1. The effects of World War II (1939-1945) on theories of race

For anthropology, the significance of the war was the realization by anthropologists that the concept of race, which figured so prominently in so much human misery and was the reason for so many deaths, had to be carefully examined and reformulated. From this reexamination came many of our modern concepts of the biological meaning of human races. One such concept was that while human differences exist, they are far smaller than was previously thought and have nothing to do with the superiority or inferiority of human groups.

Anthropologists have not been very successful in communicating these modern concepts of race to the general public, which continues to view human differences in a very traditional manner.

 

Alan E. Mann is a Professor of Anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania. His Top 10 list reviews the 1900's in a general historical light and shows how the major events affected the work and chief concerns of anthropologists. He generally calls attention to broad movements rather than single momentous events. He points to the rapid population growth during the 1900's and reveals why some anthropologists link this trend to the end of human evolution.

1.

The effects of World War II (1939-1945) on theories of race
2. Social change caused by World War I (1914-1918)
3. The increase in world population (throughout the 1900's)
4.

The development of genetics (mid-1900's)
5. Gaining understanding of the atomic structure of matter (middle to late 1900's)
6. The development of antibiotics (middle to late 1900's)
7. The impact of automobile and airplane travel (throughout the 1900's)
8. The rise of the computer-based Information Age (middle to late 1900's)
9. The development of effective and safe methods of birth control (mid-1900's)
10. Accepting the theory of continental drift (late 1900's)