Short abstract:

Ethnic classifications are routinely used to categorize people in the life sciences. With our contribution, we aim to analyze the diverse meanings and problems of the concept based on a literature review and a quantitative content analysis of studies by researchers based in Germany.

Long abstract:

Ethnic classifications are among the most commonly used concepts to categorize people in the life sciences. Based on the observation that very different aims and approaches characterize their use, this paper aims to critically examine the range of uses in life science research in Germany. For this purpose, we present the results of a systematic literature review and a quantitative content analysis of 249 studies by authors affiliated with German institutions published between 2018 and 2020. We analyze how ethnicity is assigned to the research subjects, what kinds of social and biological differences are studied, and what reasons are given by authors for the described differences. Our investigation aims to elucidate the inherent problems embedded within the concept. In our analysis, we found that contrary to the author guidelines of many science journals, most articles neither explain how the concept is defined nor how the classification of the research subjects was done. Contrary to frequent statements in genetics and anthropology that race and ethnicity are social categories, ethnic group classifications are also used as biological concepts to measure biological and genetic differences and a considerable amount of the studies give genetic explanations for the differences found. Furthermore, ethnicity is used interchangeably with other terms in many studies, and among these, also “race” is used as an equivalent or relational term. Our findings, therefore point to several problematic aspects associated with ethnicity as a very fuzzy concept with a spectrum of social, biological, and genetic meanings.