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Scientific racism is the act of justifying inequalities between natural groups of people by recourse to science.

1 As one of the most racist texts ever written, Types of Mankind, by Josiah Clark Nott and George Robins Gliddon, is today considered the highwater mark of American scientific racism.2 In this book, Nott and Gliddon introduced the theory of polygenism, which suggests that human races come from different origins. They came up with this theory by examining brain skulls and concluding that the more voluminous the interior of the human skull was, the more intellectual that race was. Therefore, there was an implication for a hierarchy of racial superiority and inferiority. Today, in a world where racial discrimination exists excessively, we are still faced with the challenges of superiority and inferiority. There are so many common stereotypes: Asians are innately large-brained, law-abiding, civilized, and under-sexualized; Africans are innately small-brained, criminalistic, primitive, and licentious; and Europeans are a happy medium.1 We experience these stereotypes in daily life. As a personal example, being a college student, I realize that many people comment on the academic and intellectual capabilities of the Asian community. This stereotype supports polygenism in the sense that it suggests that people think that Asians are more intellectually advanced than, lets say, an American. In addition, scientific racism and stereotypes suggest that while the minds and intellectuality of whites are superior to those of blacks, the bodies of blacks are superior to those of whites. It is a common stereotype that black people have better bodies and are more physically developed than white people. Therefore, the graduation entry of blacks into American professional sports [] produced a new crop of excellent black athletes and a new wave of scientific racism to account for their success.1 This is another example of scientific racism that exists today. Types of Mankinds message of scientific racism negatively impacts the state of wellbeing today because it adds to stereotypes that have been ongoing for so many years that still exist today. Though the book isnt published anymore, it contributed significantly to the concept of scientific racism in the past. Stereotypes are permanent, so they probably wont ever change. Though I may sound pessimistic, I think its relatively rational to believe that the stereotypes that exist today will not change because they stem from the past. Peoples perceptions of others will change when they encounter others of a different race, but only change in perception will happen on an individual level. As a whole, I dont see a future where the same stereotypes about different races wont exist because people will always view certain groups of people in certain ways, even if they do encounter an individual who doesnt fit that stereotype. Unfortunately, we like to simplify our worlds by classifying individuals into broader groups. The day that we all recognize each other as equals will be the day that there will be peace in the world.

Moore, John H. "Scientific Racism, History of." Encyclopedia of Race and Racism. Volume 3 ed. 2006. Print. 2 "American Egyptomania Search." Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media . N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Sept. 2013.

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