Eugene Genovese discusses the historical connections between the rise of capitalism in America and the practice of slavery in the New World. He remarks that racial prejudice is ubiquitous throughout history, but asserts that the creation of a full-fledged ideology of racism with religious and pseudoscientific underpinnings was a development of the modern capitalist period, though reflective of the strictly colonialist aspect of that period rather than capitalism as a whole.
At the time of this interview, Genovese, a Fellow at the National Humanities Center (1984-85, 1987-88), was professor of history at the University of Rochester.
This edition of Soundings was conducted by Wayne J. Pond.
