This tactic was used by colonial powers during expansion and conquest by western Europeans beginning 1400s. Racism can be seen when different groups of people are placed into a hierarchy depending on their race, it is the idea that one race is more superior to another. In history, scientists have argued to prove that Africans, Indians, and Europeans were separate species, with Africans being closer to the apes therefore the least human. Ill-treatment of an individual or group based on their ancestry is racism, whether it be because of skin tone, cultural beliefs or economic class. The ideas behind racism were formed so that society could place some groups of people or cultures at a lower status of cultural worth, intelligence, and
Formally, racial categories appeared to be biological which contrast with the view of the current generation that impact the social status of the society. The ethical race connections that exist among people appear to be mutually exclusive. However, the situation may be overlapping without notice. This brings in the idea of invisibility of race within the community. People tend to assume the existence of race as an inferior fact yet it exists as a major problem within the community.
That came later when skin color was used to identify and subjugate the enslaved. ‘‘Natural’’ differences were translated into racial hierarchies that fixed the inferiority of the slaves, culturally and philosophically. Race provided the physical grounds, but conceptualization of a racial hierarchy is a matter of racism and not race. Racism is a cultural expression of fundamental social beliefs and values. Visitors would have been better served had they been made aware that race is only half of the equation.
As people from all walks of life commonly interchange the terms race and ethnicity one must wonder what distinguishes the two from each other. Ethnicity is a subjective belief that people share a common descent, based on cultural similarities. Race, on the other hand, is the subjective belief that people share a common descent, based on physical traits. Furthermore race is described as a social construct, or a social phenomenon that was invented by human beings and is shaped by the social forces present in the time and place of its creation. Much like religious groups, race is real but not biological in the sense that a complex array of social processes go into making a person a member of a particular religious group as holds true for race.
In my view, and according to my university education, if you are able to read these words, you have higher cognitive function than any other animal and likely possess two opposable thumbs and are capable of making and using complex tools. Those are the key defining characteristics of the human race. Because all humans, regardless of ethnic group share common genetic DNA, we are able to interbreed, thus we are of the same species, which is the more correct synonym of race. What people really mean by "racism" is more correctly defined as ethnocentrism. The literal definition of ethnocentrism is the belief that one's own ethnic group is superior to others.
Racism and prejudice are interchangeable terms; the former is defined as one’s feeling of cultural and racial advantage over other cultures and races. In other words, one becomes a racist if he or she displays actions or live by ideologies out of the feeling of superiority. Whilst most people claim to be not racist, everyone is guilty of having been committed some forms of prejudice in one way or another. Helms has classified five statuses of racial identity construction model: conformity, dissonance, immersion-emersion, internalization, and integrative awareness (62). Conformity takes place when one sees his or her own race as inferior and learns to identify with the dominant and superior race, such as the White Americans.
Growing up, one learns that the Caucasian race is superior and the African American race is inferior. Consequently, scientists have tried to prove that race superiority is biological. Scientific findings of race are manipulated by sociopolitical factors (Marshall, 1993, p.118). Through numerous experiments and studies, scientists make facts to help people understand the world. The facts must be in accordance to the popular belief and be accepted by a large number of people; otherwise they will be regarded as controversial and phony.
When comparing the variables: RACE and XMARSEX, many conclusions arise. The contingency coefficient is: .070. This indicates a weak, positive relationship between the variables. This means that race has little impact on a person’s opinion about having sex with a person other than a spouse. The approximate sig is: .000.
Many research have been conducted to enquire into the cultural biasness in IQ testing which confirms of its thriving existence in the educational fraternity. Critics have argued that most of these tests are culturally biased. All may agree that we dwell in a culturally diverse world and no two cultures can be similar. One dictates the other, hence there is always unique differences amongst them. So the bigger question is whether IQ testing is fair in consideration of the vast differences amongst cultures.
Racism is the biggest problem still in today’s society. We may think that we have resolved the situations which had arisen with racism but obviously not. Race and ethnicity refer to cultural differences. They are represented as differences in biology or heredity. Texts construct race as a natural category.