There are three major factors which need to be considered in order to provide a sufficient overview of racism that lends itself to further, more detailed analysis. First, there is the ideology mentioned earlier, the significance of which cannot be underestimated (Vorster, 2002). In fact, back in 1978, UNESCO [United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization] issued a “Declaration of Race,” which defined racism as,
“any theory claiming the intrinsic superiority or inferiority of racial or ethnic groups which would give to some the right to dominate or even eliminate others, presumed inferior, or basing value judgments on racial differences” (de Benoist, 1999, p. 11).
Most cultural ideologies, i.e. nationalist or patriotic sentiments, are reinforced by the belief that a particular group is superior to another (Vorster, 1999). This belief is supported by the group’s prevailing theological, religious, and philosophical attitudes, which dictate their morality and govern their decision-making (Vorster, 2002). Science has also been historically employed to foster the notion of
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“biological inferiority” (Lemann, 1996, p. 93). In order to accept this argument, four assumptions must be made. First, one must believe that each group possesses distinctive biological characteristics that vary from one to the other (Lemann, 1996). Next, there has to be the acceptance that races can be ranked on a scale based upon these criteria (Lemann, 1996). Also, it must be presumed that there is nothing haphazard or accidental about this ranking system, that it is “intrinsic” (natural) (Lemann, 1996, p. 93). Finally, this hierarchical structure must be used as a justification for segregating groups and discriminating against them (Lemann, 1996).
A second cause of racism has always been avarice (Vorster, 2002). In their zeal for prosperity, many countries have exploited lesser developed nations and their natural resources as well as so-called ‘inferior’ or primitive peoples for economic gain (Vorster, 2002). This is how slavery and colonialism, which have too often flourished throughout history, became the primary examples of racism or the development of the mentality that ‘white (civilization) was right.’ When this desire for wealth and the power it represented encouraged territorial expansion with a vengeance, the enslavement of indigenous peoples throughout Africa in particular was justified until well into the twentieth century. When Germany had suffered a staggering blow to its nationalist image after its humiliating defeat in World War II, a crazed dictator named Adolf Hitler was able to satisfy his lust for power and at the same time bring his vision of a supposedly superior Aryan race eerily close to realization through genocide or the extermination of Eastern European Jews.
The third and possibly most compelling cause of racism is “collective fear” (Vorster, 2002, p. 296). This creates group solidarity particularly among minority groups and is centered around protecting their own interests (Vorster, 2002). It is this fear that
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ignites feelings of prejudice, an emotional rather than rational reaction to perceived biases (Vorster, 2002). These prejudices are formed by mistaken images of groups that are known as stereotypes (Vorster, 2002). The term stereotype is defined by Christian Ethics Professor J.M. Vorster (2002) as, “a ‘picture’ in one’s head, not acquired through personal experience but drawn by traditions, group pressures, group isolation, racist propaganda, general perceptions and the beliefs of other group members” (p. 296). Stereotypes have no factual basis whatsoever, but because they so easily lend themselves to the characterization of diverse cultural groups, they have become “ingrained” in the collective psyche throughout history, and this reinforcement enables these stereotypes to be passed along from one generation to another (Monteith and Winters, 2002, p. 44).
Why does racism or these erroneous assumptions and value judgments, continue to plague societies of the twenty-first century, even those that have been founded on the principles of democracy and equality? In the opinion of Margo Monteith (2002), Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Kentucky, the key is the endurance of prejudice. According to Professor Monteith, “Our hidden prejudices run so deep, we are quick to judge, fear and even hate the unknown” (2002, p. 44). It is this rush to judgment, coupled with the fear of the unknown, which creates powerful culturally-reinforced subdivisions of “us” and “them” (Monteith and Winters, 2002). Racism grows out of the basic human need to win or reign supreme in the tradition of survival of the fittest (or best). Research studies conducted by the late Henri Tajfel, Ph.D., of England’s University of Bristol, and Australia National University Professor John Turner, were aimed at determining what is responsible for the perpetuation of racism (Monteith and Winters, 2002). They developed what they called the “social identity theory,” which is their attempt to explain the
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psychology that fuels racism’s fires of discord, most notably prejudices and biases (Monteith and Winters, 2002). This theory is premised on the view that humans are primarily motivated by their desire for self-importance or “to think highly” of themselves (Monteith and Winters, 2002, p. 44). The findings of Tajfel and Turner contend,
“One way to lift your self-esteem is to be part of a distinctive group, like a winning team; another is to play up the qualities of your own group and denigrate the attributes of others so that you feel your group is better” (Monteith and Winters, 2002, p. 44).
