"Great is the power of steady misrepresentation" : racial inequality and social representations of human evolution
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- Lay narratives about human evolution contain references to leaving Africa, describe evolution as linear, and celebrate Western advances as evidence of humanity's superior intellect. Furthermore, popular images of human evolution depict a timeline beginning with a dark, apelike creature on the left and ending with a White male on the right. I argue that these commonplace representations of human evolution contain vestiges of an explicit racial hierarchy from the 19th century and affect people's understanding of racial inequality today. Across three studies, White participants exposed to these representations were more likely to demonstrate indifference to and even justification of racial inequality, both present and historic. In two additional studies I demonstrate that the representation of evolution can negatively affect Black participants in an academic context, by invoking a threat of dehumanization. Although inaccuracies in the representations of human evolution are well documented, such inaccuracies not only pose challenges for the teaching and learning of science, but also for current day race relations.
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Form | electronic; electronic resource; remote |
| Extent | 1 online resource. |
| Publication date | 2011 |
| Issuance | monographic |
| Language | English |
Creators/Contributors
| Associated with | Marshall, Shantal Renee |
|---|---|
| Associated with | Stanford University, Department of Psychology |
| Primary advisor | Eberhardt, Jennifer L. (Jennifer Lynn) |
| Thesis advisor | Eberhardt, Jennifer L. (Jennifer Lynn) |
| Thesis advisor | Lowery, Brian S, 1974- |
| Thesis advisor | Markus, Hazel Rose |
| Advisor | Lowery, Brian S, 1974- |
| Advisor | Markus, Hazel Rose |
Subjects
| Genre | Theses |
|---|
Bibliographic information
| Statement of responsibility | Shantal Renee Marshall. |
|---|---|
| Note | Submitted to the Department of Psychology. |
| Thesis | Thesis (Ph.D.)--Stanford University, 2011. |
| Location | electronic resource |
Access conditions
- Copyright
- © 2011 by Shantal Renee Marshall
- License
- This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 3.0 Unported license (CC BY-NC).
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