Scientific racism

Scientific racism refers to research which promotes or appears to promote a racist ideology while forgoing the ideals of scientific objectivity. Often scientific examinations of race or ethnicity can spark debate over whether they are works of legitimate science, or simply racist dogma disguised as science.

Controversial category

Scientific research into racial and cultural differences are controversial by their very nature. Since science has indeed been abused at times to justify racist policies, it can be difficult at times to distinguish between legitimate science, and racist propaganda dressed up in scientific terms.

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When a work is referred to as an example of scientific racism, the researchers and their advocates insist the work is objective research, unmotivated by politics; while detractors suggest it is simply racist dogma dressed up in scientific terms. Advocates will often respond by arguing that detractors are anti-science, opposing any research on racial questions because they fear answers that might conflict with their political support for racial equality. Detractors will sometimes respond by insisting they do support honest research, pointing to other studies which have found no serious innate racial differences. Advocates will claim that these studies are supported only because they agree with existing prejudices; detractors argue that there are substantive differences. Such battles are frequently quite heated and often the line between scientific racism and legitimate science can be exceptionally blurry at the time of initial controversy.

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