Human Variation: Races, Types, and Ethnic Groups

Discarding the concept of race as misleading, this book examines the biological basis for human variation and biological diversity at the population level—appropriate because of the many ways in which humans can adapt to environments, organize activities, and regulate breeding behavior. It reviews the history, behavior, and demographic structure of contemporary populations, and their effects on the distribution of major genetic polymorphisms and distinctions of body form, size, and skin color. Chapter topics include racial variation and the perception of human differences, the biological basis for human variation, traits of simple inheritance, hemoglobin variants and DNA markers, traits of complex inheritance, distribution of human differences, human variability and behavior, and changing dimensions of the human species. For individuals interested in genetic science—and the recent significant achievements in this field.

This volume examines the range of human biological diversity in contemporary populations, and discusses and evaluates past attempts to classify and explain human variation in the light of recent data and theoretical interpretations.