Raciology

a division of anthropology that studies the races of man.

Drawing on the data of morphology, physiology, genetics, and molecular biology, contemporary raciology examines the problems of the classification of races, their origin, their settlement patterns, and their development and interaction, in connection with the specific history of human populations. Raciology attaches particular importance to research directed at defining racial traits and determining their inheritance and their relationship to the natural geographic and sociocultural environment, to sexual differences, to the dynamics of aging, to geographic variations, and to historical changes. The most important racial traits are hair form (curly or straight); degree of development of tertiary hair cover; color of skin, hair, and eyes (iris); and the absolute dimensions and numerous distinctive structural features of the facial skeleton and the soft parts of the face—the eye area, the nose, and the lips. Smaller racial subdivisions (local races) are distinguished by various dimensions of the cranium and their percentage relationship (indexes), as well as by average body height.

In raciology the analysis of the variability of different odon-tological, dermatoglyphic, serologic, and other traits with a relatively well-defined genetic basis continues to increase in importance. Raciology is closely related to cultural anthropology, which, in studying the racial composition of the world population, uses anthropological data as a historical source and is in turn supported by the data of the social sciences (archaeology, ethnology, and linguistics, for example). The results of research in raciology show the common origin of biological equality of all races, thus disproving the misanthropic conceptions of racism.