In defense of considering pureblood preference racism

[Matt]

No: HPFGUIDX 107085

Perhaps I have not traced the thread far back enough, but I am having
trouble understanding why people are so concerned with finding the
perfect real-world analogue for pureblood prejudice.  If it is a
question of authorial intent, it seems likely to me that when JKR
portrays prejudices in the WW, she is aware of their parallels to many
different systems of prejudice in the RW (including those based on
race, gender, religion, caste, sexual preference, social class, old
age, handicap, etc.).  Indeed, the very fact that Rowling has
portrayed such a range of forms of prejudice *without* replicating
common real-world prejudices suggests to me that she has consciously
chosen to cast her characters' prejudices in different forms.  I have
speculated before that she does so in order to allow her readers to
form opinions about the prejudices she portrays without dragging in
already-formed views about RW political issues.

The prejudices and stereotypes that some witches and wizards in the
books apply to other sentient species -- the elves, the goblins, the
giants, etc. -- are perhaps the most direct analogues to racism.  But
I also agree with SOF that the relationship between wizards and house
elves has echoes of a caste system.  For one thing, the social status
of the master and the elf play into the relationship so strongly; for
another, the insistence (requirement) that the elves wear rags
reinforces the view that the line between master and elf is based on
more than genetics.  

Similarly, there are aspects of anti-Muggle prejudice that correspond
to racism, as well as aspects that correspond more closely with other
forms of RW prejudice.  It is like racism in that it is tied to
bloodlines, reveres "purity" of blood, and deplores intermarriage; the
discrmination is based on immutable personal characteristics.  It has
little connection to caste or social class discrimination, because the
different classes are not assigned to different economic or social
positions (there are rich purebloods, rich Muggles, and rich
Muggle-born wizards; each group has members in noble occupations and
those with simpler and even menial jobs).  Perhaps it can be better
analogized to social status discrimination based on lineage or
nobility.  The Muggle prejudice against wizards has some loose ties to
religious discrimination.  A case can also be made (and has before on
this list) for an analogy to sexual orientation.

In the end, I think it is not terribly relevant what form of
real-world prejudice is *most* analogous to the forms we see in the
novels.  It is quite clear from the presentation that Rowling deplores
all of these forms of (WW) discrimination equally.  Although that
feeling is not yet universal in the WW, and even some of our main
characters have blind spots (esp. wrt Kreacher), I think one of the
upshots of VWII will be the triumph of the ethos that rejects such
discrimination and prejudices.  Certainly that is one of Dumbledore's
aims in preaching unity.

-- Matt