Race is a biological fiction, but a social fact. The notion of biological "race" is a relatively recent historical development that emerged in the supposed era of Enlightenment which coincided with the transatlantic slave trade. Though often considered to be immutable, racial categories are socially constructed and shift over time. The perception of "race" is not an innocent abstraction since the categories function somewhat like tickets that permit or inhibit access to political and material resources and confer social status. Finally, racial categories are defined and enforced, sometimes violently, by powerful institutions.

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