Racism: A Short History
Introduction
Racism is usually used as an unreflective term to describe hostile feelings towards a group of
people, but for people like Hitler it is a correct term. The climax of racism was in the 20 th
century when “overtly racist regimes” fell. An example is the fear of race mixing in the
Southern US (race purity), which anticipated persecution of Jews in Germany, where
interracial marriage was forbidden. The one racist regime that survived the wars, was
apartheid in South Africa. The difference between apartheid and other regimes was that it was
based more on cultural differences. This is the best example of “cultural essentialism.”
Racism does not require full support of state and law. Treating people from another race
differently is racism.
The aim of the book is to tell the history of racism’s fall and rise from the Middle
Ages to the present. The definition of racism in this book is: “Racism is not just an attitude; it
expresses itself in practices and institutions.”
Racism is more than thinking badly of a group over which no one has control. It
proposes to establish a racial order: a permanent group hierarchy that is believed to reflect
the laws of nature or the decrees of God. It is mainly a product of the West. Racism is not
merely xenophobia, but that is only a starting point. For an understandence of the emerge of
Western racism, a clear distinction between racism and religious intolerance is crucial,
because religious bigot condemns people for what they believe, not what they are.
Racism is not operative if members of stigmatized groups can voluntarily change their
identities. There is a gray area between racism and culturalism. The belief that children had
the same blood as their parents could lead to racism.
Deterministic cultural particularism can do the work of biological racism effectively. There
is a history of general and particular racism. Fredrickson’s theory has two components:
difference and power. By acknowledging difference between groups, what is being denied is
the possibility that the racializers and racialized can coexist in the same society. Also people
can’t get along without changing their identity.
Pierre-André Taguieff:
Le racisme d’exploitation -> permits incorporation only in the basis of a rigid hierarchy
(such as white supremacy).
Le racisme d’extermination -> groups can’t live together at all (such as Hitler’s anti-
Semitism).
Depending on the circumstances of the dominant group, the logic of racism can shift from
inclusionary to exclusionary.
It is uniquely in the West that we find the dialectal interaction between a premise of
equality and an intense prejudice toward certain groups that would seem to be a precondition
for the full flowering of racism as an ideology or worldview.
Chapter one - Religion and the Invention of Racism
There is no equivalent of race that the Greeks, Romans and early Christians used. Dark skin
color did not serve as the basis of invidious distinctions in the ancient world. People were
hostile to Jews, but they were open to abandon their beliefs. Christians were irritated by Jews,
yet did not discriminate them for their beliefs. Anti-Judaism became anti-Semitism when
Christian favored killing Jews over trying to convert them. Anti-Semitism became racism
when the belief took hold that Jews were intrinsically evil. In the 12th and 13th century,
attitudes became more hostile towards Jews and this laid the foundation for racism. During
the crusades the Christians demonized the Jews. When the Black Death spread through
Europe, many Jews were murdered because Europeans believed they spread the disease. Jews
Introduction
Racism is usually used as an unreflective term to describe hostile feelings towards a group of
people, but for people like Hitler it is a correct term. The climax of racism was in the 20 th
century when “overtly racist regimes” fell. An example is the fear of race mixing in the
Southern US (race purity), which anticipated persecution of Jews in Germany, where
interracial marriage was forbidden. The one racist regime that survived the wars, was
apartheid in South Africa. The difference between apartheid and other regimes was that it was
based more on cultural differences. This is the best example of “cultural essentialism.”
Racism does not require full support of state and law. Treating people from another race
differently is racism.
The aim of the book is to tell the history of racism’s fall and rise from the Middle
Ages to the present. The definition of racism in this book is: “Racism is not just an attitude; it
expresses itself in practices and institutions.”
Racism is more than thinking badly of a group over which no one has control. It
proposes to establish a racial order: a permanent group hierarchy that is believed to reflect
the laws of nature or the decrees of God. It is mainly a product of the West. Racism is not
merely xenophobia, but that is only a starting point. For an understandence of the emerge of
Western racism, a clear distinction between racism and religious intolerance is crucial,
because religious bigot condemns people for what they believe, not what they are.
Racism is not operative if members of stigmatized groups can voluntarily change their
identities. There is a gray area between racism and culturalism. The belief that children had
the same blood as their parents could lead to racism.
Deterministic cultural particularism can do the work of biological racism effectively. There
is a history of general and particular racism. Fredrickson’s theory has two components:
difference and power. By acknowledging difference between groups, what is being denied is
the possibility that the racializers and racialized can coexist in the same society. Also people
can’t get along without changing their identity.
Pierre-André Taguieff:
Le racisme d’exploitation -> permits incorporation only in the basis of a rigid hierarchy
(such as white supremacy).
Le racisme d’extermination -> groups can’t live together at all (such as Hitler’s anti-
Semitism).
Depending on the circumstances of the dominant group, the logic of racism can shift from
inclusionary to exclusionary.
It is uniquely in the West that we find the dialectal interaction between a premise of
equality and an intense prejudice toward certain groups that would seem to be a precondition
for the full flowering of racism as an ideology or worldview.
Chapter one - Religion and the Invention of Racism
There is no equivalent of race that the Greeks, Romans and early Christians used. Dark skin
color did not serve as the basis of invidious distinctions in the ancient world. People were
hostile to Jews, but they were open to abandon their beliefs. Christians were irritated by Jews,
yet did not discriminate them for their beliefs. Anti-Judaism became anti-Semitism when
Christian favored killing Jews over trying to convert them. Anti-Semitism became racism
when the belief took hold that Jews were intrinsically evil. In the 12th and 13th century,
attitudes became more hostile towards Jews and this laid the foundation for racism. During
the crusades the Christians demonized the Jews. When the Black Death spread through
Europe, many Jews were murdered because Europeans believed they spread the disease. Jews
