Racism, deconstructing the social construct:

Which reasons are the most prevalent causes of racism?

Racism - Definition and More from the Free Merriam-Webster Dictionary


The very real physical characteristics that are used to define 'race' are clearly biological, the resulting behaviors to these characteristics are constructed by sociological mechanisms.

While all of these reasons are likely to be found in reality, the likely causes of racism are a blend of these reasons... So please choose as many as you would like.
I am asking which reasons you believe are the most prevalent causes of 'racism'.

Natural, or evolutionary
Racism is a natural reaction, a group survival trait that is the result of evolution. While simply wishing to retain biological evolutions within a group is not in and of itself "racism", it possibly triggers a construct of "us vs them" and the resulting notions of superiority and inferiority.
-- *EDIT* Racism may not be a sociological construct at all.

Experienced, or reactionary
Through personal interactions with others, racism is a reaction to either positive or negative eperiences that one has when interacting with members of a given race. These experiences are "telescoped" and applied to others who share the same racial/physical characteristics, whom have never have come into contact.
-- *EDIT* Racism is learned through personal experience.

Parental
Parents own racism is passed down to their offspring. Parents are racists for whatever reason, and pass it on to their children.
(A common argument amongst elitist/progressive ideologues is that parents teach 'racism' to their offspring. Of course, such elitists have an agenda of removing peasant or working class children from parental care as soon as possible to be thrust into their utopian slave system.)
-- *EDIT* Racism is learned by parental guidance.

Institutional
Institutions such as government, education, and mass media perpetuate stereotypes which condition their victims to harbor stereotypes that may or may not hold any real truth in reality. Elitists have a vested interest in playing 'races' off of each other in order to maintain power over all of them. The physical reality of 'race' is exploited by these institutions who feel the have the right to treat human beings as catttle.
-- *EDIT* Racism is learned by institutional conditioning.

Other
I will explain in my post.

 

Are you racist against elitists and what exactly are elitists?

 

Elitists are those who consider themselves superior or more virtuous or more worthy or more noble or more intelligent or more deserving or more sincere than others. They often look down their noses at those different from themselves and assign others to different, less acceptable, categories.

Elitism in this context often comes with a sense of entitlement to receive, to act, to judge, to control.

And in my opinion that is what racism is.

And I checked 'other' in the poll because I believe more often than not it is learned behavior and not something that comes naturally to people.

 

There are three options which would cover "learned" behavior, which do you determine to be the more prevalent? Or is there a source of "learning" that has been overlooked by the poll?

 

The poll presupposes that race is scientifically unfounded, an
acquired prejudice. You must add one more alternative for the poll to
work. This is: "Race is real". We might just as well talk about it
rather than "bending over backwards just to avoid mentioning race."
This sometimes creates more interpersonal problems than it solves, the
author of the following article says.

'Racism's Cognitive Toll: Subtle Discrimination Is More
Taxing On The Brain', ScienceDaily (Sep. 24, 2007)
sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/09/070919093316.htm
/Mats

 

Please read the first post which details the choices.

Also note that the choices have been updated for clarity. If you believe that the cause of racism isn't "learned" or socially constructed, then the first option may be the choice you are looking for.

 

No, you mention only an alternative of "physical characteristics" and that we learn to see thick lips and flat noses as repugnant. This is certainly not my alternative. "Race is real" means that races are different on the inside, think differently, have different levels of aggressiveness, different levels of IQ. Your poll is warped because there is no alternative that says that race is scientifically founded, i.e. that it is very real, regardless of physical characteristics. Lynn & Vanhanen provide a list of the average IQ of nations:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IQ_and_the_Wealth_of_Nations
/Mats

 

Wouldn't it be more exact to say culture is real? If that was agreed upon, wouldn't it then be more accurate to consider the interpersonal problems created to be more solvable through more intercultural exposure? I find it hard to hate anyone who feeds me. If that nourishment comes through food (the most obvious and easily digestible method of nourishment), or via music, literature...it doesn't matter; when people move beyond their comfort zones, they find pleasant experiences along with the (at first) uncomfortable. Approached with an open heart, the uncomfortable is almost always overtaken by the pleasant, and the strange becomes familiar over time.

Maybe people just need to take the flag pole out of their ass and enjoy new experiences.
And people.
And food.
And Music
And literature.
And LIFE.

 

It seems that your confusion is the result of differentiating the term "race" from the term "racism". The reality of 'race' is not the subject, the causes of racism is the subject.

Please re-read the first post with an open mind. I absolutely agree that race is a physical/biological reality. What I am curious about is what actually causes the behavioral reactions to these obvious differences, particularly when the behaviors reach the point of beliefs of inherent superiority/inferiority.

Though please note,
I do not plan on debating the subject within this thread, I believe that "IQ" is purely a social construct...
Just sayin'.

 

Barb, firstly, those Whites that have been mugged or raped by Blacks might not agree with your recipe of more social exposure. From the 2005 U.S. crime statistics I calculate that a black man is 50 times more likely to commit interracial rape than a white man, and almost 9 times as likely to commit rape regardless of race of victim. These figures are hair-raising. The problem is that such things build up in the unconscious. So it doesn't help if we pretend that race doesn't exist. The concept is only transferred to the unconscious. That's why Americans dream about Negroes all the time, as C.G. Jung pointed out.
/Mats