Re: Shockley, Murray & Herrnstein, etc.

[Bonnie Blustein <bonnie.blustein@WORLDNET.ATT.NET>]

In addition to brian's suggestions, look at
William H. Tucker, The Science and Politics of Racial Research (UofIll
Press, 1994)
and Gould's Mismeasure of Man is still a good read.

> Mike:
> George K. Cunningham will disagree and may even comment but  I'd also read
> Edward S. Herman's critique of Murray and Herrnstein's thesis in his
> Triumph of the Market (1995, South End Press).   He cites Stephen Jay
> Gould's Mismeasure of Man.    Gould traces the history of
> the use of statistics to buttress racist ideology and social and political
> discrimination.   First it was craniometry, then "recapitulationism," then
> neotony and then IQ testing and theories of a genetic base to IQ.     The
> Bell Curve received a lot of coverage in the corporate mainstream
> media---way more than was merited by it's importance, Herman argues
> (correctly, I think).
> Herman has written elsewhere about major scholarly scientific book widely
> ignored by, for example, the New York Times, especially where they are
> critical of the corporate agenda.
> Murray has attacked the welfare state (for the poor mostly, it seems) so
his
> message fits in nicely with what many decision makers in the corporate
media
> already believe.
>
> and
>
> Noam Chomsky has some incisive analysis about why researching race and IQ
> questions is not even worth pursuing in The Chomsky Reader (1987,
Pantheon).
> So, for example, he notes that, "Conceivably, there might be some interest
> in correlations between partially heritable traits, but if someone were
> interested in this question, he would surely not select such
characteristics
> as race and IQ, each an obscure amalgam of complex properties.   Rather,
he
> would ask whether there is a correlation between measurable and
significant
> traits, say, eye color and length of the big toe.   It is difficult to see
> how the study of race and IQ, for example, can be justified on scientific
> grounds."
> Good enough for me.
>
> Brian LeCloux
> Richland Center, WI
>
> "When we dream alone, it remains only a dream.
> When we dream together, is is not just a dream.
> It is the beginning of reality."
> Dom Helder Camara, Archbishop of Brazil
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
> To unsubscribe from the ARN-L list, send command SIGNOFF ARN-L
> to LISTSERV@LISTS.CUA.EDU.
>

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe from the ARN-L list, send command SIGNOFF ARN-L
to LISTSERV@LISTS.CUA.EDU.