Jean-Jacques Rousseau And The Eugenic Movement

Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) was an 18th century philosopher who believed that language defined what place you were in a social strata. From the foundational to the contemporary era, social stratas were meant to keep people separated from those who are poor, working, and powerful. Rousseau’s theories can be seen through that of colonizers and the people from the eugenic movement, a racial hierarchy was made and drawing portrayed the way that white man were seen compared to people of color, resulting in the idea that white men are superior compared to those of people of color, which can be seen from the modern era to the contemporary era. In the 15th century, Spain began to colonize America. When Spaniards colonized the Americas, they also bought along their practices with them. The practices included that of Christianity, a Spaniard’s native language, and their daily life. During the 17th century, Europeans were involved in the African slave trade. When African slaves were brought to the Americas, Europeans did not teach Africans the way Spaniards taught Native Americans, in fact African slaves were not taught at all. Africans were seen as savages to the Europeans because Africans did not …show more content…
This can be seen in stereotypes, some people say that the South marry and breed with their family because in the 20th century when eugenics was a big thing. Eugenics was the reason behind Nazi Germany. Adolf Hitler and his followers believed that people with certain aspects (blue eyes, blonde hair, tall, etc.) should breed to better the population. In the contemporary era of the U.S.A., people of color and white people could not breed children together because then the child would not be considered purified. Rousseau’s ideas related to this because the reasons that people of color were considered savages because they did not speak the same language as