Culling the Masses: The Democratic Origins of Racist

Culling the Masses: The Democratic Origins of Racist Immigration Policy in the Americas
Culling the Masses questions the widely held view that in the long run democracy and racism cannot coexist. David Scott FitzGerald and David Cook-MartÃn show that democracies were the first countries in the Americas to select immigrants by race, and undemocratic states the first to outlaw discrimination. Through analysis of legal records from twenty-two countries between 1790 and 2010, the authors present a history of the rise and fall of racial selection in the Western Hemisphere.

The United States led the way in using legal means to exclude "inferior" ethnic groups. Starting in 1790, Congress began passing nationality and immigration laws that prevented Africans and Asians from becoming citizens, on the grounds that they were inherently incapable of self-government. Similar policies were soon adopted by the self-governing colonies and dominions of the British Empire, eventually spreading across Latin America as well.

Undemocratic regimes in Chile, Uruguay, Paraguay, and Cuba reversed their discriminatory laws in the 1930s and 1940s, decades ahead of the United States and Canada. The conventional claim that racism and democracy are antitheticalâ€•because democracy depends on ideals of equality and fairness, which are incompatible with the notion of racial inferiorityâ€•cannot explain why liberal democracies were leaders in promoting racist policies and laggards in eliminating them. Ultimately, the authors argue, the changed racial geopolitics of World War II and the Cold War was necessary to convince North American countries to reform their immigration and citizenship laws.

Winner of:
- American Sociological Association'sÂ 2015Â Thomas & Znaniecki Best Book on International Migration Award
- ASA's Political Sociology Section 2015 Best Scholarly Contribution Book Award
- American Political Science Association's Migration and Citizenship Section's 2015 Best Book Prize for Books on Migration and Citizenship
- Immigration and Ethnic History Society, Honorable mention, 2015 Theodore Saloutos Book Prize.
Country USA
Brand Harvard University Press
Manufacturer Harvard University Press
Binding Hardcover
ItemPartNumber illustrations
UnitCount 1
Format Illustrated
EANs 9780674729049
ReleaseDate 0000-00-00

Country	USA
Brand	Harvard University Press
Manufacturer	Harvard University Press
Binding	Hardcover
ItemPartNumber	illustrations
UnitCount	1
Format	Illustrated
EANs	9780674729049
ReleaseDate	0000-00-00

Culling the Masses: The Democratic Origins of Racist Immigration Policy in the Americas

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