Scientific Racism Attitudes Among Diverse Undergraduate Pre–Health Professions Students

Scientific racism, or the belief that racial hierarchies are explained by biological differences, among health care professionals may contribute to the oversight of social causes of health problems and result in poor quality of care. This study examines the extent to which scientific racism may permeate undergraduate pre–health professions student worldviews before entering advanced training. Undergraduate students ( n = 251) pursuing training in health professions from The University of Texas at San Antonio completed a survey in 2018 measuring respondent level of agreement with statements about biological differences between U.S. racial and ethnic groups, as well as agreement with statements about cognitive differences, health behaviors, and systemic racism. Analyses showed that the students agreed with false statements regarding biological, behavioral, and cognitive differences among races and agreement was significantly stronger among students at earlier stages of education but did not differ by student race/ethnicity. Adjusted analyses showed that third- and fourth-year undergraduate students exhibited less agreement with false statements about race than first- and second-year students ([Formula: see text] 95% CI [−18.33, −3.39], p < .00). The joint effect of higher class level and public health major ([Formula: see text] 95% CI [−11.98, −1.16], p = .02) was also significantly associated with less agreement with false statements regarding systemic racism. This exploratory study suggests that even among diverse student populations, scientific racism persists but may improve over educational careers. Future research may determine how structural reforms and training can further improve student understandings of race as a social construct and not a biological reality.

The Blessing of Whiteness in the Curse of Ham: Reading Gen 9:18–29 in the Antebellum South

This essay examines the antebellum history of interpretation surrounding the curse of Ham in Gen 9:18–29. It explores how modern notions of scientific racism were read into the story as a de facto justification for the transatlantic slave trade and the institution of slavery in the antebellum South. However, more than simply being used as a prooftext for racist agendas, the curse of Ham provided a biblical foil for circumscribing a racial hierarchy where whiteness was positioned as superior in the figure of Japheth. By considering key features of the racist antebellum interpretation, I argue that the proslavery rationalization of Christian antebellum writers is rooted in a deracialized whiteness that was biblically produced and blessed with divine authority.

The Chapuizet Affair

This article examines a 1779 legal dispute involving Pierre Chapuizet, a wealthy and well-connected sugar planter of the north province of Saint-Domingue who was denied a commission as an officer in the colonial militia due to allegations of mixed-race origin. Although the Conseil Supérieur of Cap Français had recognized Chapuizet's status as “white and unblemished” (blanc et ingénu) in 1771, the colonial administration and much of the white elite argued that his descent from a Black great-great-grandmother made him ineligible for the honor of a militia commission. This article argues that the Chapuizet affair demonstrates a shift in the boundaries of whiteness in the French Antilles. Traditional “color prejudice,” in which skin color was one factor among many others, such as wealth and family connections, gave way to modern scientific racism defined by biological descent, according to which a single Black ancestor, however remote, sufficed for exclusion from the white elite. Cet article examine une dispute légale de l'année 1779 qui visait à Pierre Chapuizet, un colon riche et renommé de la province nord de Saint-Domingue, à qui on refusait une commission d'officier de milice à cause des allégations qu'il était d'origine sang mêlé. Bien que le Conseil supérieur du Cap Français l'eût reconnu comme « blanc et ingénu » dans un arrêt de 1771, l'administration coloniale et la plupart de l’élite blanche considéraient que son ascendance, notamment son arrière-grand-mère noire, l'excluait de l'honneur d'une commission militaire. A travers l'affaire Chapuizet on constate une modification des identités raciales et du statut de l'homme blanc dans les Antilles françaises. Le « préjugé de couleur » traditionnel, selon lequel la couleur de la peau n’était qu'un facteur parmi d'autres comme la richesse et les alliances familiales cède au racisme scientifique moderne, défini par la filiation biologique, selon lequel un seul aïeul noir, aussi lointain qu'il soit, suffit pour l'exclusion de l’élite blanche.

Scientific Racism, Social Darwinism, and Global Racial Order

The premise of this chapter is the elucidation of a different ontology of global politics and order of the nineteenth century. International relations theory takes for granted a largely ahistorical state-centric ontology, which reifies a specific Eurocentric state and state system as the embodiment of global politics. Instead this chapter focuses on an alternative ontology of race, racial hierarchy, and racial difference as significant for defining the content of an imperial global politics and order. The chapter places into context the emergence of scientific racism and social Darwinism as key intellectual elements in defining a political imaginary that influenced the politics of difference and violence. The chapter shows that this intellectual history reveals a global order that was fundamentally racialized and that global violence was understood and practiced as race war.

Inoculating against Persuasion by Scientific Racism Propaganda: The Moderating Roles of Propaganda Form and Subtlety

The effectiveness of attitudinal inoculation in reducing the persuasive appeal of undesirable beliefs and behaviors is long established across multiple domains. However, investigations into its use for preventing violent extremism have only recently been undertaken. The current study adds to this literature by examining the moderating effects of far-right propaganda form and subtlety on the counter-persuasive effects of inoculation in the context of far-right extremism. This study (N = 404) tests the efficacy of inoculation to prevent adoptions of beliefs, attitudes, and intentions consistent with a key theme of far-right propaganda: scientific racism. Results of this 2 (inoculation vs. control) × 2 (propaganda form: video vs. meme) × 2 (propaganda subtlety: subtle vs. obvious) experiment demonstrate that inoculation prevents persuasion by scientific racism propaganda overall, however some outcomes are moderated by the interaction between propaganda form and subtlety. By highlighting the conditions under which inoculation is most likely to be effective, these results have significant implications for the development of inoculation messages intended to prevent far-right violent extremism.

The Education That Is Their Due

Chapter 2 identifies a distinct uptick in northern Black support for separate schools. The rise of scientific racism fueled anti-Black discrimination that accelerated alongside the first Great Migration and the Great Depression. Hostile whites segregated classrooms and buildings in defiance of state law as Black populations increased. At the same time, there is compelling evidence from New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan that Black families either passively accepted or actively requested separate classrooms and schools in order to access Black teachers. Many Black northerners believed separate schools would offer a higher quality education and more of the teaching and administrative jobs that sustained the Black middle class. Still, this position was far from universal, and many northern Black communities energetically resisted school segregation. A growing number of Black intellectuals and civil rights activists vehemently objected to any form of state-sponsored segregation and campaigned actively for school integration.