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Miscegenation (/mɪˌsɛdʒəˈneɪʃən/ mih-SEJ-ə-NAY-shən) is a derogatory term for a marriage or admixture between people who are members of different races or ethnicities.[1] It is a controversial term and at times described something that has been illegal.
Modern science regards race as a social construct, an identity which is assigned based on rules made by society.[2][3][4] While partly based on physical similarities within groups, race does not have an inherent physical or biological meaning.[5][6][7] The concept of race is foundational to racism, the belief that humans can be divided based on the superiority of one race over another.
Although the derogatory term "miscegenation" was formed from the Latin for "mixing races/kinds", and it might therefore be perceived as being value-neutral, but it is almost always a pejorative term which is used by people who believe in racial superiority or purity.[8] Less loaded terms for multiethnic relationships, such as interethnic or interracial marriage, and mixed-race, multiethnic, or multiracial people, are more common in contemporary usage. Adjectives describing “miscegenation” include "interethnic", "mixed-race", "multiethnic", "multiracial", and "interracial".
However none of these terms have scientific validity.
In humans, race is a socially constructed designation, a misleading and harmful surrogate for population genetic differences, and has a long history of being incorrectly identified as the major genetic reason for phenotypic differences between groups.
Barnshaw
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
Britannica
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
The term is used esp. by people who believe in concepts of racial superiority or racial purity and therefore object to interracial relationships ....