1. Fatalism: Anthropology, Psychology, Sociology and the IQ Controversy.
- Author
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Williams Jr, Vernon J.
- Subjects
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FATE & fatalism , *ANTHROPOLOGY , *PSYCHOLOGY , *INTELLIGENCE levels , *RACE relations , *AMERICANS - Abstract
The tendency to adopt a fatalistic view of American race relations is an easy posture to assume—especially in light of the contradictory realities of maintaining race as real and its obvious utter worthlessness as a scientific concept. The IQ controversy is a prime example of this problematic. Although most competent social scientists concur in the belief that race is not a valid scientific concept; and, more specifically that IQ tests are culturally biased, and, as a consequence, do not provide irrefutable proof that some so-called racial groups are superior to others in intelligence, there exist some influential neo-racists social scientists who maintain that IQ tests are valid indicators of the intellectual abilities of the so-called races. Nevertheless, some social scientists who hold that race, although not a valid scientific concept, is real—that is, real in its consequences—argue, as did Robert E. Park in (, The nature of race relations. In Race and Culture. New York: The Free), that immigration and education, will change the social habits and mores of peoples, resulting in the increasing confusion of race and class. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2009
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