I got into a discussion with an employee of mine earlier today about racism that I though might make for an interesting discussion here.
While we both agree that racism in the US today is less than it has been in the past, she claims that some degree of racism is inherent in human nature and therefore can never be completely eradicated. I, having a slightly more optimistic appraisal of the situation, maintain that it is conceivable that at some point in the future we will live in a society without racism, although it probably won’t happen in our lifetime.
She then said that there has never been a society or culture in the entire known history of human beings that didn’t have some degree of racism. I don’t have sufficient knowledge to either prove or disprove her claim.
So is she right? Is it true that there has never been a society without racism? If so, why? Is it possible that racism is actually a part of our makeup?
Is she wrong? I would love to have knowledge of a society or culture that didn’t have any racism whatsoever. What conditions could possibly contribute to such a society? Could those conditions be replicated in modern life?
Isn’t the whole idea of the Other a big factor in human civilization? Skin color is the fastest and easiest way to determine who is the Other. How can a group of people band together without having some outside group that they maintain their cohesiveness against?
I’ve been reading The History of White People by Nell Irvin Painter and she says that the concept of race as we think of it is fairly recent. So, while there may have been discrimination based on group membership status, racism can only be as old as the concept of race.
According to the author, how recent is recent? Are we talking recent on a geological timescale, in which case the concept of race is possibly older than known history.
You’d need to define racism first. Using today’s definition, there have been plenty of cultures who never saw someone of a different race, and thus couldn’t be racist. They no doubt would hate the next tribe over, who would look exactly like them and probably share lots of genetic material. Kind of like football fans with spears.
I think its a natural human state. And you dont even need to be taught it. All you need is the human tendency for confirmation bias, a smattering of “its not my fault mentally” and at least two groups that are easily to “tell apart”. And if the groups proportions are loopsided it helps too.
Imagine a place where no one is racist. No one has ever heard of the concept. Everyone has the same opportunities, rights…blah blah blah. No history of one group taking advantage of the other and no actual evidence that this is the case.
Start the clock running.
Eventually, somebody is going to make this wrong “observation” (confirmation bias). “You know, everytime I get waited on by an orange person, they screw up my dinner order”. This person remembers the times orangey screws up but never remembers the time big Yellow man does.
And on the flip side, someone in the minoritiy goup, the Oranges, is going to make a wrong observation like “You know what, everytime I get screwed over financially, its those yellow guys that are doing it”. Of course, there are two explanations for that. One they werent getting screwed over or that they “deserved” it. Or, the fact that Yellows outrank Oranges 10 to 1 and of course most the screwing over you get by other people its Yellows because most other people are Yellows.
IMO, before long, both those ideas are going to spread and maybe even lead to real Yellow vs Orange racism from both sides.
You dont need the concept of racism to create it. You just need the typical humans abilititly to draw improper inferences from life experiences.
No, it’s just a quote from South Pacific. The song basically makes your point–young children are quite innocent (like the child characters). But the adults shy away from mixed marriages because they’ve learned to be racist.
I’m not sure if I agree entirely. Kids do notice differences and often mock each other. But I do think that racism does mostly come from your family/surrounding culture. As does learning acceptance. You can’t really separate us from our cultures so it’s not like we have examples of people just learning to hate x person on their own. It’s all linked to how we perceive people based on what our parents, teachers, the mass media, etc. says.
I disagree. I think that people might find other things to latch on and hate and divide people over besides race. (Politics and religion leap violently to mind…) Once they have a few criteria of divisiveness, they might not feel the need to make race a criteria of divisiveness too.
Maybe, but this thread isn’t about what’s likely, it’s about whether racism is “part of our makeup”. And I contend it’s not; being hateful jerks is part of our makeup (or at least having that as a reaction to threat or scarcity is), but not racism specifically.
Young children aren’t cognizant enough to have an “us” versus “them” attitude. By the time they get to Jr. High School, though, they do and they demarcate themselves in ways that aren’t necessarily taught to them. For example kids who are bright are often mocked by those who are not.
If my scenario is correct, its an inevitable result of basic human nature, just like your hateful jerkdom theory. Your theory is that people just want to hate and they will find something to hate.
My theory doesnt even require people to be hateful jerks. All it requires is that humans have less than perfect reasoning and logic skills, which I think is a pretty obvious currrent and inborn element of human nature.
At best, I think your point is a distinction without a difference.