SOCL 2001 Chapter : 14-Mar
Document Summary
Race- a group who share a set of characteristics (usually physical) and are said to share a common bloodline. A social construct, changing over time and place. Racism- belief that separate races possess different and unequal human traits. Many historical efforts to explain race were biased due to ethnocentrism. Race in the early modern world: biblical explanation, africans descend from ham, cursed in genesis 9. Scientific racism: early theories investigating origins, explanations, and classifications of race, assumptions, white europeans=norm, others=deviant. Phrenology- the study of your head ie bump/shapes. Social darwinism: survival of the fittest, all races= same species, some races were m ore evolved, better fit to survive or rule others. Fertility control can shape traits of the population. Nativism: movement to protect land and culture from polluting effects of new immigrants. The one-drop rule: belief that one drop of black blood makes a person black, applying this rule kept the white population pure, plessy upheld jim crow.