Ethnicity is obviously used as a form of differentiation, but what started this ideology, often of inferiority, and why do a minority still live by such ideologies today?
The word ‘race’ was not even evident in English until 1508, when it appeared in a poem by a Scotsman. At that time, any teachings about ‘race’ would have been from the bible. In biblical terms though, there would have been only one human race, as we are all supposed to be descendants from Adam and Eve. Gradually as time went on, the word ‘race’ became more known and used, but it was not until the eighteenth century that the British and Americans started to use the word to describe human groups.
As European nations were developing colonial empires, from the sixteenth century onwards, slave trading between Africa and America was flourishing. The slave owners, rich chiefs and kings in Africa, would exploit the slaves, selling them to traders who would force them then, to be dragged across all parts of the world. The slaves would have been made to travel in “crowded and unsanitary conditions, to North and South America and sold in the markets of the New World.” The slaves would have been transported, attached to chains and taken from their families. Many of them wouldn’t make the journey, and many who survived committed suicide.
The European colonies exploited thousands and thousands of black people, and different forms of justification were employed to justify the unequal and intolerable treatment endured by these Africans. During this period, people started to hold views that African and Asian countries were ‘primitive’ in comparison to Western ‘civilisation’. This stemmed thoughts that if these countries were not so advanced, then the black-skinned people must be inferior. Many people also decided that as black was often a symbol of evil e.g. in witchcraft, black symbolises evil and white symbolises goodness, then the black people’s origins were stemmed from badness. Such theories also included religion. White people actually used religion to emphasise how black slavery was a good thing. They said that by bringing the slaves into Christianity, they were rescuing them from their origins.
One more common, apparently more logical view shared now to explain the variety in skin colour is that we are all exactly the same. Many biologists have stated that when man first came about, from the apes or otherwise, he was living in Africa. Over millions of generations, the people who lived in Africa adapted to their surroundings. The colour of their skin grew darker and darker, so that their skin could stand the sun more easily. Those who travelled north though were to keep white skin, as the North is so much colder. This is the reason why the closer the equator, the darker skin colour people will have. Therefore verifications in the human race are only natural adaptations. Basic theories often suggest how the pigment in the skin is only a protection, and varies where needed throughout the temperature levels of the world.
A “New Racism” seems to have replaced old ideologies in contemporary Western societies. Racist white people, who do not even realise it themselves, often criticise black immigrants for not attempting to succeed or adapt to British societies.
According to E. Ellis Cashmore’s interviews with employers, many have specifically not employed black people. Not, as they said, because they had any objection to employing them themselves, but their customers or their existing workforce would not be happy with such an employee. Obviously this arrogance to a group can seriously affect their life chances, if people will then stereotype them for being unemployed. People also argue that this ‘New Racism’ is based on cultural differences unlike previous biological ideologies about inferiority. Black cultures are still likely to be viewed as ‘primitive’ in comparison to British ‘civilisation’. The Conservative Enoch Powell, has been criticised a number of times for saying how cultures are fixed and unchanging. I think the Black cultures are negatively influenced by the white exploitation of Black people in previous generations.
I agree with the sociologist John Solomos that racism can be formed just from a person’s stereotypical views and not a belief that a group is inferior. . For example, Afro-Caribbean’s are sometimes thought of as unable to maintain a stable ‘British’ family pattern consisting of parents and children. Marxist’s Castles and Kosak say that one function of prejudice against immigrants is to blame the problems of a dysfunctional capitalist society, which cannot serve the needs of an entire population. They say that (even though there are more emigrants of Britain than immigrants,) immigrants provide a convenient explanation for housing shortages or unemployment.
Marxists often say that immigration in our society benefits capitalism. According to Oliver C. Cox, if capitalism, never developed then ‘the world might never have experienced race prejudice’. Many sociologists have since agreed that racism is related to capitalism.
I have come to the conclusion that yes, racism is based on an ideology about the differences between cultures, and I also think that it is possible for racism to one day be excluded by society. People with racist beliefs have no scientific evidence, and I think people only stereotype cultures and groups because of their cultural differences. I think that the less of grouping and stratification that happens in society, then there will be a less chance of racism. I agree with Paul Gilroy that some perspectives on anti-racism sometimes create moralistic excesses, and I believe there are obviously no distinct races.
I think that the term ‘race’ is used for all the wrong reasons. For example, in a British census, appearance is dismissed. However, the 1991 census required a person’s ethnicity, the supposed ethnic groups being in a list. By variegating ethnic groups, classification and differentiation is caused. If such a question were never asked, and people in our society with different cultures were encouraged to accept each other as individuals instead of groups, there would be more of a chance for people to think themselves not in different races. I think the government should encourage this idea.
