The Etiology of Racism in Europe

Abstract

The Etiology of Racism in Europe

Abstract

This monograph on racism briefly goes through various reports
prepared by internationai organizations on the comtemporary forms of
racism. It tries to define racism, racial discrimination and racial prejudice as
well as ethnicity and ethnocentrism. It dwells on individual and group
psychologies in order to understand the underlining mechanisms vvhich may
lead to racism in times of acute stress.
We shall attempt in this study to examine the causes of racism in
Europe in a historical perspective. As Encyclopedia Britannica
(Macropaedia, Vol. 15, pp. 359-366) points out (and we summarize in the
following paragraphs), not only is racism a recent phenomenon in history
and the exception rather than the rule as compared to the universal nature of
ethnocentrism, it also seems to occur in some parts of the world and not in
others.  

Keywords

• The Etiology
• Racism
• Europe