Race and ethnicity have been factors in society since the beginning of time, but are they real or just figments of man’s imagination? This literature uses Realism and Social Constructionism to break down the authenticity of race and ethnicity in American society. Realism is known as an attitude that accepts a situation as it is, representing something accurately in a way that is true to life. Social Constructionism is a theory examining jointly constructed understandings of the world. Their merits and validity will be evaluated in this research in regards to understanding and determining the realness of race and ethnicity.

Race and ethnicity are hard topics for many to discuss. In a nation where racially charged miscarriages of justice occur quite frequently, the question of the authenticity of race and ethnicity couldn’t be more relevant. Rubén Rumbaut, in an article addressing the racial identities of Hispanics and Latinos in America, states that “the American past has been portrayed as the story of the expansion of English America, suppressing if not silencing the Spanish presence from the nation’s collective memory” (2009). This idea of suppressing someone’s culture is prevalent in not only the history of Hispanics in America but other minority groups such as African Americans as well. For those defined in America by their race and ethnicity, these factors are inescapably real.

Realism asserts that what man believes is based on logical reasoning, and thus, would suggest that practically speaking, race and ethnicity are real. Although the terms used to describe people of different races and ethnicities were often imposed, the daily life of someone who is African American or Latino is often times very different from someone who is White in America. It is at this point when divergent realities separate citizens living amongst each other that race and ethnicity become not only concepts but concrete ideas, perhaps grounded in skepticism, but real nonetheless, in the power that they are able to acquire. This is demonstrated in the above quote by Rumbaut, reflecting on how the presence of a certain ethnic group has been erased from America’s memory. This country was built on the backs of minority ethnic groups and yet they are not recognized in our history books, privileged in American culture, or even given an equal opportunity to succeed in a country that has robbed them of their heritage.

In opposition to the view of Realism is that of Social Constructionism, which essentially states that racism and ethnicity are things that are made by society and thus are not definitive. Racism and Ethnicity are a part of institutions in society and institutions are created by individuals and not nature. A social constructionist would argue that individuals teach racism to one another, and it is because of this that it is a part of our everyday society. If it is something that is taught then this means that we can stop teaching it and allowing the ideologies that grow out of racism to be a part of our psyche.

Realism would suggest that, after the events in Ferguson with Michael Brown, in New York with Eric Garner, and the denial of other minority groups access to life in America, it is evident that race is real; a real determinant of life and death. Realism focuses on the actual realities of the impact racism has on individuals who have not benefited socially, politically or economically from being a certain race in order to measure the genuineness of racism and ethnicity. To someone who is a part of the majority race in America then the words race and ethnicity will have a different connotation than to someone who is the minority in this country. Although numerically African Americans and other ethnic groups may be superior to Whites, White Americans are still the majority because they hold the weight of political and economic power. Therefore, race to them, is something that is perhaps not as real because it is not something that they have to struggle to live with in their everyday lives.

Some of the views of Social Constructionism are in fact, parallel to those of Realism. Realism would not necessarily doubt that race and ethnicity are socially constructed. Those arguing for this point would likely agree, however they would suggest that in spite of this, the realities that those who are unbenefited by this social construction are very real and powerful, thus making race and ethnicity more real than ever.