A race is a social grouping of people who have similar physical or social characteristics that are generally considered by society as forming a distinct group. In contemporary scholarship, four main concepts characterize race. First, race is socially constructed, in that humans use symbols to create meaning from their social environment. This means that race is not an intrinsic part of a human being or the environment but, rather, an identity created using symbols to establish meaning in a culture or society. Second, race is partially characterized by physical similarities such as skin color, facial features, or hair texture. Although physical characteristics constitute a portion of the concept of race, this is a social rather than biological distinction. That is, human beings create categories of race based on physical characteristics rather than the physical characteristics having intrinsic biological meaning. Third, race is partially characterized by general social similarities such as shared history, speech patterns, or traditions. For example, Black English vernacular is a complex and expressive language spoken by many African Americans, particularly in racially segregated areas of the United States. Although social similarities develop because of racial groupings, racial similarities are not exclusive to an entire race, nor does every member of a race share social similarities. Such artificial distinctions lead to the injurious practice of stereotyping. Fourth and finally, race is characterized by the formation of distinct racial groupings in society that self-identify as such. Race is not an inherent biological grouping, so racial categories emerge from historical processes and often gain legitimacy in society through political action.
The ideas of ethnicity and ethnic group have a long history, often related to “otherness.” In the 20th century and beyond, the idea of what constitutes an ethnic group has changed; once associated with minority status and later with cultural characteristics, ethnicity is most recently viewed as the outcome of a social process.
The data on race were derived from answers to the question on race that was asked of individuals in the United States. The Census Bureau collects racial data in accordance with guidelines provided by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB), and these data are based on self-identification.
The racial categories included in the census questionnaire generally reflect a social definition of race recognized in this country and not an attempt to define race biologically, anthropologically, or genetically. In addition, it is recognized that the categories of the race item include racial and national origin or sociocultural groups. People may choose to report more than one race to indicate their racial mixture, such as “American Indian” and “White.” People who identify their origin as Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish may be of any race. OMB requires five minimum categories: White, Black or African American, American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian, and Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander.
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Intersectionality is a way of understanding and analyzing the complexity in the world, in people, and in human experiences. The events and conditions of social and political life and the self can seldom be understood as shaped by one factor. They are generally shaped by many factors in diverse and mutually influencing ways. When it comes to social inequality, people's lives and the organization of power in a given society are better understood as being shaped not by a single axis of social division, be it race or gender or class, but by many axes that work together and influence each other. Intersectionality as an analytic tool gives people better access to the complexity of the world and of themselves.
The critical race theory (CRT) movement is a collection of activists and scholars engaged in studying and transforming the relationship among race, racism, and power. The movement considers many of the same issues that conventional civil rights and ethnic studies discourses take up but places them in a broader perspective that includes economics, history, setting, group and self-interest, and emotions and the unconscious.
Postcolonial theory has emerged as one of the most diverse, controversial, and contentious fields in literary and cultural studies in the way it has raised, debated, contested, and reexamined issues of resistance, nationality and nationalism, race and ethnicity, language, culture, and globalization. Postcolonial theory is a term used to refer to theoretical and critical strategies employed to examine the cultures of former colonies of the Western powers and how they relate to, and interact with, the rest of the world. The term was originally employed in literary studies, where it focused on the reading and writing of literature written in previously or currently colonized countries, or the literature of colonizing countries that deals with colonization or colonized peoples. Now, however, it has gained prominence over time and is applied to other areas, such as political science, public relations, history, economics, sociology, and biblical studies. Greatly interested in the cultures of the colonizer and the colonized, postcolonial theory seeks to critically investigate what happens when two cultures clash and one of them ideologically fashions itself as superior and assumes dominance and control over the other.
Multiculturalism is a concept found most often in the educational context in the United States. It does not have a single uncontested meaning. Various practitioners and academics use the term in various ways. There is considerable miscommunication when this term is used, partially because it has so many meanings and has acquired political overtones. There are commonalities in most visions of multiculturalism. These include the recognition and acknowledgment of racial, ethnic, and cultural diversity within a society; the acceptance of the right of groups within a nation to maintain their different cultures and identities, provided they adhere to the society's basic tenets and do not conflict with the society's laws; the support of greater equity between groups (including more equitable inclusion) for people of different self-identities; the belief that each individual/cultural group matters to the whole; the provision of voice to groups that may not previously have been heard by the dominant society; and the conviction that differences associated with social identities should be valued and not feared.
Antiracism can be understood in its broadest sense as any theory and/or practice (whether political or personal) that seeks to challenge, reduce, or eliminate manifestations of racism in society. The question of what particular ideas and practices qualify as antiracist is difficult to answer without first acknowledging two important factors. First, scholars in the field of race and ethnic relations operate from several different definitions of racism (Yelman 2004). Thus, to identify something or someone as antiracist necessitates some common understandings of what it means to be challenging racism…. Although no standardized typology of forms of antiracism currently exist in the literature as a whole, it is evident that most scholars agree there are different levels or types of antiracism. While each scholar of antiracism tends to use his or her won terminology to describe them (e.g., Feagin’s individual and institutional, Scott’s structural and interpersonal, O’Brien’s selective and reflexive race cognizance), a majority of the work exploring the different types of antiracism focuses on two distinct forms. The first ideal type of antiracism functions largely at the level of interpersonal and micro-level interactions….The second ideal type… is a structural or institutional form of antiracism. This antiracism tends to focus on public policy and/or the structural arrangements of organizations.
Encyclopedia of Diversity and Social Justice by 
AcknowledgmentThis guide is inspired by the LibGuides Open Review Discussion Sessions (LORDS) Project and University of Minnesota Libraries' Conducting Research Through an Anti-Racism Lens LibGuide.
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