Racism is the belief that certain races are superior to others based solely on physical characteristics. While racism has existed throughout human history, science has both disproven many racist theories and unfortunately also helped support some ideals in some cases, such as physiognomy. Modern science has shown that differences in IQ scores between races are due to environmental factors like education rather than genetics. However, some studies like The Bell Curve continue to be used to argue racist views about genetic intellectual differences between populations.
2. Vocabulary
• Racism: The dogma in which a certain race
of people feel superiority from another race
based solely on physical differences.
3. Depth
• Racism is mainly thought of as a illogical
doctrine in which not only values and
physical appearance are discriminated and
generalized but intelligence and culture as
well.
• Racism has been part of every society since
the beginning of agriculture, and maybe
even before.
4. Science
• Science hasn't worked much on really
disproving the theories that racism has
proposed.
• In some cases, science has even helped
racist ideals, such as the case of
physiognomy.
5.
6. Science (cont.)
• One of the most frequently asked questions
about racism is if certain races have a higher
IQ level than others.
• Science has proven that in some cases this
is true, but only because of education levels.
For example, in a WW1 test given to
draftees, known as the Alpha and Beta tests,
African Americans from the cities scored
higher than whites from rural areas.
7. IQ scores
• The IQ test, however, was not a viable
measure.
• Tested many subjects that were important
for white communities, but not important for
blacks.
• Only test certain cultural settings.
8. The Bell Curve
• Herrnstein and Murray.
• Shows different IQ levels from around the
world.
• Racist book, lead to racist points of view in
many Americans, because both authors
were very important people in the United
States.
9. Genes
• Blacks have genes that are better suited for
running.
• Better in sports.
• Genes can define that people from certain
races are better than others from another
race.