Thomas Sowell on IQ and Race
In the thread below, "Derbyshire Speaks," Ricochet member Mark Wilson provides a link to an item I believe deserves everyone's attention: Thomas Sowell on IQ and race. When Charles Murray and the late Richard Herrnstein published the The Bell Curve almost ten years ago, Dr. Sowell wrote a review in the American Spectator.
What did Thomas Sowell make of the book? He took it apart.
If you can spare ten minutes for close argument, be sure to read the entire review. But--with thanks once again to Mark Wilson--here's a hefty, and, to my mind, utterly compelling, excerpt:
[Herrnstein and Murray] seem to conclude... that... biological inheritance of IQ... among members of the general society may also explain IQ differences between different racial and ethnic groups.... Such a conclusion goes... much beyond what the facts will support....
[T]he greatest black-white differences are not on the questions which presuppose middle-class vocabulary or experiences, but on abstract questions such as spatial perceptual ability.... [Herrnstein and Murray's] conclusion that this "phenomenon seems peculiarly concentrated in comparisons of ethnic groups" is simply wrong. When European immigrant groups in the United States scored below the national average on mental tests, they scored lowest on the abstract parts of those tests. So did white mountaineer children in the United States tested back in the early 1930s. So did canal boat children in Britain, and so did rural British children compared to their urban counterparts, at a time before Britain had any significant non-white population. So did Gaelic-speaking children as compared to English-speaking children in the Hebrides Islands. This is neither a racial nor an ethnic peculiarity. It is a characteristic found among low-scoring groups of European as well as African ancestry.
In short, groups outside the cultural mainstream of contemporary Western society tend to do their worst on abstract questions, whatever their race might be....
Perhaps the strongest evidence against a genetic basis for intergroup differences in IQ is that the average level of mental test performance has changed very significantly for whole populations over time and, moreover, particular ethnic groups within the population have changed their relative positions during a period when there was very little intermarriage to change the genetic makeup of these groups....
Perhaps the most dramatic changes were those in the mental test performances of Jews in the United States. The results of World War I mental tests conducted among American soldiers born in Russia--the great majority of whom were Jews--showed such low scores as to cause Carl Brigham, creator of the Scholastic Aptitude Test, to declare that these results "disprove the popular belief that the Jew is highly intelligent." Within a decade, however, Jews in the United States were scoring above the national average on mental tests, and the data in The Bell Curveindicate that they are now far above the national average in IQ.
Strangely, Herrnstein and Murray refer to "folklore" that "Jews and other immigrant groups were thought to be below average in intelligence. " It was neither folklore nor anything as subjective as thoughts. It was based on hard data, as hard as any data in The Bell Curve. These groups repeatedly tested below average on the mental tests of the World War I era, both in the army and in civilian life. For Jews, it is clear that later tests showed radically different results--during an era when there was very little intermarriage to change the genetic makeup of American Jews....
Herrnstein and Murray openly acknowledge such rises in IQ....But they seem not to see how crucially it undermines the case for a genetic explanation of interracial IQ differences. They say:
"The national averages have in fact changed by amounts that are comparable to the fifteen or so IQ points separating blacks and whites in America. To put it another way, on the average, whites today differ from whites, say, two generations ago as much as whites today differ from blacks today. Given their size and speed, the shifts in time necessarily have been due more to changes in the environment than to changes in the genes."
While this open presentation of evidence against the genetic basis of interracial IQ differences is admirable, the failure to draw the logical inference seems puzzling. Blacks today are just as racially different from whites of two generations ago as they are from whites today. Yet the data suggest that the number of questions that blacks answer correctly on IQ tests today is very similar to the number answered correctly by past generations of whites. If race A differs from race B in IQ, and two generations of race A differ from each other by the same amount, where is the logic in suggesting that the IQ differences are even partly racial?
Where indeed is the logic--the word bears repeating: the logic--in suggesting that IQ differences are even partly racial?
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Comments:
Feb '12
Re: Thomas Sowell on IQ and Race
I have read this review before and it appears to be convincing. My understanding though is that tests that are not racial suggest that IQ is in very large part hereditary.
Nonetheless, I find myself wondering why black Americans have found themselves so unable to work positive change in their community.
May '10
Re: Thomas Sowell on IQ and Race
Peter, what originally prompted me to run the Google search that led me to the book review was a recollection that I had heard Dr. Sowell discuss it with you in an episode of Uncommon Knowledge. I was hoping to find the video clip and post that, but I was unsuccessful. If you know what I'm referring to and could pass it along, I'd be grateful.
