种族主义(racism)
任何反映种族观念的行动、习性或信仰，这样的意识形态，相信人类可以区分为隔离且互斥的生物实体，他们称为「种族」并认为人格、智力、道德和文化都与遗传性的体质特质有因果关联，因此认定某些种族天生就优於其他种族。对於北美奴隶黑人的制度、西欧人跨海扩张殖民地和打造帝国的时代，种族主义正是其核心思想，并在18世纪达到高峰。在美国南方，种族观念被创造出来夸大人群的差异：一种人是欧洲裔的美国人，另一种人则是祖先被迫带到美国为奴的非洲裔後代。主张奴隶制度的人，透过把非洲人及其子孙贬低为较次等人种，为这种剥削制度找到正当化理由；但另一方面，他们却同时把美国描写成充满自由、人权、民主、机会、平等的堡垒与殿堂。这种奴隶制度和人权思想的矛盾，在人类自由和尊严的哲学之下，似乎必须将那些奴隶的人性去除不管。到了19世纪，种族主义更加成熟并且散布到全世界。源自我族中心主义（ethnocentrism）的种族主义，以体质来区分差异，并认为这些人群间的差异是不可改变的。虽然族群认同（Ethnic identity）被认为是後天得来的、族群特质是习得的行为形式，但相反的，种族则被认为是天生而且不可改变的认同形式。到了20世纪後半叶，世界上很多冲突被解释为种族的纷争，但其实冲突的根源只是长期以来许多人类社会的族群敌意（例如阿拉伯人与犹太人；英格兰人与爱尔兰人）。种族主义表露了人群分裂的最深刻形式，并意指不同团体之间的差异大到无法跨越。亦请参阅ethnic group、sociocultural evolution。
English version：
racism
Any action, practice, or belief that reflects the racial worldview—the ideology that humans are divided into separate and exclusive biological entities called “races,” that there is a causal link between inherited physical traits and traits of personality, intellect, morality, and other cultural behavioral features, and that some races are innately superior to others. Racism was at the heart of North American slavery and the colonization and empire-building activities of some Western Europeans overseas, especially in the 18th century. The idea of race was invented to magnify the differences between people of European origin in the United States and those of African descent whose ancestors had been brought against their will to function as slaves in the American South. By projecting Africans and their descendants as lesser human beings, the proponents of slavery attempted to justify and maintain this system of exploitation while at the same time portraying the United States as a bastion and champion of human freedom, with human rights, democratic institutions, unlimited opportunities, and equality. The contradiction between slavery and the ideology of human equality, accompanying a philosophy of human freedom and dignity, seemed to demand the dehumanization of those enslaved. By the 19th century, racism had matured and the idea spread around the world. Racism differs from ethnocentrism in that it is linked to physical and therefore immutable differences among people. Ethnic identity is acquired, and ethnic features are learned forms of behavior. Race, on the other hand, is a form of identity that is perceived as innate and unalterable. In the last half of the 20th century many conflicts around the world were interpreted in racial terms even though their origins were in the ethnic hostilities that have long characterized many human societies (e.g., Arabs and Jews, English and Irish). Racism reflects an acceptance of the deepest forms and degrees of divisiveness and carries the implication that differences among groups are so great that they cannot be transcended. See also ethnic group, sociocultural evolution.