Can we deconstruct "race" in the public discourse?

The concept of 'race' is examined from its earliest uses in European languages through the era of 'racial' sciences in the nineteenth century. The meanings acquired by the word 'race' are shown to be related to scientific thinking which has since been discredited. The history of efforts to discredit or eliminate the concept in science by twentieth-century anthropologists and others is shown to be complete, but the persistence of the word in public discourse is noted. Ethnographic examples of the problematic nature of the concept are introduced. Results of a study of American college students' understandings of the word are examined, and implication and recommendations for future efforts to discredit its use are presented