Table of Contents
Definition of Scientific Racism
(noun) Using faulty, reductionist science to “prove” and provide support for systems of racial hierarchies that position white people or Caucasians as the most advanced stage of human evolution.
Example of Scientific Racism
- The Bell Curve: Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life by Richard Herrnstien (1930–1994) and Charles Murray (born 1943) is perhaps the most famous work of scientific racism.
- After publication, there was swift action both defending and refuting the book, many are listed below in the Additional Information section.
Scientific Racism Pronunciation
Syllabification: sci·en·tif·ic rac·ism
Audio Pronunciation
Phonetic Spelling
- American English – /sie-uhn-tIf-ik rAY-siz-uhm/
- British English – /sie-uhn-tIf-ik rAY-si-zuhm/
International Phonetic Alphabet
- American English – /ˌsaɪənˈtɪfɪk ˈreɪˌsɪzəm/
- British English – /ˌsaɪənˈtɪfɪk ˈreɪsɪzm/
Usage Note
- Plural: scientific racisms
Additional Information
- Word origin of “scientific” and “racism” – Online Etymology Dictionary: etymonline.com
- Barkan, Elazar. 1992. The Retreat of Scientific Racism: Changing Concepts of Race in Britain and the United States between the World Wars. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- Blanchard, Pascal. 2008. Human Zoos: Science and Spectacle in the Age of Colonial Empires. Liverpool, United Kingdom: Liverpool University Press.
- Cashmore, Ernest, and James Jennings, eds. 2001. Racism: Essential Readings. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
- Chase, Allan. 1977. The Legacy of Malthus: The Social Costs of the New Scientific Racism. New York: Knopf.
- Devlin, Bernie, Stephen E. Fienberg, Daniel P. Resnick, and Kathryn Roeder, eds. 1997. Intelligence, Genes, and Success: Scientists Respond to The Bell Curve. New York: Springer.
- Fraser, Steve, ed. 1995. The Bell Curve Wars: Race, Intelligence, and the Future of America. New York: Basic Books.
- Graves, Joseph L., Jr. 2001. The Emperor’s New Clothes: Biological Theories of Race at the Millennium. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.
- Kincheloe, Joe L., Shirley R. Steinberg, and Aaron David Gresson. 1996. Measured Lies: The Bell Curve Examined. New York: St. Martin’s Press.
- Kühl, Stefan. 1994. The Nazi Connection: Eugenics, American Racism, and German National Socialism. New York: Oxford University Press.
- McNamee, Stephen J., and Robert K. Miller, Jr. 2013. The Meritocracy Myth. 3rd ed. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
- Rattansi, Ali. 2007. Racism: A Very Short Introduction. New York: Oxford University Press.
- Tucker, William H. 2002. The Funding of Scientific Racism: Wickliffe Draper and the Pioneer Fund. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press.
Related Terms
Cite the Definition of Scientific Racism
ASA – American Sociological Association (5th edition)
Bell, Kenton, ed. 2013. “scientific racism.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Retrieved April 18, 2024 (https://sociologydictionary.org/scientific-racism/).
APA – American Psychological Association (6th edition)
scientific racism. (2013). In K. Bell (Ed.), Open education sociology dictionary. Retrieved from https://sociologydictionary.org/scientific-racism/
Chicago/Turabian: Author-Date – Chicago Manual of Style (16th edition)
Bell, Kenton, ed. 2013. “scientific racism.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Accessed April 18, 2024. https://sociologydictionary.org/scientific-racism/.
MLA – Modern Language Association (7th edition)
“scientific racism.” Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Ed. Kenton Bell. 2013. Web. 18 Apr. 2024. <https://sociologydictionary.org/scientific-racism/>.