Racial hierarchy

A racial hierarchy is a system of stratification that focuses on the belief that some racial groups are either superior or inferior to other racial groups. The groups perceived to have the most (soft or hard) power, intellect and de facto authority are at the top of the racial hierarchy, while the groups perceived to be inferior are at the bottom. A racial hierarchy is a system of stratification that focuses on the belief that some racial groups are either superior or inferior to other racial groups. The groups perceived to have the most (soft or hard) power, intellect and de facto authority are at the top of the racial hierarchy, while the groups perceived to be inferior are at the bottom. In the United States, racial hierarchy refers to ranking of different races/ethnic groups, based on physical and perceived characteristics that have been perpetuated through legal and political policy, providing unfair advantages for some races and/or hindering the advancement of others. Before the American Civil War, the racial ideology that was established throughout the United States was thought to have been established because of biological, political, or even cultural differences among people. This was one of the most important aspects of forming the racial hierarchies in the United States.:14–15 Other experts and leading abolitionists like W. E. B. Du Bois began viewing race as a social construction. Their thoughts began to raise questions and challenge previous existing thoughts about race and why it was divided the way it was.:13–21 In order to maintain and defend slavery, pro-slavery writers organized a 'planter liberalism' by combining paternalist and liberal views into an ideology that could be understood by both slave-holding and non-slave-holding citizens. Their ideology was based on familiar domestic relationships. These views later paved the way for white Southern planters to keep racial conditions as close to slavery as legally possible after the Civil War during the Reconstruction era.:22 The entire planter liberalist view was rooted in the idea of servitude and dependence which was based on defined obligations to each one another.:27 This view forced the subordinates of these relationships to lose their freedoms under complex definitions and other legal circumstances. Slaves were defined to have no 'legal personalities' which meant that they had no freedom.:26They were given legal rights that were similar to children or women. These ideas of slaves being considered legal things or property had significant influences on cases like the Dred Scott Case.:26–28 As some of these liberalist views began to fall apart, slave inferiority was then reinforced by ideas of blacks being savage-like beings that needed to be tamed or civilized through slavery.:32–34 Other defenses of slavery were based on blacks being suited for tasks that were not meant for white people to do.:34 Some laws were based on 'slave codes' that established that slaves were social dangers; therefore, their educations was to be limited so that they could not learn to read and write.:35 Black people were not the only race subject to inferiority under the racial hierarchy. Mulatto and poor white people were also subject to being classed under the independent white people in some cases. So long as a group of people was dependent on an independent group, they, too, could be classed as a group that was inferior and incapable.:44–50 Even after slavery, whites continued to exercise mastery over blacks and other dependent groups. As policies in the United States changed after the Reconstruction period, different establishments of racial hierarchies tried to continue their mastery of the races they deemed inferior. Laws enacted after the 1880s prevented certain groups and their levels of racial hierarchies, like Southern planters, from continuing to affirm their mastery as black and white people became more legally equal. Southern Darwinian liberals wanted to provide little civil and political rights to blacks as a part of their mission to maintain white supremacy.:104 Books like The Bell Curve analyze highly predictive cognitive characteristics like IQ, and one of the book's most discussed sections is its analysis of mean IQ scores across different races. They measure that the mean IQ of African Americans is less than the mean IQ of white Americans, and both of the mean IQs of white Americans and African Americans are less than the mean IQ of Asian Americans. When discussing IQ, other researchers establish that IQ is largely genetically determined and supplementary education would not noticeably change an individual's IQ scores. Others hypothesize that as the U.S. becomes more cognitively stratified, a large part of African Americans will remain in lower socioeconomic strata, insofar as life outcomes correlate with IQ. Others suspect that it could be wasteful to expend additional educational resources to increase IQ because IQ appears not to appreciably increase when changing these environmental factors. There is evidence that shows that racial inequalities affect various economic aspects of people's lives. In a study conducted by the Urban Institute, 'black homebuyers encountered discrimination in 22 percent of their searches for rental units and 17 percent in their efforts to purchase homes. For Hispanics, the figures were 26 and 20 percent.':10 African Americans and Hispanic people receive 'inferior health care' compared to Caucasians when dealing with major health problems.:11 This is why a study conducted in 1995, showed that the infant mortality rate was higher for black babies than it was for white babies. The black rate was 14.3 for every 1000 babies as opposed to the 6.3 for every 1000 white babies.:11 Some research has shown that it is easier for white people to find employment than black people despite the white person having a felony.:13