Is racism a genetic characteristic?

Question

I suspect that it is. If so we all need to recognize that we may have that little evil deep within us and suppress it as best we can. Perhaps it relates to the need to protect fruitful territory from strangers when we were tribesmen.

Answer 1

As children we are a blank slate and through our life experiences we learn to hate. If racism was genetic, children would hate from the get go which is not the case. My suggestion to you is to go watch the interactions that occur between children on the playground. Furthermore, it's parents and our environment that teach us to hate and point out the differences between people. No genetic evidence has ever be found to support your question.

Answer 2

I agree with you on that, but for different reasons. I like your suggestion though, it may be true. However, the Red Indians did welcome the white man.

My reason is mainly from empirical knowledge. Did you realize that in all cultures, even prior contact from white nations, fair skin and height have been cherished? In China the ruling classes were fair-skinned, tall Northerners, Southerners, the short, the dark were peasants. Similarly for India. And China being a far older civilization than any European nations--and that Marco Polo was the first European to document and travel through China--effectively rules out that this was a result of brainwashing from western sea-farers.

Well, I don't know about skin-colour, but height is an indicator of how healthy an individual is. It indicates better nutrition. And this would directly translate into superiority--better nutrition in childhood means greater intelligence, a reasonable explanation for the creation of castes. In addition to rationally, consciously recognizing that taller--smarter--individuals are superior, these specimens would be seen as more attractive, more desireable. This can quite simply be explained by the idea of natural selection.

Well, and after a while, all this became irrefuteable, unshakeable CULTURE and TRADITION. So that is racism. Well, and viewed as instinct it cannot possibly be evil. Still, no other animal has something called a conscience.

So... I believe that modern man with his highly developed conscience and moral sense will, can and must conquer this. Racism still exists, but it has become unacceptable and less noticeable in society.

Answer 3

No; racism is not genetic as in there is an 'I don't like others who don't look like me' gene, but if you want to pull a racism can be taught in culture and culture is a sort of nature in humans you could go there.

Taught racism is by itself neither an adaptive advantage or a hinderance when taken outside of context. As situations changes the value on such thoughts changes. As a person against hate in general I doubt racism can ever be helpful, and especially now that we pretty much have to deal with each other it is basically acting as a societally retarding factor. Anyone complaining otherwise is wishing for a time and/or place that does not exist here. The path in them creating it will be painful and to me a sad event..

Answer 4

. There is hardwired into all of us a tendency to be wary of people who look different than those we have grown up around. The strength of this natural instinct varies from person to person, and the strength of the natural tendency may be inherited.
. The natural tendency is amplified or suppressed as a result of the behavior with respect to that instinct we have witnessed in those around whom we were raised. The impact of our upbringing may be orders of magnitude greater than the effect of the natural tendency, either in suppressive or amplifying the tendency.
. It is not clear that there is anyone without some degree of the natural tendency. It seems apparent that racism can be taught to anyone. By racism, I mean something beyond the natural tendency to notice and be cautious of those who are different in appearance. Racism definitely involves behaviors beyond those resulting from the natural caution. Racism involves indulging in characterizations and overt actions which go far beyond noticing a difference and consciously acting toward those who have a differing set of features in a hostile manner which is unrelated to any acts of those individuals acted upon.

Answer 5

I have a degree in BA in Archaeology, I minored in Anthropology. Racism is a part of culture. Culture, is not genetic but rather learned, patterened and shared behavior within a society. The need or lack of resources does not breed racism. The "evil" in us all in terms of racism and stereotypes are taught to us through life experience and family. Everyone carries this to some degree, some just more than others. However, this is definitely not genetic.

Answer 6

Racism could be viewed as memetic with parasitic tendencies, like a infection. The fact that through the spoken word and publications thoughts, ideas and opinions can be transmitted over time to a large ammount of people who either pick them up or disregard them. The fact that so many people in the past 5 decades have moved beyond their parents or grandparents racist tendencies shows that it is not genetic at all, only a idea passed through lack of education and the incitement of vile feelings towards other people.

Answer 7

I have no education in this kind of thing, but I strongly suspect it is much more related to environment, specifically, the home and peer environment in the formative years. I never considered myself a racist until I went off to college and began un-learning a lot of behavior that I considered natural, because that was just the way things were where I grew up in the rural south of the '50's.

Answer 8

The concept of racism is learned. However, the conecpt of in-group/out-group (or us versus them) may have a biological/evolutionary etiology for the survival of the group you are born into. Racism is built on this built in mechanism.

However, if you condition children that race does not exist (i.e. that we are all equally human, regardless of skin color), there will be a higher probability of them growing up not being racist.

Answer 9

You are talking natural selection, survival instict, evolution. I'd have to say no. We all have instincts meant to protect us. I think you can be nervous meeting someone who is unlike anyone you have ever encountered, but racism is hatred. Totally different. When we are hateful our life becomes totally out of balance and we are not as successful as we could be. Don't believe me? Start paying attention to how messed up things become in hateful situations. When it comes to survival it would have been in our best interests to be successful. Besides there is enough fruit for us all. No need to protect it.

Answer 10

Erudite guy has the best reasoned answer. Why did you bring this question to a social science site? You can see all the ideological, ill reasoned, knee-jerk answers you have received. You knew it had something to do with what is called in group/ out group, or group psychology. I wish you people would start bringing more of these type of question to the biology section, for two reasons. One; biology is light years ahead of social science in regard to human behavior; evolutionary biology, that is. Two; Questions such as this would please evolutionary biologists in the biology section, who have slim pickings there, due to all the functional biology; questions and answers. These social scientists are sorely disconnected from ultimate- proximate cause of behavior explanations. With evolutionary questions being asked in the biology section, I would never have to come to the social science section again.

PS Check out the following answer. It's self-referentialisim ( I have a BA ). This is the nonsense in social science I am speaking of. Credential-wise, I outrank you, young lady. A true scholar does not throw their degrees around.