Be Specific About Books Conducive To The Mismeasure of Man
| Original Title: | The Mismeasure of Man |
| ISBN: | 0393314251 (ISBN13: 9780393314250) |
| Edition Language: | English URL http://books.wwnorton.com/books/978-0-393-31425-0/ |
| Literary Awards: | National Book Critics Circle Award for General Nonfiction (1981), National Book Award Finalist for Science (Hardcover) (1982) |
Stephen Jay Gould
Paperback | Pages: 446 pages Rating: 4.04 | 7794 Users | 337 Reviews
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The definitive refutation to the argument of The Bell Curve. How smart are you? If that question doesn't spark a dozen more questions in your mind (like "What do you mean by 'smart,'" "How do I measure it" and "Who's asking?"), then The Mismeasure of Man, Stephen Jay Gould's masterful demolition of the IQ industry, should be required reading. Gould's brilliant, funny, engaging prose dissects the motivations behind those who would judge intelligence, and hence worth, by cranial size, convolutions, or score on extremely narrow tests. How did scientists decide that intelligence was unipolar and quantifiable? Why did the standard keep changing over time? Gould's answer is clear and simple: power maintains itself. European men of the 19th century, even before Darwin, saw themselves as the pinnacle of creation and sought to prove this assertion through hard measurement. When one measure was found to place members of some "inferior" group such as women or Southeast Asians over the supposedly rightful champions, it would be discarded and replaced with a new, more comfortable measure. The 20th-century obsession with numbers led to the institutionalization of IQ testing and subsequent assignment to work (and rewards) commensurate with the score, shown by Gould to be not simply misguided--for surely intelligence is multifactorial--but also regressive, creating a feedback loop rewarding the rich and powerful. The revised edition includes a scathing critique of Herrnstein and Murray's The Bell Curve, taking them to task for rehashing old arguments to exploit a new political wave of uncaring belt tightening. It might not make you any smarter, but The Mismeasure of Man will certainly make you think.--Rob Lightner This edition is revised and expanded, with a new introduction
Mention Based On Books The Mismeasure of Man
| Title | : | The Mismeasure of Man |
| Author | : | Stephen Jay Gould |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | 2nd edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 446 pages |
| Published | : | June 17th 1996 by W. W. Norton Company (first published October 28th 1982) |
| Categories | : | Science. Nonfiction. History. Psychology. Anthropology. Biology. Evolution |
Rating Based On Books The Mismeasure of Man
Ratings: 4.04 From 7794 Users | 337 ReviewsWeigh Up Based On Books The Mismeasure of Man
A must-read for everyone interested in the history of race and racialism.I purchased this book at Alley Cat Books in San Francisco.I found this book difficult to read, not because of the technical writing, but because I felt so disheartened by the arguments that Gould refutes in this book. Gould picks apart the "data" espousing the superiority of white males in such a way that makes me wonder what kind of illogic and bias are slipping through into the collective "knowledge" of today.I enjoyed learning about the history of factor analysis and how it came to be. I
Though written 40 years ago, Gould's polemic against hereditarianism has not lost any of its potency and urgency. Whether through craniometry, obscure body measurements, general intelligence or IQ-tests, the ruling class has time and time again found ways to reify social and historical classes as expressions of a timeless, unchanging reality. This mechanism, rooted in feudalism, persists vigourously in capitalism and makes a sneaky comeback in the guise of fascism and colonialism. To be
This is, strictly speaking, not the first time I've read this book. The first time was at least twenty years ago, when I gave my father a copy for his birthday (he enjoyed it greatly) and then snuck a read of it myself separately. Okay, I didn't read the whole thing; I cut straight to the chapter where Gould swung a wrecking ball through "The Bell Curve" in a few concise pages, the better to arm myself with arguments against that apologia for institutionalized racism. But I did myself a
The Mismeasure of Man is often touted as a definitive refutation of racialist pseudoscience and eugenics. However, while I would highly recommend Gould's work, I would do so as an entry point to the subject.Gould's prose is highly readable and entertaining as always. His coverage of the history of eugenics and scientific racism is excellent and engaging and it's worth reading for this alone. