Why do people self-segregate by race?

[The Mikado]

You people are missing the best bit: 'yellow, malay, and red.'

Blumenbach divided the human species into five races in 1779, later founded on crania research (description of human skulls), and called them (1793/1795):
the Caucasian race or white race
the Mongolian or yellow race
the Malayan or brown race
the Ethiopian, or black race
the American or red race.

[Smid]

Almighty God created the races white, black, yellow, malay and red, and he placed them on separate continents. And, but for the interference with his arrangement, there would be no cause for such marriage. The fact that he separated the races shows that he did not intend for the races to mix.

Actually, this is totally contrary to what the Bible says. All the races are descended from Noah, his sons and their wives.

[Χahar]

It's only marginally related, but I saw this chart today and it amused me.

[Beet]

It's only marginally related, but I saw this chart today and it amused me.

And yet Asian-Americans are far behind Jewish-Americans in terms of the number of famous, super-successful individuals. Doing good in school is great, but real life is more important.

[Senator Sbane]

It's only marginally related, but I saw this chart today and it amused me.

And yet Asian-Americans are far behind Jewish-Americans in terms of the number of famous, super-successful individuals. Doing good in school is great, but real life is more important.

I'm pretty sure Asians have the highest median income.And some Asian groups have a higher median income than Jews. Not sure about "famous" though.

[Torie]

It's only marginally related, but I saw this chart today and it amused me.

And yet Asian-Americans are far behind Jewish-Americans in terms of the number of famous, super-successful individuals. Doing good in school is great, but real life is more important.

I'm pretty sure Asians have the highest median income.And some Asian groups have a higher median income than Jews. Not sure about "famous" though.

You know what ethnic group in the US has the very highest income don't you sbane? 

[Beet]

It's only marginally related, but I saw this chart today and it amused me.

And yet Asian-Americans are far behind Jewish-Americans in terms of the number of famous, super-successful individuals. Doing good in school is great, but real life is more important.

I'm pretty sure Asians have the highest median income.And some Asian groups have a higher median income than Jews. Not sure about "famous" though.

Well, the median income figure could just be a side effect of that having a good education guarantees you a floor, with a "decent" income. But a lot of dentists and doctors and lawyers make perfectly good incomes yet in the long run are they interesting people? Do they influence society? Are they creative workers? Do they take risks?

What I am talking about is different. You know it when you see it. But it definitely is more than just income. I'm just saying that, looking at that list of impressive high schools, and looking at Asians' test scores and representation at the top colleges (even with all the bias), their punching weight in terms of this other thing (I hesitate to call it 'real success', although perhaps the most concise expression is that kind of life which represents what has made America great) doesn't seem to fully live up to all the promise of the statistics. So that either clicked with you or it didn't, but it's real and it's overlooked whenever the whole 'model minority' stuff is brought up.

[Torie]

The rap on Asians is that they are light in the creativity department. And oddly enough, I have yet to run into a top notch Asian lawyer - yet. Maybe they have a cultural bias against  the social sciences, and think it is all just BS or something. I think this is enough sweeping generalizations for one paragraph.

[dpmapper]

And yet Asian-Americans are far behind Jewish-Americans in terms of the number of famous, super-successful individuals. Doing good in school is great, but real life is more important.

You also have to account for the fact that Jews have had significant numbers in the US for longer than Asians have.  The big wave of Jewish immigration was late 19th/early 20th century; the big wave of Asian immigration was late 20th, so even if numbers today are relatively even, there have been fewer generations of Asians that have been able to become "super-successful". 

[True Federalist]

Almighty God created the races white, black, yellow, malay and red, and he placed them on separate continents. And, but for the interference with his arrangement, there would be no cause for such marriage. The fact that he separated the races shows that he did not intend for the races to mix.

Actually, this is totally contrary to what the Bible says. All the races are descended from Noah, his sons and their wives.

Monogenism is the traditional interpretation, but by the 18th century it became apparent that accepting the literal timeline of Genesis meant that no known natural cause could account for the diversity of peoples in the world. Rather than entertain the notion that the Bible was in error, some chose to develop theories that made it incomplete and focused upon only one particular creation, that which led to the Caucasian race, including the Jews.  The other races had originated in their own Edens.  Such pangenist theories fell out of fashion once it was realized that the physical evidence indicated that the world had been around considerably longer than the timeline of Genesis would permit if it were taken literally.

[ilikeverin]

This is one where you can find an example of such a phenomenon existing no matter your philosophical stripe.

This basically.

Now why race has become such a marker of "groupness" is another issue entirely and I don't think can't be understood in any way except with reference to European and American history.

Not going to disagree with you there.  I'm happy to leave "race" entirely in your territory!

[memphis]

I gave it a few days. Nobody had the guts to concede that most black neighborhoods are scary hellholes. Oh well.

[Senator Sbane]

Yes, and in LA, Blacks are leaving too and moving to more integrated neighborhoods in the suburb, and being replaced by poor Hispanics. Of course their neighborhoods currently are integrated too, but with almost no Whites or Asians.

[phk]

You need three variables: intelligence, conscientiousness, and curiosity.

The sterotypical people Beet is talking about are high-intelligence, high-conscientious, but low-curiosity.

That's why they know the stuff they learned in school (they were smart enough to grasp it and diligent enough to put in the work) but they know nothing that wasn't assigned in class because they don't value learning things for the sake of knowing things, instead of learning things to get a grade.

[platypeanArchcow]

Anyone who reads this thread ought to have the self-fulfilling prophecy alarm going off fast fast...  Asians don't advance into the top ranks because their employers are OK with claiming they're "not creative" or whatever.
http://nymag.com/news/features/asian-americans-2011-5/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bamboo_ceiling

[Bacon King]

Almighty God created the races white, black, yellow, malay and red, and he placed them on separate continents. And, but for the interference with his arrangement, there would be no cause for such marriage. The fact that he separated the races shows that he did not intend for the races to mix.

Everyone, this is actually a direct quotation from opinion of the original trial judge in the Loving v. Virginia case, wherein the Supreme Court decided to overturn laws banning interracial marriage.

[muon2]

Almighty God created the races white, black, yellow, malay and red, and he placed them on separate continents. And, but for the interference with his arrangement, there would be no cause for such marriage. The fact that he separated the races shows that he did not intend for the races to mix.

Everyone, this is actually a direct quotation from opinion of the original trial judge in the Loving v. Virginia case, wherein the Supreme Court decided to overturn laws banning interracial marriage.

Thanks, and the moderator would appreciate it in quotes if it is a direct quote.

[Gustaf]

The rap on Asians is that they are light in the creativity department. And oddly enough, I have yet to run into a top notch Asian lawyer - yet. Maybe they have a cultural bias against  the social sciences, and think it is all just BS or something. I think this is enough sweeping generalizations for one paragraph.

Yeah, there is a cultural bias against social science. But it also makes sense. Asians suspect that they will be discriminated against so they pick fields where hard facts count more than connections, upbringing and so on.

[Beet]

Anyone who reads this thread ought to have the self-fulfilling prophecy alarm going off fast fast...  Asians don't advance into the top ranks because their employers are OK with claiming they're "not creative" or whatever.
http://nymag.com/news/features/asian-americans-2011-5/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bamboo_ceiling

The bottom link is pretty good.

You need three variables: intelligence, conscientiousness, and curiosity.

The sterotypical people Beet is talking about are high-intelligence, high-conscientious, but low-curiosity.

That's why they know the stuff they learned in school (they were smart enough to grasp it and diligent enough to put in the work) but they know nothing that wasn't assigned in class because they don't value learning things for the sake of knowing things, instead of learning things to get a grade.

That's a good point. Personally, I would consider myself high-intelligence, medium-to-high curiosity (it isn't as high as it once was, alas), but medicore conscientiousness.