Plantation owners in America often argues that enslaves Africans were better off because they did not have the mental capacity to run their own lives. today, this seems both racist and idiotic. how could such racist beliefs flourish?
a. such beliefs justify social arrangements between dominant and minority groups that benefit those who accept them
b. people knew much less about world history then, so it seemed more plausible
c. people are, by nature, hostile and look to blame their problems on others
d. nineteenth-century science was not well developed, so no authority figures could debunk racist beliefs