Modern manifestations of racism. Types of racism

Olga Nagornyuk

White and black racism. What is this?

The word "racist" is firmly established in our vocabulary. But does everyone know what racism is, and how the idea of judging a person based on the color of their skin came about? If you are one of those who cannot answer these questions, look for them in our article.

What is racism: definition of the term

Racism is based on the belief that people of different races are unequal. Racists are sure: there are races that are far superior to all others in their intellectual and physical development, and therefore their representatives are worthy of a dominant position in society. Thus, throughout almost their entire history, Americans placed Indians and blacks at the lowest level of development, relegating them to the role of slaves and “second-class” people. It was only in the second half of the last century that this attitude underwent significant changes.

There are many classifications of races. The most common of them involves division into three large groups:

Caucasians are people with white skin, descendants of Europeans. These include the French, English, Spaniards, Germans;

Mongoloids are Asians with a yellowish skin tone and narrow eyes. Representatives of this race are the Mongols, Chinese, Buryats, Evenks;

Negroids are dark-skinned Africans with coarse, curly hair. The Negroid race includes the population of Congo, Algeria, Libya, Zambia, Nigeria and other countries of the “black” continent.

The beginnings of racism appeared in the 16th-17th centuries. To justify slavery, the ruling classes gave it a religious background, arguing that blacks are the descendants of the biblical character Ham, who laid the foundation for the concept of rudeness.

An attempt to substantiate racism from a scientific point of view was made by the French historian Joseph de Gobineau, who identified the Nordic race as the dominant race - tall, pale-skinned blonds with an elongated face and blue eyes.

Later this doctrine formed the basis official ideology The Third Reich, when the Aryans, considered descendants of the Nords, were proclaimed the superior race. We know from history what this interpretation of Gobineau’s theory led to: the mass extermination of Jews in ghettos, forced sterilization of Roma, genocide against the Slavs.

Racism: causes

Scientists studying the causes of racism put forward three theories about the origin of this phenomenon:

Biological. Based on the fact that man, according to Darwin’s teachings, descended from monkeys and is part of the animal world, scientists concluded: the human individual unconsciously follows the law of ecological isolation that reigns among animals, that is, the ban on the formation of interspecific pairs and the mixing of species.
Social. Economic crisis and the influx of emigrants from Third World countries, which increase competition in the labor market, inevitably lead to the emergence of xenophobic sentiments (hatred of people of another race). Now we are seeing a similar phenomenon in Germany, which is filled with Arab refugees.
Psychological. Psychologists looking for an answer to the question of what racism is say: a person, having negative qualities, tries to look for them from others. Moreover, feeling guilty for this, he tries to shift it onto others, that is, he is looking for a “scapegoat.” On the scale of society, an entire race or certain group of people.

All three theories have the right to exist and together explain where racism came from in the world.

Racism in the USA

In the entire history of mankind, perhaps the most striking manifestations of racist sentiments were observed in Germany during the time of Adolf Hitler and in the United States of America throughout the history of this country.

Protestants who emigrated to America in the 15th-16th centuries. due to the persecution of the Catholic Church or simply in search of a better life, over time they felt themselves masters of new lands, driving the indigenous inhabitants of America - the Indians - into reservations, and making dark-skinned people from Africa slaves.

The division into “whites” and “blacks” in the United States existed until the second half of the 20th century. African Americans did not have voting rights for a long time; there were “whites only” institutions in the country; people with dark skin color were denied higher education and were not accepted for high-paying jobs. The Ku Klux Klan organization operated in the country for almost a century, whose representatives preached the ideas of racism and did not hesitate to commit crimes for the sake of the supremacy of the white race.

Despite the abolition of slavery in 1865, a real revolution in the consciousness of Americans occurred in the 60s of the last century, when a campaign to fight for civil rights. After this, black American citizens appeared in the Senate, and one of them even became the head of the American nation and took the presidency.

The xenophobia of the white population of America towards people from Africa gave rise to a response from the latter - black racism. Marcus Garvey, a fighter for equality who preached it, called on all African Americans to return to their historical homeland so as not to mix “black” blood with the blood of “white devils.”

Racism in Russia

The ideas of racism have not spared Russia either. During the reign of Nicholas II, representatives of Jewish nationality were especially disliked by the inhabitants of the empire. In 1910, a ban was issued on conferring officer ranks on baptized Jews, and two years later their children and grandchildren were deprived of this right.