Apr '11
Re: Thomas Sowell on IQ and Race
Herrnstein and Murray said on p. 311:
I don't know that a book review can ever be completely fair to an author; it is always necessary for the consumer to read the book in order to form his own opinion of the authors' material.
May '10
Re: Thomas Sowell on IQ and Race
In 1967 Newsweek published a long article entitled "what must be done" --- an agenda for dealing with racism in America. In that article they acknowledged the well-established fact that American blacks have an average IQ of 85.
Mar '11
Re: Thomas Sowell on IQ and Race
In trying to decide whether or not to buy the book, I read this review first.
Another excerpt:
I didn't end up buying The Bell Curve. I did however develop the habit of buying and reading Dr. Sowell's books.
Sep '11
Re: Thomas Sowell on IQ and Race
Leslie Katz:
Nonetheless, I find myself wondering why black Americans have found themselves so unable to work positive change in their community. · 4 hours ago
No sooner had blacks rid themselves of segregation than America dreamed up "the War on Drugs" and used it as an excuse to constantly harass and incarcerate young black men for victimless crimes--this even though illegal drug usage rates are essentially the same in white and black communities. Maybe we should just leave them alone for a while and let them work out their own problems--you know, local control. We might be surprised at the results.
Mar '11
Re: Thomas Sowell on IQ and Race
Tenther
Leslie Katz:
Nonetheless, I find myself wondering why black Americans have found themselves so unable to work positive change in their community. · 4 hours ago
No sooner had blacks rid themselves of segregation than America dreamed up "the War on Drugs" and used it as an excuse to constantly harass and incarcerate young black men for victimless crimes--this even though illegal drug usage rates are essentially the same in white and black communities. Maybe we should just leave them alone for a while and let them work out their own problems--you know, local control. We might be surprised at the results. · 2 minutes ago
Was this before or after America invented AIDS?
Sep '11
Re: Thomas Sowell on IQ and Race
Basil Fawlty
Tenther
No sooner had blacks rid themselves of segregation than America dreamed up "the War on Drugs" and used it as an excuse to constantly harass and incarcerate young black men for victimless crimes--this even though illegal drug usage rates are essentially the same in white and black communities. Maybe we should just leave them alone for a while and let them work out their own problems--you know, local control. We might be surprised at the results. · 2 minutes ago
Was this before or after America invented AIDS? · 1 minute ago
Who needs AIDS when you've got the War on Drugs, the Great Society, the Community Reinvestment Act etc? That's big government doing more harm than good. Conservatives should be for leaving well-enough alone.
Jul '10
Re: Thomas Sowell on IQ and Race
Tenther
Leslie Katz:
Nonetheless, I find myself wondering why black Americans have found themselves so unable to work positive change in their community. · 4 hours ago
No sooner had blacks rid themselves of segregation than America dreamed up "the War on Drugs" and used it as an excuse to constantly harass and incarcerate young black men for victimless crimes--this even though illegal drug usage rates are essentially the same in white and black communities.
Do you happen to have any evidence to support these claims?
Aug '10
Re: Thomas Sowell on IQ and Race
Thomas Sowell's life is a gift to all of us.
Sep '10
Re: Thomas Sowell on IQ and Race
Where indeed is the logic--the word bears repeating: the logic--in suggesting that IQ differences are even partly racial?
Because it can support two conclusions: one is that we're doomed (The Derbyshire Doomsday Hypothesis, minus Mark Steyn's cocktails at 5 minutes to Midnight) the other is that we have to do something for our less fortunate brethren (The Murray Hypothesis).
The Liberalist Hypothesis is that we're doomed if we vote Rethuglican, and the only way to help our less fortunate brethren is for Emperor Barack of Washington to assume total emergency control of golf courses and expensive resort chalets to ensure the survival of the non Republic and to abort the unfortunate mistakes made by our less fortunate brethren.
