The Ideas of Race, Following classification, social Darwinism and eugenics

This presentation is accumulation of sources to form a lesson presentation on the pseudoscientific ideas of race prevelant in to 20th century. Detailing how pseudoscientific notions of race came about, through who and what their effects were on certain races. It also details eugenics as a result of these racial notions.

1. Grade Eleven History Lesson: An introduction to Ideas of Race In the late 19 th and 20 th centuries by: Tasha Varrie 223051240 18 August 2025 Figure 1: Figure 3; Figure 2:

2. Lesson Objectives! At the end of today’s lesson, you should be able to: Define and provide examples of the pseudoscientific ideas of race. Analyse how these concepts were used to justify racial stratification. Establish a connection between Social Darwinism, Eugenics in Australia, Nazi Germany and the Holocaust . Figure 4:

3. Pseu dosc ience? Swallowing watermelon seeds =watermelon growing in your stomach Handwriting determines personality traits (graphology) Covid vaccinations result in autism and dementia

4. Pseudoscience Essentially, pseudoscientific concepts, as defined by Negotiation Bootcamp (n/d), are non-empirical theories that can not be validated or refuted and are often static and anecdotal, relying on ‘tales’ BUT HOW IS THIS RELATED TO RACE?! Well, here’s how! Most historical notions of race are pseudoscientific ideologies. Who, What, When, How?

5. Origins of the Pseudoscientific Notions of Race Carolus Linnaeus 1707-1778 Samuel Morton 1799-1851 Charles Darwin 1809-1882 Herbert Spencer 1820-1903 Figure 5 Figure 6 Figure 1 Figure 3

6. Pseudoscientific Social Darwinism Andrew Clarke (n/d) describes how an array of sociologists applied Darwin’s concepts to their theories, twisting his words as a means to exploit and justify the division of poor and rich and non-white individuals. Clarke (n/d) draws parallels between Herbert Spencer and Arthur de Gobineau’s supremacist ideals, which posit that the ‘yellow’ and ‘black’ races were not as intelligent as the white race, thus making them racially inferior. Figures 7 and 8

7. Social Darwinism cont. The use of science, like Darwin’s theory of natural selection as a basis and justification of racial supremacist ideologies like the above-mentioned Social Darwinism, makes these ideologies pseudoscience and practically fallacious. Clarke further argues that these sociologists used Darwinism to invent ideas that were politically, socially and economically beneficial to them.

8. How do pseudoscientific Notions of Race breed inequality and eugenics ? Pseudoscientific ideas of racial superiority result in inequality. Seeing individuals as inferior results in treating them as inferior! According to John Wilkins , this so-called inferiority of certain races coincided with the idea of them being ‘unfit’. Figure 9

9. . “Just as nature weeds out unfit species, an enlightened society ought to weed out its unfit individuals so as not to weaken the racial stock.” Similarly, Wilkins (n/d) highlights the Social Darwinist modus operandi that society is served by the elimination of the unfit. Figure 10

10. Eugenics This idea of the elimination of the unfit illustrates the idea of -that Mpattani (n/d) describes a set of beliefs and that aims at improving the genetic quality of the human population. OR/AND -He also describes it as the study of agencies under social control that improve or impair the racial qualities of future generations either physically or mentally.

11. Figures 11 and 12

12. Types of Eugenics The practice of eugenics consists of two branches, namely : Positive Eugenics: - Which, according to Dr Dinesh Sharma(n/d), is improving society by increasing desirable traits through the ‘breeding’ of the best individuals. Negative Eugenics: - Which Dr. Sharma (n/d) describes as efforts aimed at decreasing undesirable traits by preventing ‘unfit’ individuals from reproducing.

13. Positive and Negative Eugenics exemplified Encouraging individuals with desirable genetics to reproduce (often incentivised ) Matching of blonde-haired blue- eyed women and men to produce similar traits Discouraging reproduction amongst people with undesirable traits often through policies such as marriage restrictions, sterilization and at times euthanasia (intentional killing of ‘unfit’ individuals such as black, Jewish and differently abled individuals to end their ‘suffering’ ) Figures 13 and 14

14. Racial Classification/ Pseudoscientific Stratification Social Darwinism ‘survival of the fittest’ Eugenics Figures 1 and 3

15. Pseudoscientific Racial Ideas Australia and Nazi Germany Now that we’ve established an understanding of Pseudoscientific Notions of Race , Social Darwinism and Eugenics, in connection with each other. In our next lesson, we’ll consider these concepts as the foundations of the topics of ‘ outbreeding of Aboriginal Australians and the Holocaust in Nazi Germany . so READ THESE TOPICS IN PREPATION !!!

16. Watch the following playlist to recap this lesson and prepare for the following one. https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLyhVXFct3eP0GstLjSeh8QhZdPs4w6DsU&si=ijK40gK_WxRmD2tm

17. questions/ concerns?

18. References Andrew Clarke https://www.slideshare.net/AndrewClark295760/darwinism-and-american-societydocx Dr. Dinesh C Sharma Eugenics, Euthenics & Euphenics | PPT John Wilkins: https://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/darwinism-and-eugenics/21652256 Mpattani : https://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/eugenics-57538716/57538716 Negotiation Bootcamp: https://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/pseudoscience-241762942/241762942 Ratnodip Saha: https://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/biological-classification-an-overview-by-ratnodip-saha/239602891 Figure 1: https://pin.it/2edAaPIlP Figure 2: https://pin.it/3kgL0Yjqf Figure 3: https://pin.it/1m8tu1jZK Figure 4: https://pin.it/JsVI43Vnn Figure 5: https://pin.it/7pr6f74XN Figure 6: https://pin.it/5KHdxMwlv Figure 7: https://pin.it/5pRpc3gzy Figure 8: https://pin.it/7JadAHxsX

19. References cont. Figure 9: https://pin.it/Z08BBpLGq Figure 10: https://pin.it/49rQIZG9S Figure 11: https://pin.it/3MjNJ25bf Figure 12: https://pin.it/7biqTFcgc Figure 13: https://pin.it/3IXGwxPgt Figure 14: https://pin.it/1FBY92AEc

20. Thank You, The End . Ms T.R. Varrie 223051240 251TST20B3 Repurposed Artefact/Presentation More of Me: https://about.me/tashavarrie