Measuring race Scientists of the 18th and 19th centuries sought to categorize and measure different races. Measurements of the cranium were especially important in their now-debunked hierarchies of human groups. (more) scientific racism racism Actions Share Share Share to social media Facebook X URL https://www.britannica.com/topic/scientific-racism Share Share Share to social media Facebook X URL https://www.britannica.com/topic/scientific-racism Written by Audrey Smedley Professor of Anthropology, Virginia Commonwealth University. Author of Race in North America: Origin and Evolution of a Worldview. Audrey Smedley Fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica Last Updated: Sep 25, 2024 • Article History Table of Contents Ask the Chatbot a Question Ask the Chatbot a Question scientific racism, set of falsified scientific or pseudoscientific hypotheses that seeks to explain and justify European colonial dominance, particularly in the 17th through early 20th century. Proponents of scientific racism believe that races—variable, socially constructed groupings of people based on certain phenotypical features—are immutable biological facts. They employed a variety of classification schemes to categorize different “races” and organized them hierarchically, with those of European descent at the top. Anthropological and genetic studies in the 20th century later debunked many of the claims of scientific racism. Scientific racism was founded on the erroneous assumption that the human species can be ...(100 of 2616 words)

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