The Race Question' is a UNESCO statement issued on 18 July 1950 following World War II. Signed by some of the leading researchers of the time, in the field of psychology, biology, cultural anthropology and ethnology, it questioned the foundations of scientific racist theories which had became very popular at the turn of the 20th century, alongside eugenics. These racist theories had been a main influence of the Nazi racial policies and eugenics program. The original statement was drafted by Ernest Beaglehole, Juan Comas, L. A. Costa Pinto, Franklin Frazier, sociologist specialized in race relations studies, Morris Ginsberg, founding chairman of the British Sociological Association, Humayun Kabir, writer, philosopher and Education Minister of India twice, Claude Lévi-Strauss, one of the founder of ethnology and leading theorist of cultural relativism, and Ashley Montagu, anthropologist and author of The Elephant Man: A Study in Human Dignity, who was the rapporteur. The text was then revised by Ashley Montagu following criticisms submitted by Hadley Cantril, E. G. Conklin, Gunnar Dahlberg, Theodosius Dobzhansky, author of Genetics and the Origin of Species (1937), L. C. Dunn, Donald Hager, Julian Huxley, first director of UNESCO and one of the many key contributor to neo-Darwinian synthesis, Otto Klineberg, Wilbert Moore, H. G. Muller, Gunnar Myrdal, author of An American Dilemma: The Negro Problem and Modern Democracy (1944), Joseph Needham, a biochemist specialist of Chinese science, and geneticist Curt Stern. The statement included both a scientifical debunking of race theories and a moral condemnation of racism. It suggested in particular to "drop the term 'race' altogether and speak of "ethnic groups." UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) is a specialized agency of the United Nations established in 1945. ... July 18 is the 199th day (200th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 166 days remaining. ... 1950 (MCML) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... Combatants Allied powers: United Kingdom Soviet Union United States Republic of China and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Chiang Kai-shek Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000,000 Total... Psychology is an academic and applied discipline involving the scientific study of mental processes and behavior. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Ethnology (greek ethnos: (non-greek, barbarian) people) is a genre of anthropological study, involving the systematic comparison of the folklore, beliefs and practices of different societies. ... Eugenics is the self-direction of human evolution: Logo from the Second International Congress of Eugenics, 1921, depicting it as a tree which unites a variety of different fields. ... 1. ... Nazi eugenics pertains to Nazi Germanys nazism and race social policies that placed the improvement of the race through eugenics at the centre of their concerns and targeted those humans they identified as Life Unworthy of Life, including but not limited to: criminal, degenerate, dissident, feeble-minded, homosexual, idle... Morris Ginsberg (May 14, 1889 - August 31, 1970) was a UK sociologist. ... The British Sociological Association [[1]] was founded in 1951. ... Humayun Kabir(1906-1969) was an Indian educationist, politician, writer, philosopher. ... Claude Lévi-Strauss Claude Lévi-Strauss (IPA pronunciation ); born November 28, 1908) is a Jewish-French anthropologist who developed structuralism as a method of understanding human society and culture. ... Ethnology (greek ethnos: (non-greek, barbarian) people) is a genre of anthropological study, involving the systematic comparison of the folklore, beliefs and practices of different societies. ... Cultural relativism is the principle that an individual humans beliefs and activities should be interpreted in terms of his or her own culture. ... Ashley Montagu (June 28, 1905, London, England - November 26, 1999, Princeton, New Jersey), was an English anthropologist and humanist who popularized issues such as race and gender and their relation to politics and development. ... For the Jamaican missionary to Cameron Dias , see Joseph Merrick (missionary) Joseph Carey Merrick. ... Theodosius Grigorevich Dobzhansky (Russian — Феодосий Григорьевич Добржанский; sometimes anglicized to Theodore Dobzhansky; January 25, 1900 - December 18, 1975) was a noted geneticist and evolutionary biologist. ... Genetics and the Origin of Species (ISBN 0231054750) is a 1937 book by the Ukrainian-American evolutionary biologist Theodosius Dobzhansky and one of the important books of the modern evolutionary synthesis. ... Sir Julian Sorell Huxley, FRS (June 22, 1887 – February 14, 1975) was a English biologist, author, Humanist and internationalist, known for his popularisations of science in books and lectures. ... The modern evolutionary synthesis (often referred to simply as the new synthesis, the modern synthesis, the evolutionary synthesis, neo-Darwinian synthesis or neo-Darwinism), generally denotes the integration of Charles Darwins theory of the evolution of species by natural selection, Gregor Mendels theory of genetics as the basis... Gunnar Myrdal (December 6, 1898 – May 17, 1987) was a Swedish economist and politician. ... Joseph Terence Montgomery Needham (December 9, 1900 – March 24, 1995) was a British biochemist and pre-eminent authority on the history of Chinese science. ... Curt Stern (August 30, 1902 - October 23, 1981) was a German-American geneticist. ... Anti-racism refers to beliefs, actions, movements, and policies adopted or developed to oppose racism. ...

