Paradigm lost: race, ethnicity, and the search for a new population taxonomy

• Published in: American journal of public health (1971) 2001-07, Vol.91 (7), p.1049-1055
• Main Author: Oppenheimer, GM
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 19th century; African Americans - statistics & numerical data; Asian Americans - statistics & numerical data; Behavior; Bias; Bioethics; Biological and medical sciences; Cancer; Censuses; Classification; Continental Population Groups; Cultural Characteristics; Emigration and Immigration; Ethnic groups; Ethnic Groups - statistics & numerical data; Ethnicity; European Continental Ancestry Group - statistics & numerical data; Health Behavior - ethnology; Hispanic Americans; Hispanic Americans - statistics & numerical data; History; Humans; Medical research; Medical sciences; Medicine; Minority & ethnic groups; Miscellaneous; National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine (U.S.) Health and Medicine Division; Native North Americans; Personal appearance; Politics; Population; Population Surveillance - methods; Prejudice; Public health; Public health. Hygiene; Public health. Hygiene-occupational medicine; Race; Racial groups; Racism; Reproducibility of Results; Social Class; Surveillance; Taxonomy; Terminology as Topic; United States; USA
• ISSN: 0090-0036; 1541-0048
• DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.91.7.1049

The Institute of Medicine (IOM) recently recommended that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) reevaluate its employment of "race," a concept lacking scientific or anthropological justification, in cancer surveillance and other population research. The IOM advised the NIH to use a different population classification, that of "ethnic group," instead of "race." A relatively new term, according to the IOM, "ethnic group" would turn research attention away from biological determinism and toward a focus on culture and behavior. This article examines the historically central role of racial categorization and its relationship to racism in the United States and questions whether dropping "race" from population taxonomies is either possible or, at least in the short run, preferable. In addition, a historical examination of "ethnicity" and "ethnic group" finds that these concepts, as used in the United States, derive in part from race and immigration and are not neutral terms; instead, they carry their own burden of political, social, and ideological meaning.