During the era of socialism, the ideas of interracial tolerance and universal equality were proclaimed in the Soviet Union. But this is in words. In fact, representatives of the Slavic peoples felt superior to Jews, Gypsies, and Chukchi, although their rights were not formally infringed.

Nowadays, racism in Russia continues to exist, it has only changed its emphasis: today emigrants from countries Central Asia, Caucasus and Africa. People from these regions experienced first-hand what racism is as interpreted by skinheads.

Football racism

Racist ideas have crossed the borders of individual states, spreading almost everywhere to the globe and penetrating into all areas of our lives. Football racism, when fans humiliate representatives of a different nationality playing on a team, has become a common occurrence these days. The slogan “Black goals don’t count!”, the beating of black players by fans, the humiliation of “black” foreign players by football functionaries - all this is present today both on the football field and beyond.

Nigerian Oguchi Onyewu, who played for one of the Belgian teams, suffered because of the color of his skin: the football player was beaten by his own fans. Indian Vikash Doraso stopped playing for France when a banner advising him to sell peanuts in the subway was unfurled during a match. Brazilian footballer Julio Cesar almost left Borussia Dortmund due to the fact that he was not allowed into the local night club, saying that his skin color is inappropriate.

Racism is nothing more than a manifestation of human limitations and stupidity. Among other races and nationalities, there are a lot of talented and highly intelligent people whose contribution to the development of science, culture and art is no less than their white colleagues. Nelson Mandela and Mahatma Gandhi, Toni Morrison and May Carol Jamison, Derek Walcott and Granville Woods. Are these names familiar to you? If not, then you should learn more about them, and then the idea of the superiority of the white race will disappear by itself.

Modern racism in the USA - we bring to your attention a video on this topic.

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Types of racism

Despite the specificity of this phenomenon, there are different types:

soft;
ethnocentrism;
symbolic racism;
biological racism.

Soft racism is characterized by the fact that representatives of different races can communicate with each other, be neighbors, classmates and even spouses. There are close ties between the races, even despite hostile relations.

Biological racism is the doctrine that certain categories of people do not have the right to live in any country because they are not natives of that country. At the same time, they are endowed with lower intellectual abilities; racists believe that the differences between them are innate and transmitted genetically. As a rule, its representatives oppose marriage between different races. They are also trying to separate certain categories of the population through restrictions in various areas, segregation.

Symbolic racism presupposes the fact that immigrants do not have any rights and freedoms, including political and social ones. Its representatives have a positive attitude only towards the local population, while there is no tolerant attitude towards migrants, except in cases where their behavior corresponds to local principles. It is often in the area of this racism that allegations arise that racists pose a danger to society and its culture, as well as complaints that newcomers receive more rights and freedoms than native residents.

And finally, ethnocentrism is aimed at preserving the indigenous peoples' way of life. Its representatives are convinced that the indigenous people behave positively and decently, at the same time, the authorities have grounds to deport all visitors, and these tools must be used. However, the use of coercive force by the state is carried out only when migrants behave inappropriately.

Note 1

An interesting fact is that terms such as race, ethnicity and ethnicity in each country have their own meaning. One way or another, this terminology affects race.

Forms of racism

Today, not only types of racism are distinguished, but also its forms. For example, the following forms are distinguished:

Primordialist;
Essentialist.

These forms act as concepts of racism that were established quite a long time ago, but began to be revised in the 20th century. This position is associated with changes in the social and cultural environment. In particular, it was established that there was no connection between culture, race, and ethnicity. This position occurs insofar as a person is easily able to move from one culture to another. A person acts as an independent and active object due to the first approach. However, discrimination often occurs, including on the basis of culture.

The second point of view is typical for Russia. In particular, during the existence of the USSR, ethnicity was politicized here for a long time, including in the field of crime. In this regard, some authors identify so-called criminogenic peoples. In particular, some peoples are credited with the ability to commit grave and especially grave crimes. At the same time, the negative attitude is directed not at specific criminals who commit crimes, but at the entire nation to which the criminal belongs. Proponents of this concept believe that people's behavior is influenced by culture, which dictates a certain model of behavior.

Note 2

Today, it is obvious that to overcome all these types of racism it is necessary to form a strong civic position in society, it is necessary to cultivate tolerance, broaden the horizons of young people, and abandon all non-scientific research.

Recently, American anthropologists have been arguing for the fact that no races exist. On the other hand, such a reaction is seen as a reaction to the long dominance in the United States of the concept of division into races. It was primarily African Americans who suffered from discrimination.

