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Bell Curve: Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life (A Free Press Paperbacks Book) 1st Free Press pbk. ed Edition

4.2 out of 5 stars 359 customer reviews
ISBN-13: 978-0684824291
ISBN-10: 0684824299
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Product Details

  • Series: A Free Press Paperbacks Book
  • Paperback: 912 pages
  • Publisher: Free Press; 1st Free Press pbk. ed edition (January 10, 1996)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0684824299
  • ISBN-13: 978-0684824291
  • Product Dimensions: 6.1 x 1.7 x 9.2 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (359 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #35,975 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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By Paul Magnussen TOP 1000 REVIEWER on October 14, 2005
Format: Hardcover
Since you're reading this, I assume you're thinking of buying — or at least reading — this book. That being so, you'll probably want to read other reviews than mine. This is in principle a good idea; but having just read all of them (147 at the time of writing) I should warn you that you'll need both considerable stamina and a strong stomach: there are indeed thoughtful and informative reviews, but they are islands in a sea of drivel. By "drivel" I mean the following:

1) Reviews consisting entirely (or almost entirely) of expostulation rather than information ("racist garbage", "most important book of the 20th century")

2) Asserting what the book doesn't deny and denying what it doesn't assert.

3) Distortions of the book's content, and other disinformation, for instance:

- "the panel criticized the authors for not explaining what intelligence is" (intelligence is defined on page 4 (!) ).

- "The Bell Curve ignores bad diet" (Nutrition is explicitly dealt with on pp. 391-3).

And so on.

Many of the critics appear not merely to have misunderstood the book, but not even to have read it; amusingly, this is actually admitted in one review ("Although Head has only browsed through the book, she has seen this kind of pseudo-science before"). Some appear to be basing their argument upon the Moralistic Fallacy: if different groups had different average IQs for even partially genetic reasons, it would be a Bad Thing, and therefore that cannot possibly be the case.
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Format: Paperback
In reading the synopses above and the few negative reviews below, I have to wonder if their authors read the book in question, or merely the media hype. This book is not about "ethnicity and intelligence." It's not racism, nor even about race.

This book tries to show that A) people are becoming stratified according to intelligence (you go to school with, work with, and largely socialize with people of similar ability) and B) many of our social problems can be explained in terms of differences in intelligence (ie, in blunt terms, dumb people are more likely to commit crimes, etc.) They provide a huge base of data to support their thesis.

The authors have bent over backwards to try to avoid any hint of racism in their studies; the only place the issue even arises is when they report that blacks and Latinos have historically scored lower in IQ tests than have whites (Asians have scored higher), and that the claims of "cultural bias" are not supported by any data or studies. These details alone are enough to inflame the politically correct among us, unfortunately.

To portray this book as some type of white supremecist manifesto, you would have to have a strong agenda of your own, and totally disregard the content of the book.
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Format: Kindle Edition Verified Purchase
I thought I knew a lot about the topic. I stand corrected.

IQ is the most scientific and mathematical concept in all of psychology.

Every test that somehow measures cognitive processing capacity strongly correlates with g, general intelligence.

Studies with sample sizes of tens and hundreds of thousands clearly showed that IQ is the best predictor of success in basically all professions. Attempts to devise other tests to predict job success did not work out, as IQ is the best predictor and explains more variance then all other factors together.

The book meticulously cites all research in foot notes, explain scientific concepts such as correlation and factor analysis. Still manages to be understandable to the educated layman.

The authors were aware that their scientific findings would be met with strong political resistance. They were right.
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Format: Paperback
Readers who have not yet read this book will be surprised to learn that the main topic is not race, but how intelligence explains class structure. The authors argue that intelligence, not environment is the primary determinant of a variety of social behaviors, including class, socio-economic level, crime, educational achievement, welfare, and even parental styles. Hernstein and Murray back up these claims with some of the most persuasive data ever seen in the social sciences. The importance of a person's intelligence cannot be understated. Its is the number one determinant in shaping one's life. Hernstein and Murray do not stop there however. They go on, arguing that the bottom 15 percent in intelligence are simply not capable of taking care of themselves, falling into poverty, drugs, alchoholism, etc. American society can no longer accept such conditions for lower cognitive class. They make concrete suggestions on how to change this condition. They also make striking claims about the danger of affirmative action programs in promoting people who are not qualified to do important tasks. And finally, they deal with the issue that makes this book so controversial: The lower tested intelligence of African-Americans. At no point do they the claim the gap is only due to genetics. They suggest past environmental factors come into play. But their main point is that modern day racism cannot explain the gap, and programs designed to bridge that gap will fail, and putting underqualified individuals in important positions is not the answer. The authors really do not go into detail about why the gap exists, setting themselves up for criticism. But at least another scholar can research this topic and try and explain it.Read more ›
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