Why Racism Remains, Part I
Medicine takes an individual-focused approach in the physical sciences under the paradigm that we are animals comprised of body plans and systems much like other animals. Pacemakers, for instance, are usually tested on swine hearts before they go to clinical trials, because of the similarity of swine and human hearts. Laboratory rats are used for medical research covering topics from cancer to understanding the connection between brain structures and behavior.
The field of anthropology has delved into such topics as ergonomics, for instance, to address inefficient and health-reducing designs of equipment, environment, and furniture. A sitting stance and keyboard design can for instance induce such health issues as carpal tunnel syndrome and SI joint dysfunction (lower back pain). We don’t blame malice within an individual for being ill, especially when it happens to others with similar situations. We know fairly quickly when these things happen and why because we feel pain, and it is intuitive to turn to ergonomics. However, when it comes to understanding and solving all things social, we don't usually take such an approach.
The field of anthropology has delved into such topics as ergonomics, for instance, to address inefficient and health-reducing designs of equipment, environment, and furniture. A sitting stance and keyboard design can for instance induce such health issues as carpal tunnel syndrome and SI joint dysfunction (lower back pain). We don’t blame malice within an individual for being ill, especially when it happens to others with similar situations. We know fairly quickly when these things happen and why because we feel pain, and it is intuitive to turn to ergonomics. However, when it comes to understanding and solving all things social, we don't usually take such an approach.
We simply have failed in society at applying a similar biological paradigm. It is not biologically unintuitive for us to view all things social as a biosocial feature of our species. We instead view the constructed social world as the real world. And it has played into belief systems built on what seems intuitive but is not real, such as mind-brain dualism, which has permeated nearly every system of thought - including religion. Consequently, few would ever consider a biosocial perspective and would be thus biased in ways that could prevent more effective solutions.
A major aspect of our social nature is attributing causation (blame). It is biologically intuitive (for environments civil societies no longer face), albeit inaccurate, to blame a person or people or organization as the out-group or "they" that aren't "us". Culture plays a huge part in the details of we view the world and others. Simply put, though we endeavor to solve social problems, our very social nature makes it difficult for us to see the truth about the problems our social nature creates. And some problems aren’t even viewed as problems but rather as the natural order of things – despite evidence our social nature wasn’t built for today’s world. Our social instinct still drives much about the social world, even though it is obsolete.
A minority of people do not exhibit such automatic instinct and would have certainly perished during the Stone Age because phenotypically, they are different enough they would be pushed into the outgroup. This instinct is obsolete and is behind such social evils as gossip, exclusion, ostracism, and bullying. The social instinct spectrum extends away from that to severe autism at the other end, though even the severe autistic is often quite aware of the social setting. Such is why some experts have been able to make social connections but in different ways (such as mimicking what the autistic person is doing while not attempting direct social contact).
Because of the mismatch of our social nature with today’s world, we have developed stubborn public beliefs, cultural memes, and socialized adages that have reinforced the incorrect assignment of social causation. The origins of such reinforcements have long been obsolete, yet we continue to give credence to such origins. For instance, anthropology and sociology became the go-to disciplines for studying social problems and are even viewed today by the layperson as experts. Yet those disciplines are long behind the body of knowledge that has accumulated over the last century – knowledge on the social nature of the human individual. Consequently, those disciplines and society’s trust in them have greatly hindered social progress. Trying explaining our sociobiological nature to a sociologist. It is likely you will be cut off midsentence with something along the lines of, “I’m a sociologist and I don’t believe that”. And it won’t matter how much physical evidence you can offer.
The body of knowledge for understanding our social nature, and developing solutions to social problems, originates in the following disciplinary camps or ideas. Note the inclusion of anthropology and sociology with provisos.
• Social Psychology
• The lens of evolutionary psychology
• Sociobiology paired with comparative neuropsychology
• Social neuroscience
• Anthropology and sociology if those disciplines can reset the paradigm they are grounded in.
The main objective of a long-term strategy to solve social problems is to educate the masses toward the evolution of culture and the public mind. Such self-science (born in the application of research in the aforementioned viewpoints and empirical findings), would be a mass social inoculation similar to the flu shot. To help explain what I mean, consider the topic of racism and two stereotypes that are prevalent in the public mind: whites are smarter, blacks are more athletic.
Studies have repeatedly revealed that performance on identical tests differ for blacks and whites according to these stereotypes if the stereotypes are fresh in the minds of the participants. Our social instinct behind such phenomena is an interactive system with messages and feedbacks that occur beneath our awareness. Findings in social psychology tease some pieces of social instinct but under limited situational perspectives. A couple of social psychological constructs touching on such phenomena are stereotype threat and the self-fulfilling prophecy.
Teaching our social nature behind this to K-12 educators and students would provide both sides of the racial issue with tools to override such nature. Blacks would understand their response to underperforming to perceived racial overtones is due to human (not white) social nature, rather than the fear the stereotype is true or belief the stereotype is socially forced on someone. The scientific evidence across disciplines including such physical disciplines as genetics, reveals the stereotypes to be false, yet they persist. They only exist because our social nature created them, and our social nature enforces them. Teaching whites a better “whiteness” for instance is a non-solution. Not only is it not based on science, but it also detracts from real solutions.
The most realistic and effective solution is to teach all people that it is in our intrinsic social nature to draw us-them boundaries and thus to stereotype and that our nature also includes the tendency to fulfill expectations of stereotypes, whether negative or positive. Someday we’ll be able to see what brain structures are active during racial social situations, and when we do, racism will dwindle to the relics of political campaigns.
The body of knowledge for understanding our social nature, and developing solutions to social problems, originates in the following disciplinary camps or ideas. Note the inclusion of anthropology and sociology with provisos.
• Social Psychology
• The lens of evolutionary psychology
• Sociobiology paired with comparative neuropsychology
• Social neuroscience
• Anthropology and sociology if those disciplines can reset the paradigm they are grounded in.
The main objective of a long-term strategy to solve social problems is to educate the masses toward the evolution of culture and the public mind. Such self-science (born in the application of research in the aforementioned viewpoints and empirical findings), would be a mass social inoculation similar to the flu shot. To help explain what I mean, consider the topic of racism and two stereotypes that are prevalent in the public mind: whites are smarter, blacks are more athletic.
Studies have repeatedly revealed that performance on identical tests differ for blacks and whites according to these stereotypes if the stereotypes are fresh in the minds of the participants. Our social instinct behind such phenomena is an interactive system with messages and feedbacks that occur beneath our awareness. Findings in social psychology tease some pieces of social instinct but under limited situational perspectives. A couple of social psychological constructs touching on such phenomena are stereotype threat and the self-fulfilling prophecy.
Teaching our social nature behind this to K-12 educators and students would provide both sides of the racial issue with tools to override such nature. Blacks would understand their response to underperforming to perceived racial overtones is due to human (not white) social nature, rather than the fear the stereotype is true or belief the stereotype is socially forced on someone. The scientific evidence across disciplines including such physical disciplines as genetics, reveals the stereotypes to be false, yet they persist. They only exist because our social nature created them, and our social nature enforces them. Teaching whites a better “whiteness” for instance is a non-solution. Not only is it not based on science, but it also detracts from real solutions.
The most realistic and effective solution is to teach all people that it is in our intrinsic social nature to draw us-them boundaries and thus to stereotype and that our nature also includes the tendency to fulfill expectations of stereotypes, whether negative or positive. Someday we’ll be able to see what brain structures are active during racial social situations, and when we do, racism will dwindle to the relics of political campaigns.
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