Today, the fact that races exist is undeniable. There's nothing wrong with that. Racism begins when one race is declared dominant and others are inferior. All people are equal in their rights and freedoms, bear equal responsibilities, and any discrimination in this area is unacceptable.

In some cases, a specific race is declared dominant, in other cases, indications are made of a specific people, but national groups are constantly mixed with each other, and it is impossible to divide them according to any criteria today.

Racism(1) - discrimination against individuals, social groups or parts of the population or human groups, policies of persecution, humiliation, infliction of shame, violence, incitement of hostility and animosity, dissemination of defamatory information, causing harm on the basis of skin color, ethnicity, religion or national origin.

Racism uses external differences as the main reason for denying equal treatment to members of another group on the basis of so-called "scientific", "biological" or "moral" characteristics, considering them different from one's own group and inherently inferior. Such racist arguments are often used to justify preferential treatment of one group. This group is usually given preference. Usually the granting of a privileged position is accompanied by statements that a group is threatened (usually in its subjective perception) - in comparison with another group in order to put the latter “in its place” (from a social and territorial point of view).

Racism is usually understood as the above actions sponsored by the authorities or the state religion, and not any manifestations.

IN modern world Racism is a very strict social issue and in many countries not only racist practices are prosecuted, but also the preaching of racism.

Racism believes that interracial hybrids have less healthy, "unhealthy" heredity and therefore opposes mixed marriages.

Currently, the definition of racism is not associated with the concept due to the biological uncertainty of the latter. The concept of racism is used broadly, as a set of actions or parts of it historically associated with the three-century practice of racism against blacks in America.

Despite numerous attempts to further expand the definition of racism, it is not commonly disseminated, professionally or age groups, on, etc.

The definition of racism also does not apply to historical ones. For example, the definition of “Russian great power, national policy or how racism looks obvious, although there are signs of racism.

At the same time, the policy of discrimination, persecution and profiling of ethnic and religious minorities (for example, “persons of Caucasian nationality”) in modern times is qualified in international and Russian documents human rights organizations, like racism, and such use of the word does not raise serious resistance.

Racism (obsolete)

Racism (2) outdated- doctrine and ideology that affirm the physical and mental inequality of human beings. As a consequence of this, a person’s belonging to one or another anthropological type is considered important in determining his social status. Considered outdated because the very concept of race modern biology considers uncertain. Inside the so-called races and differences are greater than between the so-called. races and many differences thought to be racial were in fact due to historical, social or economic reasons.

Basic principles of racist ideology

1. Belief in the superiority of one, or less often several, races over others. This belief is usually combined with a hierarchical classification of racial groups.

2. The idea that the superiority of some and the inferiority of others are of a biological or bioanthropological nature. This conclusion follows from the belief that superiority and inferiority are ineradicable and cannot be changed, for example, by influence social environment or education.

3. The idea that collective biological inequality is reflected in social order and in culture and that biological superiority is expressed in the creation of a “superior civilization”, which itself indicates biological superiority. This idea establishes a direct relationship between biology and social conditions.

4. Belief in the legitimacy of the dominance of “superior” races over “inferior” races.

5. The belief that there are “pure” races, and mixing inevitably has a negative impact on them (decline, degeneration, etc.)

Etymology and history of the concept

The word “racism” itself was first recorded in the French dictionary by Larousse in 2009 and was interpreted as “a system that asserts the superiority of one racial group over others.”

The founder of racist theory is considered to be the one who considered the historical process from the point of view of the struggle of races. Differences in cultures, languages, economic models, etc. Gobineau explained by the mental characteristics of the races of their creators. De Gobineau considered the Nordic race to be the best race, and explained the greatness of civilizations by the assumption that at the time of the rise of civilization, the ruling elites in these countries were Nordics. In definition modern concept A major contribution to racism was made by the book “Racism” by the French philosopher Albert Memmi.

Racism in the USA

Blacks: from slavery to the civil rights movement

Significant progress in overcoming racism in the United States began in the 60s, when, as a result of the successes of the civil rights movement, significant political and socio-economic measures were taken to ensure equality and overcome the centuries-old gap separating African-Americans, Indian-Americans and others. minorities from the mainstream of American life. At the same time, racism remains one of the hottest topics in American public life today.

Racism is serious problem looming over Russia. In the first three months of 2015 alone, 22 cases of conflicts based on national hostility were recorded. Subsequently, more than a dozen people ended up in the hospital, two of whom, unfortunately, died. Therefore, the problem of racism in Russia is urgent and requires regulation by the authorities.

