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.

Modern usage

The labeling of a work today as being "scientific racism" is generally meant to imply that the research has been politically motivated and is attempting to justify racist ideology through the use of a veneer of science. As can be expected, this labeling is challenged by those who have conducted said research, who claim that their work was indeed objective and that the attempts to decry it are acts of "political correctness" or censorship. Some have compared the attacks on their work as akin to Lysenkoism.

Related Topics:
Veneer - Political correctness - Censorship - Lysenkoism

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Among those most prominently attacked as "scientific racists" in the late 20th century have been Arthur Jensen, J. Philippe Rushton (Race, Evolution, and Behavior), Richard Lynn (IQ and the Wealth of Nations), and Richard Herrnstein (The Bell Curve), among others. Many critics of these authors, such as Stephen Jay Gould and Richard Lewontin, claimed that their refusal to renounce their work in the face of later evidence against it indicates racist motivations.

Related Topics:
Arthur Jensen - J. Philippe Rushton - Race, Evolution, and Behavior - Richard Lynn - IQ and the Wealth of Nations - Richard Herrnstein - The Bell Curve - Stephen Jay Gould - Richard Lewontin

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In any event, the question of who is being more "political"—either those to whom the term is applied or those who apply the term—is itself a source of much dispute. Some critics have argued that the entire attempt to compare races using science is impossibly fraught with methodological problems, and that even if it wasn't, nothing good could come from the research. Those who support such work generally appeal to the more idealistic goals of scientific knowledge, and many have implied that social policy should be tailored around accurate scientific knowledge of such differences, if they exist (Jensen's initial 1969 paper, for example, suggested that minority-focused environmental-enrichment programs — such as the federally-funded Head Start program for pre-schoolers — would be ineffective as they were attempting to overcome innate differences).

Related Topics:
Social policy - Head Start

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In applying the term to works completed in the past, however, runs the risk of ahistoricism. Some of the work of Charles Darwin, for example, contains many statements which would be considered racist (or "scientific racism") in the current scientific and cultural context, but in their time were either typical for their Victorian context or even less racist than many contemporary scientific views.

Related Topics:
Charles Darwin - Victorian

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