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What did the defeat of the Nazis mean for the idea of "White Supremacy"?

What did the defeat of the Nazis mean for the idea of "White Supremacy"?

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What did the defeat of the Nazis mean for the idea of "White Supremacy"?
The Winds of Change While the biological determinism of "race science" dominated Western thought from the middle of the nineteenth century to the second world war, it began to face increasingly serious challenges as the century progressed. "Race science" made three fundamental assertions: The first was that there are distinct "racial" groups identifiable by physical appearance. The second was that particular psychological traits such as character, intelligence and morality were biologically determined and that "racial" groups differed in these respects as well as in their physical appearance. Finally, it was maintained that these biologically determined traits were responsible for cultural and linguistic differences between "racial" groups. Ironically it was the scientific pretensions of these assertions that eventually led to their downfall. As scientific testing in both the physical and social sciences became increasingly sophisticated, the assertions of race science were undermined and disproved The first problem was the identification of racial groups. As the 20th century progressed, biologists became more and more skeptical of their ability to deliver a methodology of racial classification. (Barkan, 1992, p 137) The more data on head shape, bone structure and other measurements of physical anthropology that were gathered, the more impossible it became to actually classify "racial" groups. It became clear that there were a range of inherited physical characteristics across the human population and that attempts to divide this population into distinct races was completely arbitrary. Later, as genetic science developed, it was demonstrated that the way people looked was attributable to the interaction of combinations of genes, and that human beings shared a common genetic heritage with only minor variations. While notions of "race" based on the way people looked (phenotype) might have a social significance in the way people were treated, understanding of our complex, and common genetic heritage (genotype) meant that "race" was no longer an acceptable scientific category.
Transcribed Image Text:The Winds of Change While the biological determinism of "race science" dominated Western thought from the middle of the nineteenth century to the second world war, it began to face increasingly serious challenges as the century progressed. "Race science" made three fundamental assertions: The first was that there are distinct "racial" groups identifiable by physical appearance. The second was that particular psychological traits such as character, intelligence and morality were biologically determined and that "racial" groups differed in these respects as well as in their physical appearance. Finally, it was maintained that these biologically determined traits were responsible for cultural and linguistic differences between "racial" groups. Ironically it was the scientific pretensions of these assertions that eventually led to their downfall. As scientific testing in both the physical and social sciences became increasingly sophisticated, the assertions of race science were undermined and disproved The first problem was the identification of racial groups. As the 20th century progressed, biologists became more and more skeptical of their ability to deliver a methodology of racial classification. (Barkan, 1992, p 137) The more data on head shape, bone structure and other measurements of physical anthropology that were gathered, the more impossible it became to actually classify "racial" groups. It became clear that there were a range of inherited physical characteristics across the human population and that attempts to divide this population into distinct races was completely arbitrary. Later, as genetic science developed, it was demonstrated that the way people looked was attributable to the interaction of combinations of genes, and that human beings shared a common genetic heritage with only minor variations. While notions of "race" based on the way people looked (phenotype) might have a social significance in the way people were treated, understanding of our complex, and common genetic heritage (genotype) meant that "race" was no longer an acceptable scientific category.
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