Biological and moral european perceptions to justify racist actions.

Essay by girlnamedblahUniversity, Bachelor'sA+, July 2003

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Dominant masculine perceptions of early twentieth century Europe shaped the mass opinions of the people at large, by giving them the sense of unity within the nation, that no matter where you were on the hierarchy, you were still above someone else. The biological and moral perceptions used to justify their suppression and denial of political rights, was to prove with science, their idea of how racial and social Darwinian factors maintained a strong, productive and civilized nation. Race was a dominant idea in determining worth to economically secure and further European racial superiority. Borrowing from Darwin's theory, that within evolution the fittest species survives was applied to society where the science of Social Darwinism was born, which affected this perspective to justify their superiority. Europeans interpreted their improvement as progress, which proves Europeans were destined to be strong. The ethnic-state of the nation became the object of dedication and worship by Europeans (3).

Political rights were thought to represent the nation, limiting them to those who fit the dominant idea of race. In discussing racial and social Darwinian factors as a science and how they are applied to a) women's suffrage, b) Semitism and c) the importance of imperial duty of colonization will explain why they were perceived as biological and moral threats to the good of the nation.

Social Darwinism perceived the race of women to be less equal than men by their weakness, reason and virtues, depriving them of their political rights. By the common notion of Europeans, women were born inferior to men in physical strength, intellect and effective moral virtues, without extensive education and social training. It was thought hat women would not represent the physical force of the nation but rather her weakness, that her imperfect sense of proportion and her lack of reason...