The Invention of Racism in Classical AntiquityThere was racism in the ancient world, after all. This groundbreaking book refutes the common belief that the ancient Greeks and Romans harbored "ethnic and cultural," but not racial, prejudice. It does so by comprehensively tracing the intellectual origins of racism back to classical antiquity. Benjamin Isaac's systematic analysis of ancient social prejudices and stereotypes reveals that some of those represent prototypes of racism--or proto-racism--which in turn inspired the early modern authors who developed the more familiar racist ideas. He considers the literature from classical Greece to late antiquity in a quest for the various forms of the discriminatory stereotypes and social hatred that have played such an important role in recent history and continue to do so in modern society. |
From inside the book
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... moral environments . They are the result of the human tendency to generalize and simplify , so that whole nations are treated as a single individual with a single personality . Contemporary west- ern society is marked by a substantial ...
... moral clarity . There are numerous definitions of racism , varying from a narrow to a broad interpretation . A British sociologist who has pub- lished widely on racism , Michael Banton , defines racism and prejudice as fol- lows : " By ...
... moral , which are constant and un- alterable by human will , because they are caused by hereditary factors or exter- nal influences , such as climate or geography . " The essence of racism is that it regards individuals as superior or ...
... morally have more rights than Islamic immigrants , because Christians have contributed for centuries to building our country " ( statement made on March 2 , 2002 , which I translated and cited from the party's Website : www.pim- fortuyn ...
... moral or mental hierarchy . This idea has too often been used in combination with the view that some races are inherently superior to others , the superior race being one's own . Since the basis for a classification of humanity into ...