When a group decides that it is superior to another in a way that minimizes the attributes of another, racism is the inevitable result.
Although the concept of racism has manifested itself throughout recorded history, what it means to society and its members has changed as perceptions have been altered (Winant, 1998). Case in point is the United States, which began to undergo a significant social transformation during the 1950s and 1960s when civil rights groups protested the racism that had not ended with Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation of 1863. The injustice that has always been an integral part of racism was regarded as either a matter of personal prejudice or bigotry or as a byproduct of the discrimination that is inherent in all societies in one form or another (Winant, 1998). Solutions to the social problems caused by racism are believed to involve either “the overcoming of prejudiced attitudes through the achievement of tolerance” or “the passage of laws which prohibited discrimination with respect to access to public accommodations, jobs, education, et cetera” (Winant, 1998, p. 755). Well, while the white social majority was attempting to exercise greater tolerance, minority groups were organizing into militant factions such as the “black power” philosophy of the Black Panthers movement (Winant, 1998). This illustrates that racism and what it means is not the exclusive property
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of the majority; minorities also form alliances that are drawn along racial lines. As far as the passage of laws, the United States government endeavored to right some longstanding wrongs by passing such civil rights legislation as Brown v. Board of Education, the 1954 Supreme Court Decision that ruled school segregation to be unconstitutional, and the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 during the administration of President Lyndon Johnson (Lemann, 1996). However, despite these major legislative advances, racism is still very much alive and well in the United States. Why? Because, in the view of Temple University Professor of Sociology Howard Winant (1998), the dangerous social trilogy that racism feeds on in order to survive still exists: “prejudice, discrimination, and structural inequality” (due to socioeconomic factors) (p. 755).
Racism still remains as elusive a term as ever because of its chameleon-like changes that allow it to insidiously insinuate itself into all types of societies, whether they be democratic or totalitarian, primitive or civilized. For this reason, Professor Howard Winant (1998) observes, “We can never expect fully to capture it theoretically. Nor can we expect that it will ever be fully overcome. That does not mean, however, that we are free to desist from trying” (p. 755). Racism continues to defy reason and explanation because it is completely irrational and illogical. It is deeply embedded in psychosocial insecurities and emotions, most notably, the desire to be the best or a member of what has been deemed a superior group. German ethologist (moral scholar) Irenaus Eibl-Eibesfeldt writes,
“If one could teach man to be tolerant, i.e., to be ready to understand and accept other life-styles both within civilizations and between various peoples, then ethnocentrism will find itself defused without it being necessary for groups to surrender their cultural uniqueness nor pride in their own civilization” (de Benoist, 1999, p. 11).
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Perhaps if human beings were robots, racism may not exist. But as long as emotions take precedence over logic, racism will continue. The only way to remove racism from the cultural landscape, it would seem, is to implant the notion that diversity is perfectly acceptable and that groups can happily co-exist as different and equal.
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Works Cited
de Benoist, Alain. (1999, Winter). What is racism? Telos 114, 11-48.
Lemann, Nicholas. (1996, February/March). The end of racism? American Heritage 47(1), 93-104.
Monteith, Margo; Winters, Jeffrey. (2002, May/June). Why we hate. Psychology Today 35(3), 44-51.
Vorster, J.M. (2002, July). Racism, xenophobia and human rights. Ecumenical Review 54(3), 296-312.
Winant, Howard. (1998, July). Racism today: Continuity and change in the post-civil rights era. Ethnic & Racial Studies 21(4), 755-766.
