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Racism: A Short History By Fredrickson

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The notion of race, whether it be a social construct, biological reality, or both continues to be a highly salient issue as shown through history and even through society today. There are many different ways the word race can be defined as, it can be most commonly defined as: physical characteristics that separate one group of people from another. Other ways an individual might define race might incorporate ethnicity and religion, as seemingly done in today’s society. With race comes stereotypes, misconceptions, and prejudices— how the individual will behave, act, dress, speak, etc. These stereotypes and prejudices individuals may have towards others may become a catalyst for racism. According to Webster’s Dictionary, racism can be defined …show more content…

“them, stating that there are two different components to racism: difference and power (1, 9). He states difference is what gives the oppressors the rationale or the motive to take advantage of the inferior race (Fredrickson, 9). Fredrickson defends his belief by stating historical examples dating back to Ancient Greece: Nazi Germany, slavery in the United States, Jim Crow Era, the apartheid in South Africa, etc. (2-3). The rationale used as to why such horrific events took place is due to “racial order”, the attempt to achieve “racial purity”, and out of fear (Fredrickson, 2, 6). Mankind has always had a need to differentiate one from the other, again bringing up the “us” vs. “them” notion; since time began there has always been some sort of caste system, whether evident or not. It is human nature to put things into order, to have control over a situation. This however defies the natural order of things— entropy. The idea of racial purity became more prominent after Nazi Germany in which, the white race specifically could not be “tainted” or become impure by essentially mating with any other …show more content…

Sussman states that through much scientific research, there exists no biological definition of race; rather, race is a cultural and historical “myth” that was created by humans to keep the “leaders and their followers in control” of the way the present society functions (2014). He argues that race is merely a social construct created by mankind to make a chain of hierarchy. Sussman mentions how there could be up to thirty different races if tried, thereby consolidating his argument that the physical characteristics that make up race is not influenced by genetics (in the short run) but rather the kind of environment an individual lives in. Genetics would be an influential factor in the long run if an individual were to talk about evolution. Essentially with the environment an individual is living in, Darwinism would come into affect thereby getting rid of the genes that are not needed or not best suitable for that said environment. The notion of race, so embedded into different cultures— especially in Western culture— it is difficult to not be “born into a racist society”

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