Do you think "white" is the generic race?

No, not at all – it’s one of the categories we created but no races make sense in that the concept isn’t real. Because of the way our culture is, however, all white images are the default – and only then are other races represented for superficial ‘diversity’.

Since in most of America, white people are still the majority (last I saw, America is still some 70% white) so white is the default in most places.

In what context? The U.S., the Western world, the earth?

Can you explain what you mean by “generic” here?

Nobody knows.

@Jeruba I knew that it would come down to the definition of generic. I am not sure what the guy on the show considered generic, but it was filmed in the US- I was just curious of how people would respond. I think of generic as being bland and boring, but that is because of my association of the word with groceries…

I just typed out a long response to the “race” thing, and then re-read the question. I’m with both you and Jeruba. What in the heck did the person mean by that question? Do you think you can find a recording of it on the internet?

It was probably meant to both entertain and provoke; didn’t you say it was on the (comic) Dave Chappelle Show?!

No one can define race. There is no genetic difference between the races, and there is no point at which skin color or shape of face or body type can be legitimately broken in two. Color and facial shape and body type are all continuously changing from one person to the next.

On the census, people put themselves into whatever racial category they want to. This information is used to help distribute federal funds—with more going to disadvantaged areas. Congress seems to know what race is, since they pass laws saying who should get the money.

There are two racial attributes everyone has: the race they attribute to themselves and the race others attribute to them. If you go on looks alone, the two won’t agree very often.

What are the motivations for attributing a race to yourself or someone else? For some, it’s about status. You want to be a member of the dominant race because that gives you a leg up. Others can’t pass for the dominant race, so they may choose a race based on racial pride, or based on some other advantage it provides them, or based on cultural assimilation.

I don’t think white is a default position or generic position. White is the majority in the US, but it isn’t in Africa or Asia. I think people want to be white in the US if they can get away with it because it gives them an advantage. But that isn’t generic. White isn’t like white bread. White is a conglomeration of people with a lot of ethnic and cultural backgrounds, as is black or asian.

In one sense, they are all generic, since they all lump all kinds of people into one category. In another sense, they are distinct, since we all know the race we attribute to ourselves and we all know the race we attribute to others…. unless it isn’t clear, and then we ask them.

All races are generic. The concept of race is a bogus concept. No one really can give you a definition of what it is that works in all cases. So we lump people into a few generic categories. If white is generic, then so is every other race. However, white is not generic in the sense that people lump everyone into it if they can’t identify them as non-white.

The word generic means common. You are asking if the white race is the most common, however, you are not specifying in regards to your question as to what the white race is most common in. Population? Intelligence? Crime? ,,,,,?

I’ve always thought of American anglos as the “generic” people.

@KhiaKarma You are right in saying that the question revolves around the meaning of generic. For* 1ge·ner·ictunately, we can turn to the likes of Merriam-Webster to supply that:
ge·ner·ic
1&nbsp &nbsp a : relating to or characteristic of a whole group or class : general
&nbsp &nbsp &nbspb : being or having a nonproprietary name <generic drugs>
&nbsp &nbsp &nbspc : having no particularly distinctive quality or application <generic restaurants>
2 :&nbsp &nbsprelating to or having the rank of a biological genus

The second definition is the more scientific. Our genus is Homo. at a more micro level than genus, our species is home-sapiens. The first homo-sapiens lived in equatorial Africa and were most certainly dark skinned. White skinned humans developed relatively recently with our migration into temperate than cold climates. So to the degree that there is a generic homo-sapiens, white guys like me are not it.

But @Simone_De_Beauvoir has it right. race doesn’t really make sense as a division among humans. We are all part of the human race. Our DNA is virtually identical race to race. Regardless of their skin color, any other human with my blood type can save my life in an emergency, and a transfusion from the most racially identical person to me would kill me if their blood type didn’t match.

As @zenele said, Dave Chappelle is a comedian. He specializes in racial humor.

Odds are, whatever was said on this show was a joke.

I don’t think any one race is a “generic” race.

@zenele & @Arisztid yes, on the show, but it was in between skits when people are trying to have a serious discussion about race. And like @Neizvestnaya said she’s always thought of American anglos as the “generic” people I was wondering who else felt the same way.

@KhiaKarma: When I was a kid there came a movie called, “The History of White People in America”. It wasn’t very good but it had it’s funny points to a living room full of teen girls, each different ethnic backgrounds, all several generational Americans and all who agreed what “white people” were which is an anglo American, several generations enough to culturally blend with other anglos.

people always told me that we descended from apes and it started in africa so i suppose the generic race is black.