But what is racism? Indeed, despite the fact that many are familiar with this concept, there is still room for some questions. For example, what is its basis? Who is the instigator of hatred between nations? And, of course, how to deal with it?

"... and brother, hated brother"

Racism is a special view of the state of things in the world. In a way, this is a worldview with its own canons and characteristics. The main idea of racism is that some nations are a step higher than others. Ethnic characteristics are used as tools for dividing into higher and lower classes: skin color, eye shape, facial features and even the language a person speaks.

Another important feature of racism is that the dominant nation has more rights to exist than all others. Moreover, it can humiliate and even destroy other races. Racism does not see the lower classes as people, which means there can be no pity for them.

This attitude leads to the fact that even fraternal peoples begin to quarrel. And the reason for this is the difference in skin color or traditions.

The origins of racism in Russia

So why is the problem of racial inequality so acute in Russia? The whole point is that this great country is multinational, therefore there is good soil for racism to arise. If you take the average metropolis, you can find people of any nationality, be it Kazakhs or Moldovans.

Many “true” Russians do not like this order of things, because in their opinion, there is no place for strangers here. And if some limit themselves to verbal discontent, others may resort to force.

But it should be noted that similar attitude to visitors is not ubiquitous. Moreover, most people calmly accept the multinationality of Russia, showing tolerance and humanity towards their neighbors.

The reasons for the emergence of racism in the Russian Federation

What are the main reasons that racism flourishes in Russia? Well, there are many reasons for this, so let’s look at them one by one.

Firstly, the growing number of “guest workers” from other countries. It may seem that there is nothing wrong with such a phenomenon. But the problem is that many visiting workers charge much less for their services than Russians. Such dumping on prices leads to the fact that indigenous residents have to work hard to compete.

Secondly, some guests do not know how to behave at all. This can be confirmed by news releases where they say that a group of Caucasians or Dagestanis beat up teenagers.

Thirdly, not all visitors from abroad earn their living honestly. Indeed, according to statistics, many drug dens and points are controlled by guests from other countries.

All this causes aggression on the part of the Russian population and over time develops into a nationalist movement.

What is the difference between nationalism and racism?

It is impossible to talk about what racism is in Russia without mentioning nationalism. After all, despite all their similarities, these are completely different concepts.

So, if racism is ardent hatred of other races, then nationalism is, rather, a worldview aimed at protecting one’s own people. A nationalist loves his country and his people, so he stands guard over it. If other races do not threaten his values, and behave diligently and brotherly, then there will be no aggression towards them.

The racist does not care what the lower peoples did or did not do - he will hate them. After all, they are not like him, which means they are no match for him.

Manifestations of racism in Russia

Racism is a plague, and as soon as one gets sick, a whole crowd of people infected with this idea will soon be roaming the city. Like wild wolves in the night forest, they will catch lonely victims, harassing and intimidating them.

Now regarding how racism manifests itself in Russia. The initially aggressive part of the population expresses its grievances verbally or in writing. You can notice this in private conversations ordinary people, and in the performances of some stars, politicians and showmen. There are also a huge number of online communities, blogs and websites that promote racism. On their pages you can find propaganda material that is against people of other nationalities.

But racism is not limited to threats and discussions. Fights and brawls often arise out of hatred towards other races. Moreover, their initiators can be both Russians and visitors. In general, it is not strange, because one violence gives rise to another, thereby creating an inextricable circle of hatred and suffering.

The worst thing is that racism can lead to the formation of extremist groups. And then small fights escalate into large-scale raids aimed at clearing out districts, markets and subways. In this case, not only “non-Russians” become victims, but also random witnesses or passers-by.

Social racism

Speaking about racism, one cannot fail to mention one of its varieties. Social racism is the manifestation of hatred of one class towards another. Despite the fact that this can happen even within one nation. For example, rich people consider ordinary workers “backward,” or the intelligentsia looks at common people with contempt.

The sad thing is that in modern Russia This phenomenon occurs quite often. The reason for this is a big difference in the standard of living of an ordinary worker and a wealthy entrepreneur. This leads to the fact that the former begin to hate the rich for their arrogance. And the latter are contemptuous of hard workers, because they could not achieve success in this life.

How can we fight racism?

In recent years, parliament has increasingly considered questions regarding how to resolve national conflicts. In particular, a number of bills have been adopted that could help in this matter. For example, there is a provision for imprisonment for up to 5 years for inciting hostility between peoples.

In addition to this, in school curriculum There are events during which children are taught that all people are equal. They are also conveyed the message that all life is sacred, and no one has the right to take it. This technique is considered the most effective, because racist tendencies are acquired precisely at this age. In addition to this, there are public organizations, working to make the world a kinder and more humane place.

