Gobineau, Joseph‐Arthur, Comte de (1816–82)

Abstract

Comte Joseph‐Arthur de Gobineau (1816–82), has been called the “father of racist ideology,” and while this is a somewhat reductionist description for a man of many facets and talents, it neatly encapsulates his main contribution to the history of political thought. An early and easy familiarity with German was later complemented by a passion for the languages and cultures of the Orient. A devoted Catholic and demonstrative Legitimist (a supporter of the Bourbon dynasty's claim to the French throne) who forever remained embarrassed that he had been born on the anniversary of the storming of the Bastille, Gobineau quickly established his credentials as a reactionary after settling in Paris in 1835. Supplementing his income as a lowly clerk with political journalism and a stream of eclectic literary output, his mind was preoccupied with a sense of what he perceived as the decadence of the present and especially the decline of true aristocracy.