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Does Race Matter?
Author(s) -
Van Den Berghe Pierre L.
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
nations and nationalism
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.655
H-Index - 44
eISSN - 1469-8129
pISSN - 1354-5078
DOI - 10.1111/j.1354-5078.1995.00357.x
Subject(s) - nepotism , race (biology) , natural selection , racism , association (psychology) , selection (genetic algorithm) , biology , inclusive fitness , sociology , evolutionary biology , epistemology , political science , gender studies , law , philosophy , computer science , artificial intelligence , politics
. This essay contends that behaviour can only be understood within an evolutionary framework that gives equal weight to genes and environment. Our cultural environment itself evolved, in part through natural selection of genes and in part through other mechanisms. Racism, however, involves association of genetically caused differences in physical appearance with characteristics to which they are wholly unrelated. Yet this association has a biological cause: fitness maximisation through nepotism. This association, therefore, has an effect upon the life chances and reproductive success of genetically different groups and, therefore, upon the process of human evolution.