British imperialism - Essay Example

In the first section of this Chapter, Stereotyping the coloniser and colonised, Johnson argues that one should make certain distinction between racism as an ideology of superiority of some biological races of humankind over the others, and racialism, which is, in his interpretation, merely a use of category of race in social sciences (2003, p. 107). Consequently, he argues that the racist ideas were relatively uncommon among the British population of late 18th to mid-19th century, when it was anticipated that the colonised population would swiftly cast away its ‘unenlightened’ mores and adopt to supposedly superior British culture.

However, the “slow progress of change” in Westernisation of colonial peoples led to the rise of the ideas that blamed such intransigence on the supposedly backward inclinations of the ‘natives’ themselves (Johnson 2003, p. 108). The development of evolutionary theory, according to Johnson, facilitated the acceptance of the idea of inequality of the races, which led to the transition from racialism to racism in colonial ideology (2003, p. 109). Nevertheless, as Johnson points out, not all the members of colonial administration or British intellectuals dealing with the problems of relations with ‘natives’ were racist; he refers to progressive views of Mary Kingsley, David Livingstone and others that contravened the dominant racist discourse (2003, p. 111). Eventually, as Johnson remarks, the changing perceptions of racial identities after the First World War led to the relative decline of racist sentiments among British colonial administration and settlers, though campaigns for self-government of the colonies were still regarded as treasonous (ibid, p. 112). In the second section, Segregation, class and identity, Johnson turns his attention to the practices of formalised segregation.

He lists several reasons for its establishment: concern among the colonisers over the possibility of disease contagion from the native populace; the fear of the natives’ revolt; a desire to re-create British conditions of life in the ‘new’ place (Johnson 2003, p. 112-3). Another aspect of the segregation system was an abhorrence of racial mixing by the British Colonial society, which Johnson compares to the same sort of feeling towards sexual relations between persons of different social classes in Britain proper (2003, p. 114-5). Nevertheless, such attempts at minimising social contacts between representatives of different racial groups were constantly undermined by the necessity of trade interactions, the joint service in the colonial troops, etc.

(Johnson 2003, p. 115). Johnson also notes the importance of class hierarchy in the colonial society, where race and class distinctions overlapped on the lower levels of social structure, while the local elites were treated by the colonial administration as almost equals (ibid, p. 115-6). Segregation in the settler colonies such as the Cape Colony or New Zealand was effectively used to cement the loyalty of the white population to the Empire and to remove chances of native elites using British political instruments or institutions (such as franchise) for their own benefit (ibid, pp. 117-8). Even though Johnson concludes that the intents of the British Empire as regarded conquered peoples were basically benevolent (2003, p. 108), and that