Page "Historical race concepts" Paragraph 49

During the late 19th century and early 20th century, the tension between the social conservatives, who believed in hierarchy and innate superiority, and the social liberals, who believed in social change and human equality, was at a paramount.

The social conservatives continued to exacerbate the belief that certain races were innately inferior by examining their shortcomings, namely by examining and testing intelligence between groups.

Some scientists claimed that there was a biological determinant of race by evaluating one ’ s genes and DNA.

Different methods of eugenics, the study and practice of human selective breeding often with a race as a primary concentration, was still widely accepted in Britain, Germany, and the United States.

On the other hand, many scientists understood race as a social construct.

They believed that the phenotypical expression of an individual were determined by one ’ s genes that are inherited through reproduction but there were certain social constructs, such as culture, environment, and language that were primary in shaping behavioral characteristics.

Some advocated that race ‘ should centre not on what race explains about society, but rather on the questions of who, why and with what effect social significance is attached to racial attributes that are constructed in particular political and socio-economic contexts ,’ and thus, addressing the “ folk ” or “ mythological representations ” of race.