White is a racial classification of people generally used for those of mostly European ancestry. It is also a skin color specifier, although the definition can vary depending on context, nationality, ethnicity and point of view.
Description of populations as "White" in reference to their skin color is occasionally found in Greco-Roman ethnography and other ancient or medieval sources, but these societies did not have any notion of a White race or pan-European identity. The term "White race" or "White people", defined by their light skin among other physical characteristics, entered the major European languages in the later seventeenth century, when the concept of a "unified White" achieved greater acceptance in Europe, in the context of racialized slavery and social status in the European colonies. Scholarship on race distinguishes the modern concept from pre-modern descriptions, which focused on physical complexion rather than the idea of race. Prior to the modern era, no European peoples regarded themselves as "White", but rather defined their race in terms of their religion, ancestry, ethnicity, or nationality.[1]
Contemporary anthropologists and other scientists, while recognizing the reality of biological variation between different human populations, regard the concept of a unified, distinguishable "White race" as a social construct with no scientific basis.
- ^ Nirenberg, David (2009). "Was there race before modernity? The example of 'Jewish' blood in late medieval Spain" (PDF). In Eliav-Feldon, Miriam; Isaac, Benjamin H.; Ziegler, Joseph (eds.). The Origins of Racism in the West. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. pp. 232–264. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 December 2015. Retrieved 16 September 2014.
On both sides of the chronological divide between the modern and the pre-modern (wherever it may lie), there is today a remarkable consensus that the earlier vocabularies of difference are innocent of race.