Anthropology, 210 (Biological Races)

The idea of biological races has actually been looked upon from multiple schools of thought.  The essentialist view actually supported the idea that differences among members of the human race were part of God's intention in their creation.  It's sometimes used to support acceptance of difference among people even in modern times, such as by feminists and anti-racism or anti-homosexuality groups.

Taxonomy takes the scientific approach of applying the definitions used for flora and other fauna deviations among subsets and applying them to deviations among groups of humans.  The idea that all fall under homo sapien sapien species with small differences such as skeleton and muscular vascular structure.  All races are on the same level, like a generation on a family tree.  Taxonomist Ernst Mayr defined the difference between subspecies and race, expressing that characteristics that are not strong enough in difference or do not have enough of a genetic basis are called races instead of subspecies.

Population theory viewed race as specifically genetic differences, via Mendelian inheritance.  Mendelian inheritance was the core of classic genetics, the basis for punnett squares and genetic traits.  A Mendelian trait would be a defining genetic make up that separates individuals from each other.  Population theory and taxonomy were popular around the same time, in the 1970s.

Finally, in the 1990s, Templeton wrote on the Lineage theory, saying that race was defined by a trait that continued through multiple generations and is still present after prolonged amount of time.

Most agree that race is not biological, but a cultural distinction of visual differences.  Personally, I believe that the cultural issues that have derived from scientific study of the variances among humans has coloured the view of simple documentation of differences among subsets.  Classifying finches for different beak shapes doesn't seem like a far cry from classifying humans for different facial structures.