Racial Ideology in the Mid Nineteenth Century - Essay Example

Empire and Racial Ideology Unit Why Mid Nineteenth Century is considered as a Turning point in Racial Attitudes It is very important to understand the basis of racism in the contemporary society and the influences it has exhibited over generations. Racism has been a key historical factor that has influenced the social, economic, and political interactions in the society. However, as Rattanassi points out, many misconceptions have been associated with races. It is apparent that the concept of racism is an old one but the term itself was coined in 1930s due to the Nazi project that was focused towards getting rid of all Jews from Germany (Rattansi 2004). In the 19th century, confusion marred the classification of races where the Jews, Irish, and the Italians were considered as “black.” During the mid-nineteenth century, there was a lot of activity that saw the European nations move out of their continent to explore other regions. This was so intense that they had to compete amongst themselves. Slave trade gained roots due to the need for labor for the industries and farms during the industrial revolution. This made it possible for the Europeans to capitalize on the uncivilized races. In addition, there was a view of superiority among the Europeans who considered other races especially Africans as inferior and primitive. The mid nineteenth century being at the peak of the industrial revolution became the turning point in racial attitudes. Racial differences became explosive at the mid years of nineteenth century and were catalyzed by development of theories on racism. There are a number of theories that emerged that were used to explain various aspects of human variations. One of these differences was established to be the innate racial characteristics of individuals. In his work, published in 1850, Robert Knox points out that “race is everything: literature, science, art, in a word, civilization depends on it.” (Knox 1850, pg 7). With such a view, it is evident that there was a perception that the most important thing that determined the person’s worth was the race from which a person comes from. This theory further provided various conflicting propositions, for example, it establishes that the different races are different species. The mindset created among the whites created an impression of uniqueness superiority and intelligent. Another theory is that put forth by Count Arthur de Gobineau, a Frenchman who composed an essay entitled “Essay on the Inequality of Human Races.” In this piece of work, Arthur amplifies the concept of race as one of the most important aspects that a person can be categorized, he has attempted to show that there is a difference between the human races. Coming at a time when Christianity was facing many critics ensured that some individuals believed in these theories. The overall outcome was a feeling of importance and superiority among some races (Rattansi 2004, pg 31). Their views were based on a number of assumptions. These included; all men fell in distinct races, there are unique physical features that sets aside human races, there are traits that are associated with a given race and finally they believed that races were capable of being ranked in terms of beauty, off course here the whites are the top while the blacks, the ugly ones. The use of racial terms became dominant during the mid-years of the 19th century. The use of the words, ‘blacks’ and ‘whites’ became dominant during this period. The words were not exclusively used based on the physical attributes, but also the level of ‘civilization’ played a pivotal role in determining the dignity given to an individual. The whites were basically Europeans and not any other race irrespective of the skin color. The dominance of referring to an individual on grounds of their racial affiliations and their background created a feeling that the Europeans were better the rest of the races. Due to this development, the Irish who escaped the ‘Irish Potato Famine’ at their home country were also discriminated on grounds that they were ‘blacks’ (Rattansi 2004). The concept in this form of discrimination was the Celts whiteness was more superior to the Anglo-Saxon whiteness. This aspect aggravated the occurrence of racial distinctions and disparities. Not only were the Irish at the center of discrimination but also the natives and the blacks experienced insurmountable abuse. In order to demonstrate that they are not equals with blacks, the Irish made every effort to mistreat blacks, a strategy that was seen as an effort to facilitate their whiteness. In the process, the Irish created a race of theirs that was the Celtic-Anglo-Saxon race. Another group of intermediaries in the racial diversity emerged; these were the Jews and the Italians (Rattansi 2004, pg 42). Slavery and slave trade had its all-time peak in the 19th century. There was increasing awareness that slave trade should be abolished. In the United States which was one of the greatest beneficiaries of the trade, President Lincoln who came a bit later after the mid of the century developed a strategy to fight for slavery to end. Before then, it was evident that the previous government was silent on the matter hence allowing the trade to thrive. Slave trade was largely a highly racial matter. The blacks were subjected to harsh and compulsory working conditions. No single ‘white’ was subjected to forced labor; instead, they were the ones that gave the treatment to the blacks. Racial awareness was taking center stage at this time. Therefore, in an attempt to suppress the revolution, increased pressure was mounted on the factions that seemed to raise a finger. This drew a thick line between races that resulted to a bigger racial disparity. Another issue is that the industrial revolution was underway and there was increased demand for products. To facilitate this, the whites capitalized on other races to provide labor in the farms and industries. They ensured that they used the cheap human resource that only required feeding and nothing else. At the same time, the scramble and partition for colonial regions was underway. This was in an attempt to show dominance over other states. The manpower in the colonial regions would predict the strength of their economies. British and France were the biggest beneficiaries while other European countries also