And yet it is impossible to completely get rid of racism, because this is the essence of humanity. As long as people with different ethnic characteristics live in the country, it will unfortunately not be possible to avoid conflicts and hatred.

Among the various ideas about the subject of history, a special place is occupied by the views on this issue developed by Lev Nikolaevich Gumilyov (1912-1992) and most fully outlined by him in the book “Ethnogenesis and the Biosphere of the Earth” (L., 1989; 1990; 1994, etc.). As subjects historical process it contains formations that he calls ethnic groups and superethnoses. But he understands the word “ethnos” differently than it was stated above. Essentially, he refuses to give any clear definition of this concept, which allows him to call whatever he pleases an ethnos. The same applies to the concept of superethnos.

But if you take a closer look, you will find that in most cases he calls superethnos those formations that O. Spengler called cultures, and A.J. Toynbee - civilizations. However, unlike the latter, L.N. Gumilyov, no matter how much he himself renounces it, understands ethnic groups and super-ethnic groups as special breeds of people, i.e., essentially, as races. The view of ethnic groups as special breeds of people in itself is not racism. But only with such a representation are the views of L.N. Gumilyov's research on ethnic groups is far from exhausted. In his historiosophical, and not only historiosophical, works, the element of racism is undoubtedly present, which has already been noted in the literature.

But if L.N. himself Gumilyov did not directly declare races to be subjects of the historical process; there were people who did this. “The biological history of human races,” wrote the German anthropologist and sociologist Ludwig Woltmann (1871 -1907) in “Political Anthropology” (Russian translation: St. Petersburg, 1905; M., 2000), “is the true and basic history of states.” All this makes us consider the question of the racial division of humanity and its impact on history.

1.9.2. Racial division of humanity

The division of humanity into races has always attracted no less, and perhaps even more attention, than its division into ethnic groups. Before moving on to consider racist concepts, it is necessary to dwell at least very briefly on the nature of this division.

The word “race” itself has been used for a long time both in everyday communication and in literature, including scientific literature, to designate a wide variety of groups of people, not only races themselves, but also ethnic groups, groups of ethnic groups, cultural, linguistic and linguistic communities, classes, etc. Only in the 20th century. a more or less definite meaning was assigned to it.

Races, as they are understood in anthropological science, are collections of people, each of which has a special set of inherited bodily (morphological) characteristics. This set unites all people belonging to one race or another, and at the same time distinguishes them all from people belonging to other races.

There has long been a tradition of dividing all of humanity into three large races: black, or Negroid, yellow, or Mongoloid, and white, or Caucasoid. Recently, anthropologists have increasingly considered a race of the first order, along with Caucasoid, Mongoloid and Negroid races

, distinguish the Australoid, or Veddo-Australoid race.

Each of these large races, or races of the first order, is divided into several groups, which are usually called small races, or races of the second order, and these, in turn, are divided into even smaller units (groups of anthropological types and anthropological types). For example, among Caucasians, the Atlanto-Baltic, White Sea-Baltic, Central European, Balkan-Caucasian and Indo-Mediterranean minor races are most often distinguished.

To date, in anthropological science there are several other biological classifications of people. So, for example, according to one of them, all of humanity is primarily divided into two trunks: the eastern - American-Asian and the western - Euro-African. In turn, the first of them is divided into Americanoid and Asian, and the second into Caucasoid, Negroid and Australoid branches. The branches are divided into local races, of which there are 25 in total, and the latter into population groups.

In further presentation I will adhere to the traditional division. And not only because none of the new ones received general recognition in science, but above all because it was the starting point of almost all, if not all, racist concepts.

Negroids are characterized by dark skin, curly hair, average development of body hair, prognathism (protrusion of the upper jaw forward), moderately prominent cheekbones, a wide nose and thick lips. Mongoloids are characterized by yellowish skin, straight, coarse hair, weak body hair, prominent cheekbones, moderately thick lips, and the presence of a “Mongolian” fold of the upper eyelid (epicanthus). Signs of Caucasians are fair skin, wavy hair, strong body hair, orthognathism (lack of prognathism), weak cheekbones, narrow nose, thin lips.

Racial differences affect only external characteristics, without at all affecting the important morphological and physiological characteristics of a person. Therefore, as all genuine scientists unanimously believe, all modern people

without the slightest exception, regardless of racial differences, they form one biological species - Homo sapiens, or a subspecies of this species - Homo sapiens sapiens.

