aberrations can be due to abnormalities in autosomes as well as sex chromosomes. Elaborate in terms of the effects these have on human body, giving suitable examples. 2026 Distinguishing features of nuclear and mitochondrial DNA.

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UPSC Anthropology Optional 2018 — Paper I

28 questions

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