在19世纪,西方学术界为马来人和美洲原住民是否应被归类为蒙古人种发表了各式各样的意见。例如,D. M. Warren在1856年根据蒙古人种的狭义定义而将马来人和美洲原住民排除在外[13],赫胥黎和亚历山大·温切尔则分别在1870年和1881年将马来人和美洲原住民归类为蒙古人种[14][15]。而在1861年,法国动物学家伊西多尔·若弗鲁瓦·圣希莱尔(英语:Isidore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire)甚至将澳大利亚原住民列为蒙古人种的一个亚种[16]。
“蒙古人种”的定义最初与肤色无关,直到19世纪50年代,法国贵族阿蒂尔·德·戈比诺出版了一本名为《Essai sur l'inégalité des races humaines》的著作,才首次将人种以肤色分为三大类:白、黑、黄。在他定义下的“黄种人”包括所有在当时被其他学者归类为蒙古人种的族群[17][18]。戈比诺的种族论述对希特勒影响深远。在戈比诺眼中,“白种人”地位超然,“黄种人”在体质和智力上皆平庸[19]。
纳粹德国体质人类学家在埃贡·弗赖赫尔·冯·埃克斯坦德特(Egon Freiherr von Eickstedt)亦采用与瑞斯利和阿鲁纳恰拉姆相同的分类法将尼泊尔、不丹、孟加拉、东印度、印度东北部部分地区、缅甸西部和斯里兰卡的族群视作印度人和南蒙古人的混血种族[23]。他同时亦将缅甸中部、云南、西藏南部、泰国和印度部分地区的族群命名为德昂人种(以缅甸德昂族命名)。在他的定义中,斯里兰卡人、蒙达人、缅族、克伦族、克钦族、掸族、泰族、岭南华人都是“混了血”的德昂人种[24][需要引文]。
美国人类学家卡尔顿·库恩(Carleton S. Coon)在1961年发表了他的极具争议的著作《种族起源》 ,他将智人分为五种:高加索人种、蒙古人种、澳大利亚人种、开普敦人种和刚果人种[26]。库恩的论点是,直立人本身就分为五种,然后又各自演化成智人[27]。但由于库恩是依循传统体质人类学依赖形态特征的判断法而非以新兴的遗传学来区分人种,因此他的《种族起源》被视为快被取代的过时科学方法的苟延残喘[26]:249[28]。
German: "sehr willkürlich": Johann Friedrich Blumenbach. Handbuch der Naturgeschichte. 1797: 61 [2020-05-24]. (原始内容存档于2021-12-21). Alle diese Verschiedenheiten fließen aber durch so mancherley Abstufungen und Uebergänge so unvermerkt zusammen, daß sich keine andre, als sehr willkürliche Grenzen zwischen ihnen festsetzen lassen.
Huxley, T. H.On the Geographical Distribution of the Chief Modifications of Mankind (页面存档备份,存于互联网档案馆) (1870) Journal of the Ethnological Society of London. Huxley indicates that he has omitted certain areas with complex ethnic compositions that do not fit into his racial paradigm, including much of the Indian subcontinent and Horn of Africa. (Huxley, Thomas (1873). Critiques and Addresses by Thomas Henry Huxley, LL.D., F.R.S. Macmillan and Company. p. 153.) By the late nineteenth century, his Xanthochroi group had been redefined as the Nordic race, whereas his Melanochroi became the Mediterranean race. As such, Huxley's Melanochroi eventually also comprised various other dark Caucasoid populations, including the Hamites and Moors. (Gregory, John Walter (1931). Race as a Political Factor. Watts & Company. p. 19. Retrieved 8 May 2016.)
Ibram X. Kendi, Stamped from the Beginning. The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America, New York: Nation Books 2016. ISBN978-1-5685-8464-5, chapters 4, 7–12, 14, 16 passim.
Winchell, A. (1881). Preadamites; or A Demonstration of the Existence of Men Before Adam; (3rd ed.). Chicago: S.C. Griggs and Company; London: Trubner & Co. pp. 57, 66.
von Eickstedt, Egon Frhr. Die Indien-Expedition des Staatlichen Forschungsinstituts für Völkerkunde in Leipzig. 1. Anthropologischer Bericht. Anthropologischer Anzeiger. 2018-04-21, 4 (3): 208–219. JSTOR 29535004.
Jackson Jr., John. "In Ways Unacademical": The Reception of Carleton S. Coon's The Origin of Races. Journal of the History of Biology. June 2001, 34 (2): 247–285. JSTOR 4331661. S2CID 86739986. doi:10.1023/A:1010366015968.
Cited according to Jackson Jr., John. "In Ways Unacademical": The Reception of Carleton S. Coon's The Origin of Races. Journal of the History of Biology. June 2001, 34 (2): 248. JSTOR 4331661. S2CID 86739986. doi:10.1023/A:1010366015968. The reference given there is to "Coon, Origin of the [sic] Races, 1963 [sic], p. 657".
"Indeed, if a species has sufficient gene flow, there can be no evolutionary tree of populations, because there are no population splits...", Templeton, A. (2016). EVOLUTION AND NOTIONS OF HUMAN RACE. In Losos J. & Lenski R. (Eds.), How Evolution Shapes Our Lives: Essays on Biology and Society (p. 355). Princeton; Oxford: Princeton University Press. doi:10.2307/j.ctv7h0s6j.26.
Nägele, Kathrin; Rivollat, Maite; Yu, He; Wang, Ke. Ancient genomic research - From broad strokes to nuanced reconstructions of the past. Journal of Anthropological Sciences. 2022, 100 (100): 193–230. PMID 36576953. doi:10.4436/jass.10017.
Kanazawa, Satoshi. The evolution of general intelligence. Personality and Individual Differences. 2012-07-01, 53 (2): 90–93. ISSN 0191-8869. doi:10.1016/j.paid.2011.05.015(英语).
"The importance of this anomaly among Europeans and their descendants is not related to the segregation of genes derived from Asians; its appearance among members of Asian populations suggests such ambiguous designations as 'Mongol Mongoloid'; increasing participation of Chinese and Japanese in investigation of the condition imposes on them the use of an embarrassing term. We urge, therefore, that the expressions which imply a racial aspect of the condition be no longer used. Some of the undersigned are inclined to replace the term Mongolism by such designations as 'Langdon Down Anomaly', or 'Down's Syndrome or Anomaly', or 'Congenital Acromicria'. Several of us believe that this is an appropriate time to introduce the term 'Trisomy 21 Anomaly', which would include cases of simple Trisomy as well as translocations. It is hoped that agreement on a specific phrase will soon crystallise once the term 'Mongolism' has been abandoned."
Allen, G. Benda C.J. et al (1961). Lancet corr. 1, 775.