Through looking at the past attitudes and actions of societies towards race, it seems reasonable to argue that, across the globe, there has been progression in overcoming many of the previous negative connotations of race. The outrages committed in the name of “ethnic cleansing”, for example, such as the Rwandan Genocide, are widely-condemned. However, there are still significant developments needed in order to counter negative attitudes towards race and foster true social and economic equality in all aspects of daily life. In its recent study, ‘Is Britain Fairer?’, the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) found that whilst people from some ethnic minorities, such as Indian people, have continued to succeed in education and employment, others, like Black Africans and Pakistani people, are still more likely to live in poverty and to experience severe deprivation (EHRC, 2018). The concept of race is one which has long been discussed. In the past, race was defined by so-called scientific factors, which can be traced back to biology and genetics. Blumenbach (1795) separated the human species into five races: Ethiopian (African), Mongolian (Asian), American (Native American), Malaysian (Pacific Islander), and White (Caucasian). This categorisation resulted in white people in Europe placing themselves at the top of the hierarchy and this link between racial differences and biology resulted in significant social and economic inequality (Feagin & Feagin, 2008). However, nowadays, the concept of race is largely viewed as a sociological process and social construct with races being products of human perception and classification. The U.S. Census Bureau definition of race fits this view: ‘race reflects self-identification by people according to the race or races with which they most closely identify’ (Greene and Gabbidon, 2009). Nevertheless, the historical idea of race as a biological category still remains a topic of public debate, a basis for social action and a foundation of government policy (Cornell and Hartmann, 1998). This essay will seek to show how one can anticipate aspects of our racial future by looking at three areas of change: in societal attitudes and perceptions; in public policy; and in legislation.
The key first way in which one can anticipate our racial future is through comparing past and present societal views and perceptions. It can be argued that, in the past, so-called Social Darwinism dominated in terms of forming and justifying social attitudes, resulting in a significant emphasis on the racialisation of groups seen as “different” from the superior, white “Ruling Class”. This racialisation of everything was especially prominent in Western societies (Amin, 2010). Such attitudes led to the justification of genocidal policies in British colonies and fuelled fears among the British elite of other races living in their midst. The Slave Trade also highlights how negative perceptions of certain groups are built, which society then uses to justify their exploitation. However, over time this so-called scientific orthodoxy became more and more challenged. Wider society’s opinion shifted and inherent, scientifically-justified racism, such as that which fuelled horrors, such as the Holocaust, has become unjustifiable (Modood, 1997 & Montagu, 1964). There has been a switch instead to ‘cultural’ factors as the determining characteristics of race. We see this switch in Europe and the United States, where, over time, significant numbers of immigrants have become middle-class, so society has become more “colour-blind” in terms of acceptance of second and third generation immigrants. Thus, reducing racial discrimination and decreasing prejudice. Hence, history would suggest that positive changes in society's cultural perceptions of race can be achieved, in comparison to the stark negative attitudes before.
However, despite this positive movement forward, there is still evidence of day-to-day racism, often fuelled by the way the Media shapes people’s perceptions. For example, in the recent ruling about Pakistani taxi drivers abusing young girls in certain regional towns in the UK, there is a distinct emphasis on reporting the fact the girls were ‘white’, as if to stereotype all Pakistani men as ‘dangerous’ and “evil”, rather than focusing on the well-being of the girls and how they were able to be exploited. This re-emergence of racial hatred can also be seen by the current exclusion of the Rohingya people in Myanmar and Thailand due to the fear of contamination of the Thai race. The Rohingya people have been denied citizenship and are not recognised as an ethnic group, despite the 1982 Citizenship Law (Saikia P, 2011). Hence, the Rohingya population are today at risk of mass atrocities and even genocide. Therefore, whilst there is clear evidence of changes in perceptions, there are still incidents that highlight that race continues to be used negatively as a defining feature in societies. The rise of extreme political parties, such as the British National Party, also demonstrates that not everyone’s attitudes have adapted to take a positive approach. Hence, although our racial future can be anticipated to be more favourable, one should not rely on societal perception changes alone as the evidence does not suggest a unanimous attitude shift. Thus, reducing somewhat the importance of perception adaptations alone in anticipating our racial future.
Another way one can anticipate the future of racism is by looking at scientific developments and the impacts of these on public policy. In the past, the racial discrimination of people was often fuelled by scientific theories. This can be demonstrated, for example, by the growth of the Eugenics field. Eugenics can be defined as ‘the practice of controlled selective breeding of human populations (as by sterilization) to improve the population's genetic composition’ (Merriam-Webster.com). It once attracted a large array of supporters, including influential people, such as Churchill, which helped its acceptance. Eugenics led to the policy of mass sterilisation in some societies of the mentally ill and ethnic minorities, as well as the extremity of the ‘final solution’ within Nazi Germany. Thus, science played a major role with regards to racialisation, especially with the rise in anti-semitism.
