Miscegenation refers to biological reproduction by partners of different racial categories, often involving interracial marriage or sexual relationships between individuals from groups classified as different races within a society. The term is often associated with historical and social contexts where racial classifications were rigid and where laws or social norms prohibited or discouraged interracial unions. The concept of amalgamation in sociology, which describes the process by which a minority group and a majority group combine to form a new group through intermarriage, is closely related to miscegenation. The history of miscegenation is intertwined with issues of race, racism, and the social construction of racial categories, and laws prohibiting interracial marriage have been challenged and overturned in many parts of the world as discriminatory and unconstitutional.