Mar '11
Re: Thomas Sowell on IQ and Race
Tenther
Basil Fawlty
Tenther
No sooner had blacks rid themselves of segregation than America dreamed up "the War on Drugs" and used it as an excuse to constantly harass and incarcerate young black men for victimless crimes--this even though illegal drug usage rates are essentially the same in white and black communities. Maybe we should just leave them alone for a while and let them work out their own problems--you know, local control. We might be surprised at the results. · 2 minutes ago
Was this before or after America invented AIDS? · 1 minute ago
Who needs AIDS when you've got the War on Drugs, the Great Society, the Community Reinvestment Act etc? That's big government doing more harm than good. Conservatives should be for leaving well-enough alone. · 11 minutes ago
I'm with you on the Great Society, Community Reinvestment Act, Etc. The War on Drugs, not so much. A drug-addled population isn't really "well-enough" for me, and I'd distinguish law enforcement programs from the others you mentioned.
Sep '11
Re: Thomas Sowell on IQ and Race
Basil Fawlty
I'm with you on the Great Society, Community Reinvestment Act, Etc. The War on Drugs, not so much. A drug-addled population isn't really "well-enough" for me, and I'd distinguish law enforcement programs from the others you mentioned. · 2 minutes ago
I'm not debating the goodness or badness or illegal drugs, but it seems to me that it's a problem if two communities have the same drug usage rates, but only one suffers from constant, invasive policing as a result. Maybe it's bad that lots of white suburban kids use drugs, but if so, why don't we constantly frisk them and throw them in jail for it?
Sep '11
Re: Thomas Sowell on IQ and Race
Palaeologus
Tenther
No sooner had blacks rid themselves of segregation than America dreamed up "the War on Drugs" and used it as an excuse to constantly harass and incarcerate young black men for victimless crimes--this even though illegal drug usage rates are essentially the same in white and black communities.
Do you happen to have any evidence to support these claims? · 22 minutes ago
Not handy. I'll post something later.
Aug '10
Re: Thomas Sowell on IQ and Race
I just read Sowell. N.R. was certainly right to can Derbyshire.
Edited on April 11, 2012 at 2:35pmMar '11
Re: Thomas Sowell on IQ and Race
Ansonia: I just read Sowell. N.R. was certainly right to can Derbyshire. · 3 minutes ago
Edited 2 minutes ago
Wouldn't it be more effective for NR to just stop giving Murray a forum? You know, to get to the root of the racism.
Jan '11
Re: Thomas Sowell on IQ and Race
Where indeed is the logic--the word bears repeating: the logic--in suggesting that IQ differences are even partly racial?
You'd have thought that if any intelligence superiority was racial, there would be some biological explanation for it. After all, the fact that IQ differs by race is only the first question; the obvious followup is to ask what it is about race that causes a difference? If there's a racial gene (or some variable) that affects intelligence, then the next question is how the variable matters to intelligence.
But that question doesn't seem to get asked very often. (At least, in my limited familiarity with such discussions, I'm always waiting for that question and never get it.) It's as if the moment one race has "evidence" that they're more intelligent, they stop questioning because that's the result they were looking for in the first place.
That's why I'm suspicious that IQ measurements have any meaning. They always seem more self-serving than revealing. And they never seem to reveal that Philadelphia Flyer fans are superior to New York Ranger fans, which we all know is true...
Dec '10
Re: Thomas Sowell on IQ and Race
Ok, so IQ may not be the big difference, but there still remains a big difference (though I believe it more cultural.) What is one to do when confronted with it? Do we pretend there is no difference when faced with a group of black youths, pants hanging on the ground, gang colors flying, and menacing? How did that work out for fair goers in Wisconsin last year?
Jun '10
Re: Thomas Sowell on IQ and Race
IQ depends on genetics, but also on health, environment, and habits of thinking. Intelligence is a great thing, but without some luck (most of which we make ourselves) it doesn't determine our success. There are a lot of fast horses that can't win a race because they don't have the drive.
Feb '11
Re: Thomas Sowell on IQ and Race
This is why I would be interested if you would move on to Eric Hanushek because I basically see Murray as being a dead end. Same with Derbyshire. Same with Steyn. The Left is interested in nothing other than fortifying their own bastions (NEA, ATC) who are in large part a source of the problem. People like Jindal, on the other hand, are actually wanting to tear down the bastions and build something new and better.
What Hanushek shows is that spending additional money in the current structure we have in K-12 education gets us nothing in terms of improved performance in cognitive skills. Cognitive skills are key for raising economic performance in OECD countries such as the US. Other countries, e.g., Finland, have increased their average test scores by a great deal and this has paid off in higher GDP growth. Hanushek also shows what doing such things would mean for the US economy. Jay Greene then builds on this to show what reforms get in terms of increased test performance which can be translated back into higher economic growth. A question I've always had is: why only K-12, why not with adults?