Richard Herrnstein (1930–1994)

The controversy surrounding this book is rather comical given the dull, muted, utterly conventional political orientation and prescriptions of the book. As I was reading it I was very critical of this cautious conservatism, but in retrospect I understand that it was an academic and political necessity -- in fact, it is part of the book's genius.

The objective of the book is purely to "get the data out there", distribute it as widely as possible, and to saturate the public consciousness with the cold, hard facts and data concerning the subject matter... If that means watering down the politics and pandering to fragile emotional states every other paragraph in order that the book is more widely read, then so be it -- as long as the "data gets out!"

That being said, I did get the sense that the authors truly do believe that "diversity is our strength", and given the logical conclusions of their own research it was difficult to reconcile how they could possibly believe this to be the case. As well, the book's failure to examine the role of Jews within the "Class Structure of American Life" was rather conspicuous...even suspicious. Given the massive overrepesentation of Jews within the American intelligentsia and halls of power it bordered upon intellectual dishonesty to fail to include them more widely throughout the comparative examinations in the book.… (more)

This is one of the most important, most wrongly maligned books I've ever encountered. Essentially it is a summary of mainstream science on intelligence (IQ, "g", etc.) and some very straightforward statistical correlations of social trends and behaviors with IQ. I'm amazed that it was so hated by the left, since most of the arguments it makes actually inherently support redistributive policies and programs.

Part of why it was hated was ostensibly racial, but 90% of the book is specifically about white men and white households (as a way of limiting variables). There was one chapter on race, where a main conclusion was that to a very great degree controlling for IQ left no racial differences in skill or achievement in the 1990 data, but that substantial discrimination did exist in 1950/1960.

The policy recommendations made were essentially libertarian and pro-individual, designed to allow all individuals to achieve to their fullest potential. Primarily, to reduce artificial barriers (credentialism, regulation, and central bureaucracy) to allow lower IQ people to more fully participate in society (as they had in the pre-1900 period); improved education and support for high-IQ children, particularly from low economic backgrounds, and generally treating all people as valued citizens independent of their differing intellectual gifts.… (more)