Final answer:
Gobineau's views on race, shared by his contemporaries, were that different races have inherent and unchangeable characteristics which lead to the superiority of the white race and justify their dominant role in the world. Such scientifically racist ideas influenced social and foreign policies of the time but have since been debunked by modern science, which shows race to be a social construct rather than a biological fact.
Step-by-step explanation:
Gobineau's thoughts on races through time were closely aligned with the ideas of racial hierarchy and determinism. This view, reflected in the works of many late 19th and early 20th-century thinkers, posited that the white race was superior due to its supposed continued evolution, whereas other races had reached an evolutionary stasis. Such views were part of a broader movement toward scientific racism, which looked to justify the dominance of the Caucasian race and the subjugation or elimination of other races through the guise of scientific theory. They believed that races inherently differed in intellectual and moral capacities, and these distinctions would lead to inevitable conflicts and the domination of the "superior" race.
Not only did Gobineau's theories and those like him influence the social dynamics and justification for colonial expansion, but they also impacted social policies, attitudes towards immigration, assimilation, and the labor force.