Survival of the fittest?

Abstract

Francis' critique, 'Social Darwinism and the construction of Institutionalized racism in Australia', attacks the race theory of recent Australian historians with all the enthusiasm of a kid knocking down a sandcastle. Francis accuses these writers of not differentiating between divergent scientific debates, of applying them too loosely, or for getting them right too quietly. Anthropologists are lined up for paying inadequate attention to earlier ethnographers, while past bureaucrats are condemned for being repellent and reflecting values of their time rather than being truly scientific. Show more