Harari’s Arguments about Race in America and Gender

In chapter 8, Harari (2014) reaffirms his belief that myths, narratives, and “imagined systems” (which manage human societies) function because they motivate individuals to cooperate, rather than because they are true, “neutral,” or fair to everyone who believes in them and adheres to their rules. Although people continue to believe in such myths (or that they are based on biological principles), Harari (2014) contends that these beliefs are completely false and that they should be abandoned. Sisson (2014) highlight that people have the ability to transform their societies (as well as the hierarchies they build) by adjusting the myths that they rally behind. Imagined orders are efficient, as Harari (2014) explains in his book, due to the fact that they separate people, assign them certain responsibilities within a community, and maintain them inside their social station, enabling a society to operate effectively on a large scale. While these institutions are important for civilizations to operate, they are often abused by people at the bottom of the social ladder, who are the most vulnerable. Harari (2014) claims that it is possible to change the structure of society by rewriting the myths upon which civilization is founded, especially along the confines of gender and race in America.

The racial hierarchy in the United States was constructed for practical reasons in the first place. Because shipping slaves from Africa was less expensive than carrying slaves from East Asia, European conquerors chose Africa as their source of captives over East Asia because it was less expensive to bring slaves from Africa. They also avoided slaves from Latin America at the time because of a severe malaria outbreak that was raging across the area. Early American leaders were driven to develop their own caste system as a result of these restraints (Sisson, 2014). They believed that white people were born with better intelligence and morality than those of other races. The same point is presented by Sisson (2014) regarding the superiority of societies based on race. For many years after slavery was abolished, many people continued to stigmatize Black people (Sisson, 2014), portraying them as slothful, dumb, and innately less likely to achieve success in life, despite the reality that poverty and a lack of opportunity severely limited their opportunities.

While society seems to have grasped the fact that visible hierarchies are myths, the prejudices that they encourage lead to the establishment of vicious loops that prevent people from exercising their rights in a democratic society. Following the abolition of slavery, cultural preconceptions prevented Black people from obtaining an education, leading others to believe that they were actually less intelligent than white people. As a result, more discriminatory regulations were enacted to prevent intermingling, so strengthening rather than dismantling the originally designed hierarchical structure. If imagined hierarchies are founded on coincidental coincidences, Harari (2014) avows that they may exist for decades or perhaps generations if not millennia if they are not destroyed. Each culture, Harari (2014) notes, has its own imagined/imaginary hierarchies. In the United States, race is very important (Sisson, 2014). According to Harari (2014), it is culture, rather than biology, that is responsible for the establishment of rules regulating human conduct. Men and women may produce children because of biological factors, and men and women can have sexual relations with one another, among other things. Some activities are restricted by cultural restraints, such as the prohibition on women having children and guys achieving their sexual potential with other men. However, although culture often advises people to avoid activities that are seen as “unnatural,” Harari (2014) argues that biology is not unnatural: everything is either conceivable or impossible. It is his contention that the distinction of “natural” and “unnatural” acts has its origins in Christian theological doctrines. When people’s actions are in conformity with God’s will, they are deemed natural; otherwise, they are regarded unnatural, according to the Bible.

According to Harari (2014), it is nonsensical to argue that it is normal for women to give birth while it is unnatural for persons to be homosexual or bisexual. While there are biological differences, there is no empirical evidence linking these differences to social qualities such as voting intelligence, according to the research. Historically, gender concepts such as masculinity and femininity have been imposed socially rather than biologically, and as a consequence, they have changed through time and across different nations. However, despite significant variances in social norms across nations and historical times, almost all human civilizations have been patriarchal since the Agricultural Revolution, with men generally at the top of their social hierarchies from the dawn of time (Sisson, 2014). Male superiority is a topic of debate among scholars, including Harari (2014), who claims that no hypothesis has convinced him that males are inherently superior to women. According to one argument, males are physically stronger than females, and they have taken advantage of their physical superiority to oppress females throughout history. Harari (2014), on the other hand, has not changed his cynicism about the idea. Despite his belief that there is no essential relationship between strength and leadership, he argues that any community that appreciates its elders, regardless of their physical vulnerability, is a good culture.

In conclusion, Harari makes the argument that biology makes people different, including skin color and gender. Men are more violent and aggressive than women, and that they use their anger towards their female counterparts to exercise control over their own bodies. The same is true for race as white people use their skin color to assert dominance. While Harari accepts that the role of biology may not be interfered with, he also makes the conclusion that all other social constructs are subject to change including the racial and gender divides. For example, he argues that women’s biological differences forced them to evolve into a state of dependence on men in order to survive; however, throughout history, women could have just as easily relied on the assistance of other women. In summary, a majority of social constructs are devoid of substance.

References

Harari, Y. N. (2014). Sapiens: A brief history of humankind. Random House.

Sisson, D. (2014). The American Revolution of 1800: How Jefferson Rescued Democracy from Tyranny and Faction—and What This Means Today. Berrett-Koehler Publishers.