One in four Norwegians believe some human ethnicities are smarter than others

Man and woman.Photo: pixabay.com

In a recent survey, 25 per cent of the respondents replied that they were wholly or partly in agreement with the statement that “some human races are more intelligent than others.”

Director of Bufdir, Mari Trommald, tells NRK that she is surprised that so many have stereotypical attitudes to race and that race should mean something for intelligence. She emphasizes that race is a term that is not used today for humans, but that the researchers behind the report have used the phrase consciously to find out what meaning people are putting into it, as a scientific approach.

There are no differences between age groups in attitudes to the “race” issue, but the idea that people can be ranked by “breeds” is more prevalent among people with lower education, the study shows.

We are concerned about the consequences of this. Negative attitudes can limit individuals the opportunity to participate in society, and give an experience of lack of belonging to the community they live in, says Trommald.

The research foundation Fafo has carried out the survey on behalf of the Norwegian Children, Youth and Family Directorate (Bufdir). 4,443 people participated in the survey, which charts attitudes to gender equality and discrimination.

© NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today

RSS Feed

1 Comment on "One in four Norwegians believe some human ethnicities are smarter than others"

  1. Henry Fly | 21. May 2019 at 02:15 |

    This attitude is a common misconception in the US, which almost always has a deep-rooted prejudice at its core. In the US, the belief falls apart as someone is asked to define an ethnicity or race, since these terms are hard to quantify except to the individual`s self labels. I would never make an observation of “smartness” based on the color of one`s skin, nor would I be correct in labeling a person as of a race based on a single characteristic. Beliefs such as “smartness” should be made from a basis of kindness and not hate.

Comments are closed.