Slavery without Racism, Racism without Slavery

Abstract

Abstract This article surveys several problems related to the links between slavery and racism, and the frequency of both racism without slavery and slavery without racism. Slavery clearly existed prior to the emergence of racism, scientific or otherwis, and unlike in recent centuries, the enslaved were not always peoples of different color. The linking of race and slavery, with race as the defining characteristic of the enslaved, came mainly after the settlement of the Americas with the transatlantic slave trade from Africa. Indeed, the debate continues on whether racism led to slavery (as argued for colonial America) or whether slavery gave rise to a coherent racism to justify enslavement of others. Racism may be used to justify the harsh treatment of others, or it may simply reflect mainly a belief that some differences among groups exist and race provides the interpretation of why such differences exist. Presumably then, awareness of perceived or argued for racial differences could exist without the imposition of differential treatments, despite the role racial beliefs might play in social organization.