Essentialism involves defining a group of people by a small set of fixed properties, while ignoring the conditions under which such identities emerged. In the process, it discounts any possibility of change or variation within the group.
Common examples of essentialism are racism and sexism.
... is 89.17% White, 4.63% African American, 0.42% Native American, 1.16% Asian, 0.05% Pacific Islander, 2.84% from other races, and 1.74% from two or more races. 7.68% of ...