Some scholars argue that in the US, earlier violent and aggressive forms of racism have evolved into

a more subtle form of prejudice in the late 20th century. This new form of racism is sometimes
referred to as "modern racism" and it is characterized by outwardly acting unprejudiced while
inwardly maintaining prejudiced attitudes, displaying subtle prejudiced behaviors such as actions
informed by attributing qualities to others based on racial stereotypes, and evaluating the same
behavior differently based on the race of the person being evaluated. [82] This view is based on studies
of prejudice and discriminatory behavior, where some people will act ambivalently towards black
people, with positive reactions in certain, more public contexts, but more negative views and
expressions in more private contexts. This ambivalence may also be visible for example in hiring
decisions where job candidates that are otherwise positively evaluated may be unconsciously
disfavored by employers in the final decision because of their race.[83][84][85] Some scholars consider
modern racism to be characterized by an explicit rejection of stereotypes, combined with resistance
to changing structures of discrimination for reasons that are ostensibly non-racial, an ideology that
considers opportunity at a purely individual basis denying the relevance of race in determining
individual opportunities and the exhibition of indirect forms of micro-aggression toward and/or
avoidance of people of other races.[86]

Subconscious biases
Main article: Implicit bias §  Racial bias
Recent research has shown that individuals who consciously claim to reject racism may still exhibit
race-based subconscious biases in their decision-making processes. While such "subconscious
racial biases" do not fully fit the definition of racism, their impact can be similar, though typically less
pronounced, not being explicit, conscious or deliberate. [87]

International law and racial discrimination

In 1919, a proposal to include a racial equality provision in the Covenant of the League of
Nations was supported by a majority, but not adopted in the Paris Peace Conference in 1919. In
1943, Japan and its allies declared work for the abolition of racial discrimination to be their aim at
the Greater East Asia Conference.[88] Article 1 of the 1945 UN Charter includes "promoting and
encouraging respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to
race" as UN purpose.
In 1950, UNESCO suggested in The Race Question – a statement signed by 21 scholars such
as Ashley Montagu, Claude Lévi-Strauss, Gunnar Myrdal, Julian Huxley, etc. – to "drop the
term race altogether and instead speak of ethnic groups". The statement condemned scientific
racism theories that had played a role in the Holocaust. It aimed both at debunking scientific racist
theories, by popularizing modern knowledge concerning "the race question", and morally
condemned racism as contrary to the philosophy of the Enlightenment and its assumption of equal
rights for all. Along with Myrdal's An American Dilemma: The Negro Problem and Modern
Democracy (1944), The Race Question influenced the 1954 U.S. Supreme
Court desegregation decision in Brown v. Board of Education.[89] Also, in 1950, the European
Convention on Human Rights was adopted, which was widely used on racial discrimination issues. [90]
The United Nations use the definition of racial discrimination laid out in the International Convention
on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, adopted in 1966:
... any distinction, exclusion, restriction or preference based on race, color, descent, or national or
ethnic origin that has the purpose or effect of nullifying or impairing the recognition, enjoyment or
exercise, on an equal footing, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic,
social, cultural or any other field of public life. (Part 1 of Article 1 of the U.N. International Convention
on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination) [91]
In 2001, the European Union explicitly banned racism, along with many other forms of social
discrimination, in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, the legal effect of
which, if any, would necessarily be limited to Institutions of the European Union: "Article 21 of the
charter prohibits discrimination on any ground such as race, color, ethnic or social origin, genetic
features, language, religion or belief, political or any other opinion, membership of a national
minority, property, disability, age or sexual orientation and also discrimination on the grounds of
nationality."[92]

Ideology

A pro-Hiester Clymer racist political campaign poster from the 1866 Pennsylvania gubernatorial election
Racism existed during the 19th century as "scientific racism", which attempted to provide a racial
classification of humanity.[93] In 1775 Johann Blumenbach divided the world's population into five
groups according to skin color (Caucasians, Mongols, etc.), positing the view that the non-
Caucasians had arisen through a process of degeneration. Another early view in scientific racism
was the polygenist view, which held that the different races had been separately created.
Polygenist Christoph Meiners for example, split mankind into two divisions which he labeled the
"beautiful White race" and the "ugly Black race". In Meiners' book, The Outline of History of Mankind,
he claimed that a main characteristic of race is either beauty or ugliness. He viewed only the white
race as beautiful. He considered ugly races to be inferior, immoral and animal-like.
Anders Retzius demonstrated that neither Europeans nor others are one "pure race", but of mixed
origins. While discredited, derivations of Blumenbach's taxonomy are still widely used for the
classification of the population in the United States. Hans Peder Steensby, while strongly
emphasizing that all humans today are of mixed origins, in 1907 claimed that the origins of human
differences must be traced extraordinarily far back in time, and conjectured that the "purest race"
today would be the Australian Aboriginals.[94]
A sign on a racially segregated beach during the Apartheid era in South Africa, stating that the area is for the
"sole use of members of the white race group"
Scientific racism fell strongly out of favor in the early 20th century, but the origins of fundamental
human and societal differences are still researched within academia, in fields such as human
genetics including paleogenetics, social anthropology, comparative politics, history of
religions, history of ideas, prehistory, history, ethics, and psychiatry. There is widespread rejection of
any methodology based on anything similar to Blumenbach's races. It is more unclear to which
extent and when ethnic and national stereotypes are accepted.
Although after World War II and the Holocaust, racist ideologies were discredited on ethical, political
and scientific grounds, racism and racial discrimination have remained widespread around the world.
Du Bois observed that it is not so much "race" that we think about, but culture: "... a common history,
common laws and religion, similar habits of thought and a conscious striving together for certain
ideals of life".[95] Late 19th century nationalists were the first to embrace contemporary discourses on
"race", ethnicity, and "survival of the fittest" to shape new nationalist doctrines. Ultimately, race came
to represent not only the most important traits of the human body, but was also regarded as
decisively shaping the character and personality of the nation. [96] According to this view, culture is the
physical manifestation created by ethnic groupings, as such fully determined by racial
characteristics. Culture and race became considered intertwined and dependent upon each other,
sometimes even to the extent of including nationality or language to the set of definition. Pureness of
race tended to be related to rather superficial characteristics that were easily addressed and
advertised, such as blondness. Racial qualities tended to be related to nationality and language
rather than the actual geographic distribution of racial characteristics. In the case of Nordicism, the
denomination "Germanic" was equivalent to superiority of race.
Bolstered by some nationalist and ethnocentric values and achievements of choice, this concept of
racial superiority evolved to distinguish from other cultures that were considered inferior or impure.
This emphasis on culture corresponds to the modern mainstream definition of racism: "[r]acism does
not originate from the existence of 'races'. It creates them through a process of social division into
categories: anybody can be racialised, independently of their somatic, cultural, religious
differences."[97]
This definition explicitly ignores the biological concept of race, which is still subject to scientific
debate. In the words of David C. Rowe, "[a] racial concept, although sometimes in the guise of
another name, will remain in use in biology and in other fields because scientists, as well as lay
persons, are fascinated by human diversity, some of which is captured by race." [98]
Racial prejudice became subject to international legislation. For instance, the Declaration on the
Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly
on November 20, 1963, addresses racial prejudice explicitly next to discrimination for reasons of
race, colour or ethnic origin (Article I).[99]