ABSTRACT
An intimate solidarity or fraternity between members of a nation seems to them to imply a real relationship as between members of a family. The nature of group consciousness, indeed, is such a complicated matter that even scientifically trained observers often go astray in its interpretation. Racial contempt tends to deny that certain races have anything whatever in common, and either degrades the despised race to a sort of cattle or loathes them like noxious and repulsive animals. Racial sentiment consists in the belief in a deep, natural, hereditary diversity not changeable by education and assimilation, while national sentiment assumes merely historical and social differences which can be modified by society. The social origin of racial prejudice is obvious in regard to relations between the Europeans and the coloured races. A special feature of present German racialism is the limitless denigration of the so-called Jewish race.
