Superior: The Return of Race Science - Hardcover

Angela Saini

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 9353570867 ISBN 13: 9789353570866

Publisher: Harper Collins India, 2019

Synopsis

When you see how power has shaped the idea of race, then you can start to understand its meaning. For millennia, dominant societies have had the habit of believing their own people to be the best, deep down: the more powerful they become, the more power begins to be framed as natural, as well as cultural. In the twenty-first century, we like to believe that we have moved beyond scientific racism, that most people accept race as a social construct, not a biological one. But race science is experiencing a revival, fuelled by the misuse of science by certain political groups. Even well-intentioned scientists, through their use of racial categories in genetics and medicine, betray their suspicion that race has some basis in biology. In truth, it is no more real than it was hundreds of years ago, when our racial hierarchies were devised by those in power. In Superior, award-winning author Angela Saini explores the concept of race, from its origins to the present day. Engaging with geneticists, anthropologists, historians and social scientists from across the globe, Superior is a rigorous, much-needed examination of the insidious and destructive nature of race science.

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Review

This issue of racism is popular by name but tends to be sugar coated by the way people see it. Racism and discrimination, with or without recognition or existence of the label that is tied to itself, has always been a large part of society that can be dated all the way back to the Fall of Man. Racism has often played a central role in conflicts between groups of people. Racism is the intentional or unintentional use of power to isolate, separate and exploit others as defined in the Webster dictionary. People generally respond to others differently based on what they know, which may include superficial characteristics often associated with race. There is only one nonarbitrary point at which such a line may be drawn, and that is at the community of all the human beings on the planet. Given the increasingly integrated, globalized era in which we live, and the ecological, social and economic problems requiring resolution, the task will be to create institutions at the global level which will provide space to debate and deal with those problems in ways consistent with the cosmopolitan liberal commitment. At Neumann, students are taught a well rounded curriculum to excel regardless of ethnicity. Many of the classes taken at this college are centered around individual thought and expression. Neumann goal is to welcome or embrace diversity. While attending various other colleges, this was not the focus or goal of the college. Neumann broadens ones horizons to look beyond the visual that one see and focus on the person as a whole without any reference to race, gender, or nationality. Fredrickson's analysis is probably one of the most direct and functional definitions of racism of our times. Covert Racism Introduction Racism; the belief that races have distinctive cultural characteristics determined by hereditary factors and that this endows some races with an intrinsic superiority over others (Collins English Dictionary 2012) and thus leading to abusive or aggressive behaviour towards members of another race on the basis of such a belief (Collins English Dictionary 2012). This book talks about the roots of racism Inna very clear and compelling way. This book talks about the biological factors and the impact of identical politics. Authors is from science background that's why this is very rich and deep-rooted book. "History shows us that it's only a small leap from believing in cultural superiority to believing in biological superiority, that a group's achievements result from their innate capacities." Role of genetics in skin tone or physical appearance is described in a very powerful and insightful way. Effects of inequality and the Pre and post effects of genetical tradition. This is a very well furnished research material for racial and ethnic backgrounds also a very useful to understand identical politics. --By MD Akhlaq on 5 August 2019

About the Author

ANGELA SAINI is an award-winning science journalist whose print and broadcast work has appeared on the BBC and in the Guardian, New Scientist, Wired, the Economist, and Scientific American. She has a Masters in Engineering from Oxford University and is a former fellow at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Her last book, Inferior: How Science Got Women Wrong and the New Research That's Rewriting the Story, was Physics World's Book of the Year. Her first book, Geek Nation: How Indian Science Is Taking Over the World was published in 2011. In 2018 she was voted by her peers as one of the most respected journalists in the UK.

About this edition

• Publisher: Harper Collins India
• Publication date: 2019
• ISBN 10: 9353570867
• ISBN 13: 9789353570866
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 340