Race, Racism, and Science: Social Impact and Interaction (Science and Society)

Since the eighteenth century when natural historians created the idea of distinct racial categories, scientific findings on race have been a double-edged sword. For some antiracists, science holds the promise of one day providing indisputable evidence to help eradicate racism. On the other hand, science has been enlisted to promote racist beliefs ranging from a justification of slavery in the eighteenth century to the infamous twentieth-century book, The Bell Curve, whose authors argued that racial differences in intelligence resulted in lower test scores for African Americans. This well-organized, readable textbook takes the reader through a chronological account of how and why racial categories were created and how the study of "race" evolved in multiple academic disciplines, including genetics, psychology, sociology, and anthropology. In a bibliographic essay at the conclusion of each of the book's seven sections, the authors recommend primary texts that will further the reader's understanding of each topic. Heavily illustrated and enlivened with sidebar biographies, this text is ideal for classroom use. John P. Jackson, Jr., is an assistant professor in the department of communication at the University of Colorado, Boulder. He is the author of Social Scientists for Social Justice: Making the Case against Segregation and Science for Segregation: Race, Law, and the Case against Brown v. Board of Education. Nadine Weidman is a lecturer in history of science at the Harvard University Extension School and the author of Constructing Scientific Psychology: Karl Lashley's Mind-Brain Debates. The Origins Of Racial Science, Antiquity-1800. Was There Race In Antiquity? The Curse Of Ham And Medieval Racial Thought. The Age Of Exploration. Natural Philosophy And The Colonial Experience : The Sixteenth And Seventeenth Centuries. The Science Of Anthropology. The Atlantic Slave System. Enlightenment Values And Racial Thought -- The Establishment Of Racial Typology, 1800-1859. The Reign Of Monogenism : Prichard And Lawrence. Steps Toward Polygenesis. American Polygenism : Morton, Nott, And Gliddon. Polygenism In The Land Of Prichard -- Race And Evolution, 1859-1900. Darwin's Argument In On The Origin Of Species. Darwin And Wallace On Natural Selection And Human Origin. Darwin On Human Evolution. Physical Anthropology And The Persistence Of Polygenism. Spencer And Evolution. Spencer On The Savage Mind. Social Darwinism And Its Variants. Social Darwinism In Germany. Sociocultural Evolutionism In Britain --^ The Hardening Of Scientific Racism, 1900-1945. The Problem Of Heredity. Francis Galton. Hard Heredity. The Rise Of Nordicism. Eugenics And Race In The United States -- German Rassenhygiene -- The Retreat Of Scientific Racism, 1890-1940. Boas And The Culture Concept. Boasian Anthropology And Black Folklore. Psychologists And The Critique Of Iq Testing. From Race Psychology To Studies In Prejudice. Genetics And The Critique Of Eugenics -- The Liberal Orthodoxy, 1940-1960. The Geneticists' Manifesto. Wartime Anti-racism : Benedict, Montagu, And Dunn And Dobzhansky. Experts In Prejudice. An American Dilemma. The Post-myrdal Liberal Orthodoxy. The Damage Argument. The Breakdown Of The Liberal Orthodoxy. The Unesco Statements On Race --^ A Multicultural Science Of Race, 1965-to The Present. Movement Scholarship. The Rejection Of The Pathology Of Black Culture. Institutional Racism And Colonialism. Genetics, New Physical Anthropology, And The Abandonment Of Race. Forward To The Past : The Psychometrician Case For Race Differences. Psychometrics, Intelligence, And Heritability. Geneticists Versus The Psychometricians. The Psychometricians Versus Scholars Of Institutional Racism. Psychometric Case For Policy. John P. Jackson And Nadine M. Weidman. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 371-386) And Index. A provocative overview of the history of the race concept in European and American science, based on current research that shows how race and science grew together in Western thought.What, historically, has the term'race'meant? What is the relationship between the scientific study of race and racism? Race, Racism, and Science: Social Impact and Interaction explores these questions as it recaps the history of race-centered research from its origins in the late 1700s to Darwin's influential work on natural selection to the present. It is a compelling introduction to the way race science initially gained acceptance and how race studies both reflect and shape their times.Readers will see how scientific and pseudoscientific explanations of racial differences (social Darwinism, eugenics, craniometry, scientific racism) provided intellectual cover for inhuman acts, and how Ashley Montagu, Richard Lewontin, and other 20th-century antiracists fought to refute the scientific support of bigotry. What, historically, has the term 'race' meant? What is the relationship between the scientific study of race and racism? Race, Racism, and Science: Social Impact and Interaction explores these questions as it recaps the history of race-centered research from its origins in the late 1700s to Darwin's influential work on natural selection to the present. It is a compelling introduction to the way race science initially gained acceptance and how race studies both reflect and shape their times.Readers will see how scientific and pseudoscientific explanations of racial differences (social Darwinism, eugenics, craniometry, scientific racism provided intellectual cover for inhuman acts, and how Ashley Montagu, Richard Lewontin, and other 20th-century antiracists fought to refute the scientific support of bigotry. "Of interest to students of the humanities and both the natural and social sciences, Race, Racism, and Science explains in an accessible manner the complex interplay between race, racism, and science, tracing the roots of the concept of race to the birth of modern science. Surveying the history of race-centered research from its origins in the late 18th century to the present day, the authors show how racists have borrowed heavily from the lexicon of science to justify their views."--Jacket Contents 6 Series Editor’s Preface 10 Prologue 12 1 The Origins of Racial Science, Antiquity–1800 18 2 The Establishment of Racial Typology, 1800–1859 46 3 Race and Evolution, 1859–1900 78 4 The Hardening of Scientific Racism, 1900–1945 114 5 The Retreat of Scientific Racism, 1890–1940 146 6 The Liberal Orthodoxy, 1940–1960 180 7 A Multicultural Science of Race, 1965 to the Present 222 Chronology 254 Glossary 260 Documents 272 Bibliography 388 Index 404 About the Authors 420 The history of the scientific study of race is a series of puzzles.