However, nowadays Eugenics and pseudo-sciences, such as Craniometry and Phrenology have been discredited, due to the counter-evidence against them. The human genome project and discoveries of genetic science are publically known, showing that humans and chimpanzees have a 98% shared genetic pool and that the variations within DNA sequences are greater than between human groups (Amin, 2010). Thus, discrediting science as a basis for racism. Richard Lewontin and Steve Rose (1984) in their book ‘Everything is not in our genes’ found that science was unable to link physical differences to differences in ability or intelligence. In addition, Robert Miles (1982) championed the stance that race is a belief and not a reality. This decline in genetic and biological factors has brought about new protocols around how public policy is tested against evidence, which has largely defeated any biological link for grouping people on racial lines. As a result, there has been a rise in racism surrounding cultural identities and practices. Thus, resulting in a stance of collective belonging to overcome these exclusions and reducing competing notions of identity (Amin, 2010). Therefore, it seems likely that the role of science in the development of public policy is a positive factor for the future, not a driver of racial inequality, as it was in earlier centuries. Thus, advances in science are a significant factor in the prediction of our racial future.
Perhaps most importantly, the area in which I see the greatest potential for positive change in relation to the racial future is through the adaptation and creation of legislation. In the 19th Century, race policies and legislation focused on their being an ‘inferior’ and ‘superior’ race. As already noted, this can be seen by the emergence of slavery, through which, between the 16th and 19th Centuries, millions of Africans were shipped as slaves to North America. This was due to a common perception that the African-Americans were to be treated as “inferior”. Further evidence of racial inferiority was the US anti-miscegenation laws passed by individual states to prohibit inter-racial marriage and inter-racial sexual relations. However, in the 20th Century, various policies and laws started to be implemented to reduce significantly such racial bias. For example, in the UK, the 1965 Race Relations Act was introduced. It was the first legislation to address racial discrimination, through outlawing the routine discrimination that was the daily experience of many black people who had come to the UK from the former British colonies. For example, no longer could there be signs saying “no Irish, no blacks, no dogs”, a once accepted statement, which is unimaginable now. Several further Race-Relations Acts followed as the UK promoted equal access to the labour market for minorities and cemented the concept of Race Equality. The legislation has resulted in large-scale changes in society from people being the defenders of racism to being advocates of anti-racism and Multiculturalism (Meer, 2010). That said, there are still significant inequalities to be countered. Unemployment rates are far higher across ethnic minority groups than their white counterparts and this often leads to other inequalities in relation to health and housing. In the 21st Century, there have been further shifts towards what is often termed a “post-racial” society. Most notably perhaps, in the United States, with the 2008 election and the inauguration of Barack Obama on 20 January 2009 as the 44th president of the United States, which has had a major shift in attitudes (St Louis, 2015). Many commentators have said the election of an African-American has helped signify America as a post-racial society, with African Americans soon achieving, complete racial equality in the United States. In terms of anticipation of what the Obama legacy will mean in relation to other countries’ attitudes to race, one would expect a positive shift over different societies, if laws and policies adapt in the same way as they have been doing.
However, whilst the election of President Obama is often discussed as a pathway to a post-racial future, it has been noted that after President Obama’s election racial hatred and personal threats against the President actually grew (Dawson and Bobo, 2009). Further, in the following 2016 presidential election, Donald Trump was elected on a manifesto of anti-immigration. The suggestion is that racial violence and some institutional racism is showing through again in the US and that the positive legacy of Obama may be a setback, thus reducing the positive outlook for a colour-blind racial future (Srinsivan A, 2016). Therefore, this suggests that even though laws and policies can seem beneficial when anticipating the racial future, this may not be the case, as they are sometimes undermined by a change in political opinion. Hence, the anticipation of our racial future, can not be recalled only on changes in legislation.
In conclusion, therefore, the evidence from the past does suggest that it is possible to anticipate our racial future in a positive way. For example, there are notable changes in legislation and in the scientific discoveries that have countered previous “pseudo-scientific” doctrine and policies and instead fostered equality. Changes in perception have been shown to be the most vital factor, with significant shifts over the years, as seen through people's behaviours and attitudes. Although this essay has highlighted that it is not enough to rely on one factor, but instead a range is needed in order to have a reliable anticipation. This essay has also argued that in some respects our racial future is on track towards being a post-racial society, with a shift to a norm that is colour-blind, fairer and free of racial prejudice. Despite this progression, however, it is unlikely to be a unanimously positive, immediate or complete change, due to the structure of society. For example, it has been noted that the structure is one which can reproduce racial inequalities without the need for “racists”. Hence, in order to have a multi-racial future, social hierarchy must disappear and the economic inequality and other structural problems of race must be eliminated. So, whilst the positive developments discussed are welcome and prerequisite to full race equality, they are not a guarantee of lasting change and are subject to societal shifts. Hence, whilst our racial future can be anticipated through the changes in societal attitudes and perceptions, public policy and legislation, there need to be policies in place in order to welcome this anticipated future.