Once we address the issue of the archeological record and the monogenetic assumption about the origin of men and women, we will then ask questions about how the human race has come to differ. Finally, we will discuss the contribution of microbiologists to this discussion. During the next two weeks, we examine the work of Pierre van den Berghe and Edna Bonacich. Berghe develops a sociobiological approach to race. This approach claims that ethnicity and race are fundamentally products of a kin selection process that maximizes inclusive fitness.
Inclusive fitness refers to the maintenance of one's gene pool.
According to van den Berghe, race and ethnicity are just an extension of the idiom of kinship. Bonacich rejects primordial approaches such as van den Berghe's and develops what she characterizes as a class approach to race and ethnicity. For Bonacich the significant causes of ethnic antagonism are not differences in skin pigmentation, but rather imperialist domination and exploitation of colonized workers. Berghe's and Bonacich's contrasting explanations of race and race relations provides an excellent introduction to the field of race relations. The student learns that key theoretical issues are still debated in the field.