Cultural Disorientation: Magnified By European Racism

This cultural disorientation was magnified by European racism. In particular, the contemporary popular notion of social Darwinism, which argued that different ethnic groups were at different stages of intellectual and physical development, was often used as a justification for imperialism. By extension, social Darwinism was used to justify the duty of imperial powers to civilize the less-developed regions of the world by spreading European culture. Social Darwinism was also employed to justify the elevation of certain groups and the suppression of others. For example, many British and French colonial officials believed that people from the Indian subcontinent or Asia were superior to Africans, and, therefore, transported people from these