Introduction

The Race Question first recalled the recent World War and the Holocaust, as well as the Constitution of the UNESCO which stated that: Concentration camp inmates during the Holocaust The Holocaust was Nazi Germanys systematic genocide (ethnic cleansing) of various ethnic, religious, national, and secular groups during World War II. Early elements include the Kristallnacht pogrom and the T-4 Euthanasia Program established by Hitler that killed some 200,000 people. ...

"The great and terrible war that has now ended was a war made possible by the denial of the democratic principles of the dignity, equality and mutual respect of men, and by the propagation, in their place, through ignorance and prejudice, of the doctrine of the inequality of men and races."

A 1948 UNESCO resolution called upon the world organisation to consider the timeliness "of proposing and recommending the general adoption of a programme of dissemination of scientific facts designed to bring about the disappearance of that which is commonly called race prejudice." Thus, following the philosophy of the Enlightenment, the UNESCO aimed at struggling against popular racism through the vulgarisation of scientific facts, which demonstrated the inanity of race theories. In 1949, the UNESCO adopted three other similar resolutions, recommending the institution to Look up Enlightenment in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Manifestations Slavery · Racial profiling · Lynching Hate speech · Hate crime · Hate groups Genocide · Holocaust · Pogrom Ethnocide · Ethnic cleansing · Race war Religious persecution · Gay bashing Movements Discriminatory Aryanism · Neo-Nazism · Supremacism Fundamentalism · Kahanism Anti-discriminatory Abolitionism · Civil rights · Gay rights Womens/Universal suffrage · Mens rights Childrens rights · Youth rights...

• "study and collect scientific materials concerning questions of race,"
• "to give wide diffusion to the scientific material collected"
• and "to prepare an education campaign based on this information."

Furthermore, the statement recalled that by these resolutions, the UNESCO was taking...

"up again, after a lapse of fifteen years, a project which the International Institute for Intellectual Co-operation has wished to carry through but which it had to abandon in deference to the appeasement policy of the pre-war period. The race question had become one of the pivots of Nazi ideology and policy. Masaryk and Beneš took the initiative of calling for a conference to re-establish in the minds and consciences of men everywhere the truth about race... Nazi propaganda was able to continue its baleful work unopposed by the authority of an international organisation." It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Appeasement. ... National Socialism redirects here. ... Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, portrait by Josef JindÅ™ich Å echtl, 1918 Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk (IPA: ), sometimes called Thomas Masaryk in English, (March 7, 1850 - September 14, 1937) was an advocate of Czechoslovak independence during WW I and became the first President of Czechoslovakia. ... Edvard BeneÅ¡ Edvard BeneÅ¡ with wife 1921, autochrome portrait by Josef JindÅ™ich Å echtl Edvard BeneÅ¡ (May 28, 1884 - September 3, 1948) was a leader of the Czechoslovak independence movement and the second President of Czechoslovakia. ...

The aim was clear. However, the UNESCO was not so naive to believe that science alone could convince humanity to let aside racial prejuidices which were deeply rooted in emotional factors:

"Knowledge of the truth does not always help change emotional attitudes that draw their real strenght from the subconscious or from factors beside the real issue." But it could "however, prevent rationalizations of reprehensive acts or behaviour prompted by feelings that men will not easily avow openly."

