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An "alien race", when speaking about non-Earthly beings, make no sense. They would not be a "race" (of humans), but a different species. Just like a dog is not a "race" of humans, but a separate species. Within dogs, there are different races or "breeds" as they call them in that context. The point is not specifically the word "race" but the mixing-up of two very different concepts.

Two individuals of the same species (such as two humans from different parts of the world) can have offspring even if they are from different races.

Two individuals of different species, such as a human and a dog, cannot have offspring. Because they are different species. Of course, they are also different races, but that is only technically true and doesn't make sense in the context, since the species (which is much more fundamental) is different.

So, an "alien race" (not talking about "illegal aliens" from a different country on Earth) makes no sense. It would be an alien species or, if you want to avoid the words race/species for whatever reason, an "alien life-form".

So why do they keep butchering the English language when they must know better? I see this all the time in sci-fi context.

The English language is being slowly morphed into absolute gibberish, even among people who clearly must know better.

B. Nypaver
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  • Not a real question? – GEdgar Jun 21 '20 at 23:32
  • The question of why certain "factions" have the "privilege" of butchering the language, whatever the language--English is not the only language subject to this phenomena and I have heard that complaint about English already some 40 years back--, is a very interesting question with no simple answer; however, it must remain an aside in your question: the present site is not concerned by such matters. That being said, your remark about the use of the word "race" is fully justified, as far as I can see. – LPH Jun 21 '20 at 23:43
  • The question seems like a rant, but Lexico has "race² 1.4 biology A population within a species that is distinct in some way, especially a subspecies. Ex. people have killed so many tigers that two races are probably extinct." If it is given there is one or more alien species, and evolution applies also to them, then there must be many alien races. – Weather Vane Jun 22 '20 at 00:00
  • In the present day we have only one species of human. Different 'human races' is specious and a modern concept used to justify various injustices such as slavery and Nazi ideologies. There is no one characteristic trait or gene that distinuishes the member of one so-called race from another. In that sense, I would say if you want to use race then the human race or an alien race is probably ok. Presumably there are characteristic human genes which would distinguish them from an alien race/species. – S Conroy Jun 22 '20 at 13:14

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Most likely this wording is used because the writer wants to convey the emotion that these beings, while biologically different from humans, are roughly on par with humans in terms of intelligence and mental faculties. If they were vastly superior or inferior to humans then there wouldn't be nearly as much to write about, and it is often the subtle differences that make the story interesting.

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