Racism

Abstract

Abstract Although many definitions of racism have been proposed, an all‐inclusive definition has yet to be agreed on, particularly as researchers have identified a variety of racisms (Miles & Brown, 2003; Richards, 1997). Central to many definitions of racism is the belief in a biological hierarchy between different racial and ethnic groups and the associated practices that maintain and reproduce social inequalities between groups based on such beliefs. The belief that differences between social groups are biological implies that such variability is fundamental and fixed. These essentialist beliefs lead to the categorization of people into groups based on assumptions that surface characteristics (e.g., skin color) reflect deeper essential features, and these in turn are believed to be inherent and unchangeable and to reflect the real nature of the groups they represent. These ideas were central to scientific racism, which was widely promoted as an ideology in the late nineteenth century and the earlier half of the twentieth century.