There are at least three different racist ideologies that were developed in different historic contexts and still coexist in today’s society.
Classical or biological racism: This conception of racism was developed in the 18th and 19th centuries based on the scientific theories of the time, which differentiated and ranked the peoples of the world according to their physical attributes. The term “racial” is used to refer to ethnic groups.
This ideology, which was constructed at the same time that colonization was occurring, opposed racial intermixing. Even though this notion of biological differences between groups has been debunked by scientific advances, it lingers on in today’s discourse and its arguments are still to be found sprinkled through certain political discourse (e.g. the belief that some athletes naturally perform better in certain sports simply because of the colour of their skin).
Racial inferiorization : This conception of racism, while not necessarily based on race, considers that certain groups of human beings are inferior to others. This would justify, for example, exploiting them as factory workers in the context of industrial revolution or taking away their lands in the context of colonization (e.g. the paternalistic approach to First Nations peoples in the Indian Act, which treated them as children unable to take care of themselves; this resulted in their displacement, such as that of the Plains Cree for the expansion of the Canadian railroad, or of workers who had to live in slums near factories, without services).
Differentialist racism: This conception of racism emerged along with the decolonization movements, which resulted in South-North migrations and brought about a sort of neoracism based on culture struggles. This ideology also opposes racial intermixing, since it is perceived as a threat to culture, values, etc. (e.g. discourse opposing immigration from countries where values are considered to be contrary to and irreconcilable with those of the host country; these immigrants or groups are said to threaten our way of life; these immigrants want to impose their values and religion, and threaten equality between men and women).
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