1.9.3. The essence of racism and its main varieties For a long time

no one doubted the existence of races. But in the last decade, a significant number of American anthropologists have come out with claims that in reality no races exist and that the recognition of the real existence of races is nothing more than racism. One can understand these people - this is a peculiar reaction to the long-term dominance in the United States of racist ideas, which were expressed in a wide variety of forms of discrimination, primarily against blacks.

An equally undoubted fact is the existence of human races. And there is absolutely nothing racist about admitting this. Racism begins only where and when one of the races is declared superior, and the rest - inferior. Since racist concepts were originally created exclusively by Europeans, whites acted as the superior race.

Below it was placed yellow, and even lower - black. But racists were not limited to just the larger races. Among the same Caucasian race, this or that small race (or even its subdivision) could be declared by them to be first-class, and the rest - second-class and third-class.

Proponents of this view differentiate between races according to the degree of their hereditary spiritual talent, according to the degree of their inherited ability for spiritual and material creativity. Psychoracism is sometimes cited as an example of the most recent, refined form of racism. At the same time, they lose sight of the fact that any racism was first and foremost psychoracism. It’s just that some of the old racists strictly linked the presence or absence of spiritual giftedness with the presence or absence of a certain set of external physical hereditary characteristics. But not everyone did this.

The recognition of the main difference between races in the degree of their spiritual talent made it possible to declare any collection of people a special race. As a result, racist constructions often refer to groups of people as races that in reality are not such. If we try to give some classification of racist concepts, we can distinguish three main types. The first type of racism is that real existing real races, be they large or small, are characterized as superior and inferior. This real racial racism, or, in short,

racialism. With the second type of racism, either all or only some ethnic groups are declared races, and then some of them are called superior races, and others - inferior. This type of racism can be called ethnic racism, or ethnoracism.

The boundaries between ethnic groups never coincide with the boundaries between races, especially since racial differences are extremely relative due to the existence of a large number of transitional groups and constant mixing between races. Of course, a particular ethnic group may consist of people belonging to one large, or less often, one small race. But there is no race All whose representatives would belong to the same ethnic group. All large ethnic groups are heterogeneous in their anthropological composition.

So, for example, among Russians there are representatives of at least three small races: Atlanto-Baltic, White Sea-Baltic and Central European. And not one of these races is unique to Russians.

The Atlanto-Baltic race is an important element of the anthropological composition of Norwegians, Swedes, Icelanders, Danes, Scots, Belarusians, Latvians, Estonians, and is found among Finns, Germans and French. The Central European race includes a significant part of Germans, Austrians, northern Italians, Czechs, Slovaks, Poles, and Ukrainians. There is no overlap not only between races and ethnicities, but also between races and language families.

Finally, social classes could and were declared to be races or special breeds of people. At the same time, of course, representatives of the ruling class were classified as the superior race, and the exploited majority of society - as the inferior. The very class division of society was declared to be derived from the racial one. It was argued that a certain group of people became the dominant stratum of society due to high hereditary spiritual talent. However, the rest did not possess such qualities, which determined their humiliated position. This type of racism could be called social class racism, or, in short, socioracism.

Some ideologists of racism went even further, arguing that the basis of the social division of labor was the division into races. Each profession is practiced by people belonging to a special breed.

Like any false concept, racism was based on inflating, absolutizing certain aspects of reality, which allowed it to pass itself off as the truth. It is a fact, for example, that there are people who are more naturally gifted and those who are less gifted. It is also a fact that in some cases such talent is inherited. It is undeniable that in a class society there are differences between people belonging to different social strata in the level of education, culture, etc. Peasants, for example, in feudal society were deprived of the opportunity to study and therefore remained illiterate from generation to generation.

We have already discussed the concept of cultural relativism, according to which the cultures of all human groups are completely equal; in principle, they cannot be divided into lower and higher (1.6.4.). The anti-colonialist and anti-racist pathos of this concept is absolutely clear. But this does not make her wealthier.

The fact is that, for example, by the 19th century. different socio-historical organisms were at different stages of development.

One part of humanity entered the era of capitalism, while other parts lagged significantly behind in their development. Accordingly, the cultures of different human groups differed as more and less developed.

