284 CHAPTER 12 | Modern Human Diversity: Race and Racism
was used to justify this low status, whereas access to privi-
lege, power, and wealth was reserved for favored groups of
European descent.^5
Because of the colonial association of lighter skin with
greater power and higher social status, people whose his-
tory includes domination by lighter-skinned Europeans
have sometimes valued this phenotype. In Haiti, for ex-
ample, the “color question” has been the dominant force
in social and political life. Skin texture, facial features, hair
color, and socioeconomic class collectively play a role in
the ranking. According to Haitian anthropologist Michel-
Rolph Trouillot, “a rich black becomes a mulatto, a poor
mulatto becomes black.”^6
The Nazis in Germany elevated a racialized world-
view to state policy, with particularly evil consequences.
The Nuremberg race laws of 1935 declared the superior-
ity of the Aryan “race” and the inferiority of the Gypsy
and Jewish “races.” The Nazi doctrine justified, on sup-
posed biological grounds, political repression and ex-
termination. In all, 11 million people (Jews, Gypsies,
homosexuals, and other so-called inferior people, as well
as political opponents of the Nazi regime) were deliber-
ately put to death.
Tragically, the Nazi Holocaust (from the Greek word
for “wholly burnt” or “sacrificed by fire”) is not unique
in human history. Such genocides, programs of exter-
mination of one group by another, have a long history
that predates World War II and continues today. Recent
and ongoing genocide in parts of South America, Africa,
Europe, and Asia, like previous genocides, are accompa-
nied by a rhetoric of dehumanization and a depiction of
the people being exterminated as a lesser type of human.
The Social Significance
of Race: Racism
Scientific facts, unfortunately, have been slow to change
what people think about race. Racism, a doctrine of supe-
riority by which one group justifies the dehumanization of
others based on their distinctive physical characteristics, is
not just about discriminatory ideas, values, or attitudes but
is also a political problem. Indeed, politicians have often
exploited this concept as a means of mobilizing support,
demonizing opponents, and eliminating rivals. Racial con-
flicts result from social stereotypes, not scientific facts.Race and Behavior
The assumption that behavioral differences exist among
so-called human races remains an issue to which many
people still cling tenaciously. Throughout history, certain
characteristics have been attributed to groups of people
under a variety of names—national character, spirit,
temperament—all of them vague and standing for a num-
ber of concepts unrelated to any biological phenomena.
Common myths involve the “coldness” of Scandinavians
or the “rudeness” of Americans or the “fierceness” of the
Yanomami Indians. Such unjust characterizations rely
upon a false notion of biological difference.
To date, no inborn behavioral characteristic can be
attributed to any group of people (which the nonscientist
might term a “race”) that cannot be explained in terms of
cultural practices. If the Chinese happen to exhibit excep-
tional visual-spatial skills, it is probably because reading
Chinese characters requires a visual-spatial kind of learn-
ing, one that is not as necessary in mastering Western
alphabets.^7 Similarly, the relative exclusion of “non-whites”
from honors in the sport of golf (until Tiger Woods) had
more to do with the social rules of country clubs and the
sport’s expense.^8 All such differences or characteristics can
be explained in terms of culture.
In the same vein, high crime rates, alcoholism, and
drug use among certain groups can be explained with ref-
erence to culture rather than biology. Individuals alienated
and demoralized by poverty, injustice, and unequal oppor-
tunity tend to abandon the traditional paths to success of
the dominant culture because these paths are blocked. In a
racialized society, poverty and all its ill consequences affect
some groups of people much more severely than others.Race and Intelligence
A question frequently asked by those unfamiliar with
the fallacy of biological race in humans is whether some
“races” are inherently more intelligent than others. First
we must ask, what do we mean by the term intelligence?(^7) Chan, J.W.C., & Vernon, P. E. (1988). Individual differences among the
peoples of China. In J. W. Berry (Ed.), Human abilities in cultural context
(pp. 340–357). Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
(^8) Before Tiger Woods came Charles Sifford (b. 1922), the first African Ameri-
can to win honors in golf. Sifford did so at a time when desegregating the sport
meant being subjected to threats and racial abuse. In 2004, the World Golf Hall
of Fame inducted him as their first African American member.
racism A doctrine of superiority by which one group justifies
the dehumanization of others based on their distinctive physical
characteristics.
(^5) American Anthropological Association. (1998). Statement on “race.”
Available: http://www.ameranthassn.org.
(^6) Trouillot, M. R. (1996). Culture, color, and politics in Haiti. In S. Gregory
& R. Sanjek (Eds.), Race. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.