The use of the category "race" in biomedicine

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to analyze the concept of “race” in the biomedic context beginning with Hannah Arendt’s, Lewontin´s and Sahlins´ considerations. The former considers that the category of “race” is connected to ideological concepts and linked to the idea of racism and that it can not be considered a scientific category of any sort. With examples of how “race” is utilized in the biomedical field, its use as a category of analysis is questioned in the current study. Its application has generated various epistemological discussions in various areas of knowledge, for it bears ideological and political aspects that are not always explicit. An undesirable effect of admitting biological characteristics innate is that factors related to the way of life, and to the context in which individuals belong to, could be neglected. To relate conditions of aptitude, health, or the propensity of a determined behavior to “race” as a biological category, deviates from historical aspects, socio-economic conditions, and cultural discrimination. Such an association can ultimately lead to the defense of ideological positions closely related to biological determinism.