And in a number of cases, a certain correspondence was observed between the level of development of certain human groups and their racial composition. By the 19th century all Europeans, without exception, have reached the level of civilization. As for the Negroids, most of them still lived at that time in a pre-class society. And when Europeans encountered a living class society among Negroids, it always turned out that its emergence was associated with the influence of civilizations created by Caucasians. The existence of class societies among a significant part of the Mongoloids was undoubted. And there was no evidence that their occurrence was associated with the influence of Caucasians. But the level of development of these class societies (as well as the few class societies of the Negroids) was lower than that achieved by the peoples Western Europe To

early XIX V. Using the concepts of one of, we can say that by this time all class societies of Negroids and Mongoloids, without exception, remained traditional, or agrarian, while the class societies of Western Europe were already industrial. Not a single sociohistorical organism of Negroids or Mongoloids independently reached the level of industrial society.

It is a mistake to believe that racist concepts arose on the basis of a generalization of all these facts. Their appearance was associated with the action of factors not related to knowledge in general, scientific knowledge in particular. The basic tenets of racism have never emerged from facts. They were dictated by the interests of certain social groups. The ideologists of racism did not generalize the facts. They simply selected those that seemed suitable to them in order to justify pre-prepared provisions.

We find ethnoracist ideas in that part of the Bible that Christians call the “Old Testament.” The Jews are presented there as God's chosen people. Ethnoracism is still an important element of the ideology of Orthodox Judaism. Adherents of the latter divide all humanity into Jews, who alone are considered real people, and goyim - not fully people or even not people at all.

Elements of ethnoracism are present in Aristotle's Politics and the works of some other ancient thinkers. The ideology is permeated with socioracist ideas feudal society. Who doesn’t know the contrast “blue” that is characteristic of this society? noble blood ordinary blood of commoners, "white bone" and "black bone".

But racist concepts in the strict sense of the word arose only in the 19th century. Their homeland was the USA. And they were created in order to justify the slavery of blacks. This American racism was mainly real-racial. I will not dwell on it, because, as a rule, it had no direct relation to the problem of the subject of the historical process.

1.9.4. Racist historiosophy

The first historiosophical racist concept was created by the Frenchman Joseph Arthur de Gobineau (1816 - 1882) and outlined by him in the four-volume work “An Experience on the Inequality of Human Races” (1853-1855; Russian translation: M., 2001). He viewed the entire history of mankind primarily as a struggle between races, which stems from their biological nature. In this struggle, the fittest, the most perfect win.

The races most likely originated from different ancestors and are not equal in their abilities. The lowest is black. Slightly more developed is yellow. The highest and only one capable of progress is white, Among which stands out Aryan race, and the elite of the Aryans are the Germans.

It was the whites, and specifically the Aryans, who created all ten (according to J. A. Gobineau) civilizations known in the history of mankind, which he considers in the following order: Indian, Egyptian, Assyrian, Hellenic, Chinese, Italian, Germanic, Allegan, Mexican, Andean. Creating this or that civilization, the Aryans captured areas with a different racial composition. As a result, they mixed with representatives of lower races, which led to the degeneration of the Aryans, their loss of their original energy and, as a consequence, to the collapse of the civilization they created. This is how the Middle Eastern civilizations, Ancient Greece, and Rome perished.

It was primarily the lower strata of society that were subject to degeneration.

Aristocrats always tried to maintain racial purity, which allowed them to preserve their original energy. Rasoracism in J. A. Gobineau is combined with socioracism, but with the predominance of the former. Inferior races are unable not only to create a civilization, but even to assimilate the already created higher culture. Peoples who are currently savage are forever doomed to remain in this state.

In the concept of J. Gobineau there are two subjects of history: race and civilization. But at the heart of the history of civilizations is the history of races. It is the racial factor that determines the historical fate of civilizations: their emergence, flourishing and death. Races are not just subjects of history; the racial factor is the source of its development. Thus, in J. Gobineau we encounter the concept of racial determinism.

After J. Gobineau, racist ideas became quite widespread. They were developed and promoted by the French sociologist and psychologist Gustave Le Bon (1841 - 1931) in his work “Psychology of the Crowd” (1895; Russian translation: Psychology of Peoples and Masses. St. Petersburg, 1895; 1995; under the original title // Psychology of the Crowd. M., 1908)."Primitive races," he wrote, “those who do not find the slightest trace of culture and who stopped at the era of primitive animality that our ancestors experienced in the Stone Age: these are the present-day Fijians and Australians. In addition to the primitive races, there are also the main representatives of which are blacks. They are only capable of the rudiments of civilization, but only the rudiments. They never managed to rise above completely barbaric forms of civilization. TO middle races we include the Chinese, Japanese, Mongols and Semitic peoples. Through the Assyrians, Mongols, Chinese, Arabs, they created high types of civilizations that could only be surpassed European peoples . Among superior races

Only Indo-European peoples can take place. Both in ancient times, in the era of the Greeks and Romans, and at the present time, they alone have proven capable of great discoveries in the fields of art, science and industry. Only to them do we owe the high level that civilization has now reached. Between the four great groups which we have just enumerated, no fusion is possible; the mental abyss separating them is obvious.”

