Discussing race and genetics online: A qualitative interview study

Abstract

Scientific racism maintains unjust racial hierarchies by portraying racial inequality as an inevitable result of innate differences between races. Proponents of modern scientific racism often cite geneticists’ ability to predict racial categorization from genetic ancestry as proof that there are significant biological differences between races. These ideas are often spread through online discourse and have been used to support White Supremacist “replacement” theories and justify racial violence. To investigate the prevalence of scientific racism in “civil conversations” online, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 9 adults, recruited from the social media site Reddit, who reported having conversations about race and genetics online. Participants commonly engaged in conversations about the scientific validity of race and the significance of genetics in between-group IQ differences. Many participants explained differences in health outcomes between races as being the result of personal choice, influenced by culture and other environmental factors. Some participants associated genetics in general with racism, while generalizations made about race attributed to “culture” did not have the same associations.