HSOC Spring 2025 Speaker Series: What's Real About Race? Untangling Science, Genetics, and Society

Biologically, race is a fiction—but one with real social consequences. In What's Real About Race? Untangling Science, Genetics, and Society, sociologist Rina Bliss examines how scientific and social research have reinforced racial categories and stereotypes. She traces the historical roots of race in modern science, the misuse of genetic data, and the ethical considerations of race in research. Offering a new framework, Bliss argues that while race is not a genetic reality, it remains a powerful social force shaping health and opportunity.

Bliss is an associate professor of sociology at Rutgers University and the author of Rethinking Intelligence: A Radical New Understanding of Our Human Potential, Race Decoded: The Genomic Fight for Social Justice, and Social by Nature: The Promise and Peril of Sociogenomics.