The UNESCO statement condemned any attempt, on both scientific and moral grounds, to relate intelligence to racial factors, stating that "At the moment, it is impossible to demonstrate that there exist between 'races' differences of intelligence and temperament other than those produced by cultural environment." It considered racism as a "particularly vicious and mean expression of the caste spirit," thus paying close attention to theories issued for examply by eugenicist Georges Vacher de Lapouge (1854-1936), who equated race with social class ^[1]. Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... Caste systems are traditional, hereditary systems of social stratification, enforced by law or common practice, based on classifications such as occupation, race, ethnicity, etc. ... Eugenics is the self-direction of human evolution: Logo from the Second International Congress of Eugenics, 1921, depicting it as a tree which unites a variety of different fields. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Social class refers to the hierarchical distinctions between individuals or groups in societies or cultures. ...

The Race Question asserted that...

"Concern for human dignity demands that all citizens be equal before the law... no matter what their physical or intellectual differences may be... The conscience of all mankind demand that this be true for all the peoples of the earth. It matters little, therefore, whether the diversity of men's gift be the result of biological or cultural factors."

Not only scientific racist theories were thoroughly disqualified by modern research, but racist ideology in itself was adamantly criticized as contrary to the humanist foundations which had laid the groundworks for the creation of the United Nations at the June 1945 San Francisco Conference. The nature versus nurture debate was thus rejected as irrelevant to politicals or legal concerns. Humanist may refer to: a scholar or academic in the Humanities a proponent of the group of ethical stances referred to as Humanism a long-running email discussion list on humanities computing in typography, a group of sans-serif typefaces with some calligraphic features, such as Humana, Optima, Frutiger, Johnston... The foundation of the U.N. The United Nations (UN) is an international organization whose stated aims are to facilitate co-operation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress and human rights issues. ... Prime Minister Yoshida Shigeru of Japan, gave a speech on Reconciliation and rapport (和解と信頼) in 1951 at San Francisco Peace conference. ... Nature vs Nurture is a shorthand expression for debates about the relative importance of an individuals innate qualities (nature) versus personal experiences (nurture) in determining or causing individual differences in physical and behavioral traits. ...

The statement

The statement itself was composed of various points:

• Scientists agree that "mankind is one: that all men belong to the same specie: Homo sapiens..."
• "From the biological standpoint, the species Homo Sapiens is made up of a number of populations..." defined by genetic factors. However, the genes "responsible for the hereditary differences between men, are always few when compared to the whole genetic constitution of man and to the vast number of genes common to all human beings... This means that the likeliness among men are far greater than their differences."
• "A race, from the biological standpoint, may therefore be defined as one of the group of populations constituting the species Homo sapiens... These represents variations, as it were, on a common theme." Differences are attributed to "somewhat different biological histories."
• "In short, the term 'race' designates a group or population characterized by some concentrations, relative as to frequency and distribution, of hereditary particles (genes) or physical characters, which appear, fluctuate, and often disappear in the course of time by reason of geographic and or cultural isolation..."
• The fifth point criticized the lay-man use of the term "race": "To most people, a race is any group which they choose to describe as a race. Thus, many national, religious, geographic, linguistic or cultural groups have, in such loose usage, been called 'race', when obviously Americans are not a race, nor are Englishmen, nor are Frenchmen, nor any other national group. Catholics, Protestants, Moslems and Jews are not races... People who live in Iceland or England or India are not races; nor are people who are culturally Turkish or Chinese..."
• Because of this popular misconception which assert a pseudo-scientific correspondence between "racial groups" and "national, religious, geographic, linguistic and cultural groups," the UNESCO advocated to "drop the term 'race' altogether and speak of "ethnic groups."
• Further points stressed the "educability" and "plasticity" of the human being and the variability of biological populations, which evolved and inter-breeded together. It adamantly rejected any "degeneration" theory claiming that such miscegenation could "produces biologically bad effects." "There is, therefore, no biological justification for prohibiting inter-marriage.."
• The 14th point asserted that : "The biological fact of race and the myth of 'race' should be distinguished. For all practical social purposes, 'race' is not so much a biological phenomenon as a social myth" which has "created an enormous amount of human and social damage." It "deprives civilization of the effective co-operation of productive minds." The UNESCO cited Charles Darwin's praise of cosmopolitanism in The Descent of Man (2nd ed., 1875, pp.187-8). It criticized theories of psychological egoism, underlining that "the whole of human history show that a co-operative spirit is not only natural to men, but more deeply rooted than any self-seeking tendencies. If this were not so we should not see the growth of integration and organization of his communities which the centuries and the millenia plainly exhibits."
• The last points underlined that equality was a moral principle that had nothing to do with any biological or cultural differences. It recalled that "scientific evidence indicates that the range of mental capacities in all ethnic groups is much the same." It underlines the difference and non-correspondence between great "social changes" and change in the constitution of ethnic groups.

