Race divides people into groups with differential access to wealth and power.
Historically, people classed as different races have been subject to different rules, laws, expectations.
There is a pervasive idea that race is inextricable (essential), with people who do not meet race norms identified as inauthentic.
Next: Homo hierarchicus
illustration: a 2011 study at Tufts showed that people were more likely to be classified as white if they had business attire and more likely to be classed as black if they had janitor's attire.
In the experiment, participants were asked to determine the race of computerized faces. Faces accompanied by business attire were more likely to be seen as white, while faces accompanied by janitor attire were more likely to be seen as black.
Participants used a mouse to choose between white and Black. This allowed researchers to track their hand trajectories as they selected a racial category. Even when participants ultimately decided that a face with low-status attire was white or a face with high-status attire was black, the hand trajectory tracking showed that they were drawn to the race that was stereotypically tied to the status cue. Participants tended to move the mouse toward the stereotypical response before making their final decision.