got some share. This helped propagate racial disparity among the people. The social amenities that were used by the whites never gave a chance for the blacks and vice versa. Schools, hospitals, transport among others had varied users depending on the racial affiliation. By mid-19th century, intensive engagement in slave trade had left the racial lines to be very distinct. In an attempt to dominate the non-whites, the whites adopted the strategy of racial colonialism that saw racial disparities broaden. In India for example, there was a lot of conformity with their traditions by the British, these included worshipping of their gods, embracing their clothing and marrying their daughters among others. However, at the wake of the mid-century brutality was being evident in an attempt to have dominance over the locals. Theirs was a scientific form of racism that depicted reactions against the dissatisfaction by locals. Two landmark events facilitated the tightening of regulation from the colonial masters, these are, the 1857 Indian Mutiny and the Jamaican rebellion of 1865. With these objects against the colonial masters, they find as an opportunity to suppress their subjects hence creating a bigger disparity between the races. This form of colonial culture brought forth imperial racism, this culture made racism to be a very complicated aspect. Not only did the British in India develop interracial hatred but also they adopted the strategy of ‘divide and rule’ to create divisions among their colonial subjects. This was done through the consideration of the communities of Punjab and Gurkha for recruitment in the army based on loyalty. However, they were not being equals with British soldiers (Rattansi 2004, pg 51). The Victorian era brought a paradigm in which racial affiliation emerged as the most important compared to gender, nation and class. There are several reasons why race become a big deal especially among the colonizers. The first thing is the wave of reform for extending the suffrage of the working class that coincided with the two revolutions, one in India (1857) and the other in Jamaica (1857). These developments facilitated the creation of the Reform Act in 1867. The results of this reform were the creation of a bigger gap between the whites and the non-whites. The suppression was a set back to the other races hence they had no option rather than serve the interests of their colonial master. Another reason why race became a very important aspect that was given much focus was that the empire was a catalyst to the culture of racism. Trade was growing rapidly with aspects such as advertising being developed. The images that were conveyed through advertisements did not present any good for the blacks; they portrayed them as uncouth, uncivilized, and inferior. This cast a bad image of the blacks in the minds of the whites’ public. So many misconceptions about the black people were relayed through the advertisements, including the presenting them as dirty. Another thing that also presented race on the top of other factors was the concept of social Darwinism. Through this theory, emphasis was laid that the most important sociological basis of human classification was the race. The arguments laid down through this theory provided that some races were superior over others. In addition, the eugenics movement also supported the proposition by the theory of social Darwinism hence facilitating the creation of social disparity (Leonard 2009). Finally, the Europeans had massive success in their economic, political, as well as social ventures; this gave them an upper hand. Therefore, it appeared that the white race was the most advanced, civilized and superior race. The period around mid-19th Century had experienced rise in classes among the Europeans. Civilization was the talk of the town in Europe around this time. Due to industrialization as well as increased trading, there rose classes of people depending on their income levels. People became very aggressive in seeking opportunities to enrich themselves by whatever means. Industrialization required intensive labor that was not readily available. Due to the need to find a lasting solution, the rich merchants opted to seek cheap labor from other continents; this resulted to massive movement of people to industrial areas where they served in doing heavy, cumbersome, and tedious jobs. Because of the mentality by the Europeans that they were superior, they could mistreat and overwork these people. This facilitated the way the non-white was viewed as people for doing manual jobs who were less important. On the other hand, the whites who did not manage to be in the class of the wealthy were employed as managers and supervisors. To stamp their authority as well as demonstrate their superiority they could mistreat the workers. This made the whites to be superior in every aspect, a mentality that remained in them. Therefore, the attitude towards the non-whites shifted a great deal. In conclusion, the mid nineteenth century marked a very important point in the history of racism. Several theories such as Robert Knox’s ‘race is everything’ demonstrated the magnitude in which racial affiliations were viewed with. The emergence of industrialization and trading made racism a point of focus while there were varying trends in handling of slave trade. Scramble, partition, and colonization played a critical role in the development of racism. The emergence of classes after the industrial revolution promoted a change that brought about a new perspective of racism. It is also at this time that the use of racial terms dominated hence depicting some races as superior while other as inferior. References Knox, R 1850, The races of men: A fragment, Philadelphia: Lea and Blanchard, retrieved on 23 January, 2014 from http://books.google.co.ke/books?id=XwQXAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false Leonard, T. C 2009, Origins of the myth of social Darwinism: The ambiguous Legacy of Richard Hofstadter’s Social Darwinism in American thought, Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, retrieved on 23 January, 2014 from http://www.princeton.edu/~tleonard/papers/myth.pdf Rattansi, A 2007, Racism: A very short introduction, Ch.3, New York: Oxford University Press, retrieved on 23 January, 2014 from http://www.bandung2.co.uk/books/Files/Education/Racism%20(A%20Very%20Short%20Introduction).pdf Read More