The 1950 UNESCO statement concluded by asserting once more that "biological differences as exist between members of different ethnic groups have no relevance to problems of social and political organizations, moral life and communication between human beings" and implicitly referred to Aristotle's definition of mankind by stating that "Man is born a social being." Homo sapiens (Latin: wise man) is the scientific name for the human species. ... Look up Genetic in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... For the scientific journal Heredity see Heredity (journal) Heredity (the adjective is hereditary) is the transfer of characters from parent to offspring, either through their genes or through the social institution called inheritance (for example, a title of nobility is passed from individual to individual according to relevant customs and... It has been suggested that Anti-miscegenation laws be merged into this article or section. ... This article deals with the social-philosophical meaning of degeneration. ... Charles Robert Darwin (12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an eminent English naturalist who achieved lasting fame by convincing the scientific community that species develop over time from a common origin. ... Cosmopolitanism is the idea that all of humanity belongs to a single moral community. ... The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex by British naturalist Charles Darwin was first published in 1871. ... Psychological egoism is the view that humans are always motivated by self-interest, even in what seem to be acts of altruism. ... EQUAL is a popular artificial sweetener Equal (sweetener) Equality can mean several things: Mathematical equality Social equality Racial equality Sexual equality Equality of outcome Equality, a town in Illinois See also Equity Egalitarianism Equals sign This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might... Aristotle (Greek: AristotélÄ“s) (384 BC – March 7, 322 BC) was a Greek philosopher, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. ...

Legacy and Others UNESCO statements

The UNESCO later published other similar statements on racism. In Race and History (1952), the ethnologist Claude Lévi-Strauss argued in favor of cultural relativism through the famous metaphor of cultures as different trains crossing each others in various directions and speed, thus each one seeming to progress to himself while others supposedly kept immobile ^[2]. The UNESCO then published Lévi-Strauss Race and Culture in 1971. Others books published by renowned scholars, on the influence of Alfred Métraux, anthropologist at the UN, included titles such as Race and Psychology, Race and Biology, Race Mixture, Racial Myths, The Roots of Prejudice, and The Concept of Race: Results of an Inquiry ^[3]. Manifestations Slavery · Racial profiling · Lynching Hate speech · Hate crime · Hate groups Genocide · Holocaust · Pogrom Ethnocide · Ethnic cleansing · Race war Religious persecution · Gay bashing Movements Discriminatory Aryanism · Neo-Nazism · Supremacism Fundamentalism · Kahanism Anti-discriminatory Abolitionism · Civil rights · Gay rights Womens/Universal suffrage · Mens rights Childrens rights · Youth rights... Ethnologyis a genre of cultural anthropology and| anthropological study, involving the systematic comparison of the beliefs and practices of different societies. ... Claude Lévi-Strauss Claude Lévi-Strauss (IPA pronunciation ); born November 28, 1908) is a Jewish-French anthropologist who developed structuralism as a method of understanding human society and culture. ... Cultural relativism is the principle that an individual humans beliefs and activities should be interpreted in terms of his or her own culture. ...

