SOCA02H3 Chapter Notes -The Great Brain Robbery (Album), Symbolic Ethnicity, Baic Group
Document Summary
Dr. samuel george morton, philadelphia was a scientist in north america (150 years ago) He collected and measured human skulls; from various times and places; of different races. Theory: he believed the bigger the brain, the smarter you were . Experiment: shot bb-sized shot into each brain, recording each race and drew conclusions about the average brain size of different races. Conclusion: the races ranking the highest in the social hierarchy had the biggest brains, vice versa: whites of european origin (#1, asians (#2, native north americans (#3, blacks (smallest brain) Morton claimed to show that the system of social inequality in north america and the world had natural & biological roots. Due to brain size and mental capacity (cid:0) racial groups are rich/poor, educated/illiterate, and powerful/powerless. Native north americans and blacks naturally rested at the bottom were justified by: colonization and slavery. However no evidence supported morton"s ideas: example: morton measured the capacity of skulls robbed from egypt tombs.
