The Social Construction of Race

The Social construction of race

• The social construction of race began from a combination of factors including: the rise of global capitalism, colonialism, slavery, and the Enlightenment.
• Colonialism is defined as "the practice of one country taking full or partial political control of another country and occupying it with settlers for purposes of profiting from its resources and economy”.
• Imperialism led to Colonialism.
• The term slavery as used in this study unit refers to the transatlantic slave trade, also referred to as the Middle Passage, during which roughly 12 million enslaved Africans were transported across the Atlantic to work on sugar and tobacco plantations in the Americas.
• The concept of race was created to justify slavery and to impose a 'natural order' between races to make the exploitation of people viable.
• Although there is no generally agreed-upon definition for race, it has been used historically to divide people into groups, often with the intent of enslaving people who were seen as 'inferior'.

Racism

• Racism is the belief that the observable physical features of people are indicators of innate qualities that render them inferior to others.
• The notion of innate inferiority includes aspects like moral character and intellectual abilities.
• Racism is more than just individual or group prejudice; it encompasses deeply ingrained societal biases and institutions that function in implicit and explicit ways.
• Racism = Racial Prejudice (Unfounded Beliefs + Irrational Fear) + Institutional Power.

Racial Ideology

• Racial ideology is the belief that some groups of people are superior to others and that this ‘natural order’ is maintained through specific institutions like laws and employment prospects.
• Many of these ideas were spread during the Enlightenment, the same period that promoted ideals of freedom and the equality of all human beings.
• The Enlightenment saw people as capable of progress, but the idea of race was not a product of the Enlightenment.
• The idea of racial difference emerged as a result of a complex overlap between different processes, such as colonialism and slavery.
• In addition to these Enlightenment ideas, Darwin’s ideas on competition between species were misappropriated to justify slavery and other forms of oppression.
• The creation of race and the emergence of racism and racial ideology manifested in other ways too, such as the eugenics movement.

Eugenics Movement

• The eugenics movement began in the late 19th century and continued through the 20th century.
• In the U.S., eugenics "took a dark turn in the early 20th century" when "around 20,000 sterilizations occurred in California state mental institutions under the guise of protecting society from the offspring of people with mental illness."
• Many of these sterilizations were done forcibly on minorities.
• Similar experiments were carried out in South Africa through a covert chemical and biological warfare program.
• The experiments involved “the production of narcotics and poisons for use against anti-apartheid activists” and the development of “a bacterial agent that would selectively kill Black people.”
• The most ‘successful’ eugenic experiment was carried out by Adolf Hitler.

This quiz explores the social construction of race, delving into historical factors like colonialism, slavery, and capitalism that shaped racial identities. It examines how these concepts emerged to justify exploitation and create divisions among people. Understanding these elements is crucial for analyzing contemporary race relations.