In 2005, Claude Lévi-Strauss, then 97 years old, declared at the 60th anniversary of the UNESCO :

"In the wake of the Second World War and the horror inspired by the racist doctrines that gave rise to the massacre of entire populations and concentration camps, it was only normal that UNESCO give top priority to the scientific critique and moral condemnation of the notion of race,"

While the director-general Koïchiro Matsuura recalled that since 1951 UNESCO had prepared several declarations on race, Claude Levi-Strauss praised the work of the UNESCO, stating in response to Matsuura: [[Image:Koïchiro_ ...

"A task made all the more necessary by certain recent and worrying publications from biologists attempting to give new recognition to the notion of race – albeit with a different interpretation than in the past – but which nonetheless must be handled delicately"^[4]

The 1950 UNESCO statement contributed to the 1954 U.S. Supreme Court desegregation decision in "Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka" ^[3]. Racial segregation in the United States is the history of racial segregation, of facilities, services, and opportunities such as housing, education, employment, and transportation—along racial lines. ... George E.C. Hayes, Thurgood Marshall, and James Nabrit, congratulating each other, following Supreme Court decision declaring segregation unconstitutional Brown v. ...

Footnotes

Shimane Prefecture ) is located in the Chugoku region on Honshu island, Japan. ... The Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS) is the largest and most prominent public research organization in France. ... Claude Lévi-Strauss Claude Lévi-Strauss (IPA pronunciation ); born November 28, 1908) is a Jewish-French anthropologist who developed structuralism as a method of understanding human society and culture. ...

See also

• Alfred Métraux, anthropologist at the UN
• Scientific racism
• Racism
• Race
• Ethnic group
• Nazism and race
• 2005 Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions
• World Conference against Racism
• Peter Kropotkin (1902). Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution. Extending Horizons Books, Porter Sargent Publishers, Boston (First edition 1902; 1955 paperback (reprinted 2005), includes Kropotkin's 1914 preface, Foreword and Bibliography by Ashley Montagu, and The Struggle for Existence, by Thomas H. Huxley) ISBN 0-87558-024-6

Scientific racism is racist propaganda disguised as science. ... Manifestations Slavery · Racial profiling · Lynching Hate speech · Hate crime · Hate groups Genocide · Holocaust · Pogrom Ethnocide · Ethnic cleansing · Race war Religious persecution · Gay bashing Movements Discriminatory Aryanism · Neo-Nazism · Supremacism Fundamentalism · Kahanism Anti-discriminatory Abolitionism · Civil rights · Gay rights Womens/Universal suffrage · Mens rights Childrens rights · Youth rights... This article concerns the term race as used in reference to human beings. ... Nazis claimed to scientifically measure a strict hierarchy among races; at the top was the Aryan race (minus the Slavs, who were seen as below Aryan), then lesser races. ... The World Conference against Racism (WCAR) has been held three times: in 1978, 1983, and 2001. ... Peter Kropotkin Prince Peter Alexeevich Kropotkin (In Russian Пётр Алексе́евич Кропо́ткин) (December 9, 1842 - February 8, 1921) was one of Russias foremost anarchists and one of the first advocates of what he called anarchist communism: the model of society he advocated for most of his life was that of a communalist society... Nickname: City on the Hill, Beantown, The Hub (of the Universe)1, Athens of America, The Cradle of Revolution, Puritan City, Americas Walking City Location in Massachusetts, USA Counties Suffolk County Mayor Thomas M. Menino(D) Area    - City 232. ... Ashley Montagu (June 28, 1905, London, England - November 26, 1999, Princeton, New Jersey), was an English anthropologist and humanist who popularized issues such as race and gender and their relation to politics and development. ... Thomas Huxley Thomas Henry Huxley F.R.S. (May 4, 1825 - June 29, 1895) was a British biologist, known as Darwins Bulldog for his defence of Charles Darwins theory of evolution. ...

Source

• "The Race Question", UNESCO, 1950
• Extract from "Race and History" (1952) by Claude Lévi-Strauss

UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) is a specialized agency of the United Nations established in 1945. ... Claude Lévi-Strauss Claude Lévi-Strauss (IPA pronunciation ); born November 28, 1908) is a Jewish-French anthropologist who developed structuralism as a method of understanding human society and culture. ...

External links

• The long road to dialogue among civilizations, UNESCO