The idea of inequality of human races was defended by the famous French anthropologist Armand de Quatrefages (1810-1892). His book “The Unity of the Human Race” was translated into Russian (M., 1861) and found supporters in Russia, and, oddly enough, even among some representatives of the democratic camp. This position was taken by the fairly well-known publicist Bartholomew Aleksandrovich Zaitsev (1842-1882) in a review of this work by A. de Quatrefage (see: Zaitsev V.A. Selected works in 2 volumes. T. 1. M., 1934 ). His views were immediately subjected to severe criticism in the works of other representatives of the democratic camp, in particular in an article by Maxim Alekseevich Antonovich (1835 - 1918) in the magazine Sovremennik (1865. No. 2). And the poet Dmitry Dmitrievich Minaev (1835-1889), who adhered to democratic convictions, brought out in one of his satirical poems

hero who
Following the gloomy nihilist
Said that there is a Negro is cattle,

Hardly worth the trouble. Racist concepts were developed by the English aristocrat Houston Stewart Chamberlain (1855 - 1927) in his two-volume work “The Foundations of the Nineteenth Century” (1899), which glorified the “Teutonic” race that created the highest culture , the book “The Aryan World Outlook” (Russian translation. M., 1913) and a number of other works. In Russia, his ideas were propagated by the writer musical critic

L. Woltman, already mentioned above, in his “Political Anthropology” and many other ideologists of racism tried to use Darwin’s theory of natural selection at the service of this concept. But to prove that races played the role of subjects historical development, no one succeeded, because they never were like that. In general, the racial composition of societies had practically no influence on the course of history. The lag of Negroid and Mongoloid societies from Western European societies, which became quite clearly evident by the 19th century, was in no way connected with the racial characteristics of their human composition.

Along with and together with real-racist and ethno-racist constructions, socio-racist concepts have become widespread. In France they were developed by a prominent representative of the so-called. anthroposociology Georges Vache de Lapouge (1854 - 1936). Another ardent promoter of social class racism was the German sociologist Otto Ammon (1842 - 1916). According to his views, the process of “estate” (class) stratification is entirely subordinate to the natural-organic law of selection and survival of the fittest and the biological law of the struggle for existence.

A supporter of socioracism was the Russian religious philosopher Nikolai Aleksandrovich Berdyaev (1874-1948), who spoke enthusiastically about the work of J. Gobineau. “Culture,” he wrote in the essay “Philosophy of Inequality: Letters to Enemies in social philosophy"(1923) - is not the work of one person and one generation. Culture exists in our blood. Culture is a matter of race and racial selection. “Enlightenment” and “revolutionary” consciousness... obscured for scientific knowledge the meaning of race. But objective, disinterested science must admit that nobility exists in the world not only as

social class with certain interests, but as a qualitative mental and physical type, as a thousand-year-old culture of soul and body. The existence of a “white bone” is not only a class prejudice, it is an irrefutable and ineradicable anthropological fact.” on Raciology" (Moscow, 2002), which included such pearls as "The Nordic Idea", "Raciology of the German People", "Race and Style", "Choice of a Married Couple for Happiness in Marriage and Improvement of Heredity", etc.

Racism, unfortunately, cannot be considered a phenomenon of the past. He is still alive. And the saddest thing is that the ideas of racism are now being actively propagated in our country. We also have a racist historiosophy.

As an example, we can cite the extensive opus of the candidate of philosophical sciences Viktor Nikolaevich Bezverkhoy, entitled “Philosophy of History”. Here's where it starts:

“Like sparkling stars in the horizon of history, civilizations, states, peoples arise and disappear, leaving behind historical legends, cultural monuments, which inexorable time brings to us through the haze of centuries. Stars of the first magnitude include models of the cultures of the main trunk of white people: Sumerians, Hittite-Trojans, Etruscans, Scythians, Sarmatians, Russians and its branches: Greeks, Romans, Germans, English. Material and spiritual culture is a system of artificially created (extra-biological) means and mechanisms for adaptation to the environment of thinking people in the struggle for survival both with the forces of nature and with their own kind. The culture created by white people is internalized yellow people , is degraded among black people and destroyed among bastards. Collective soul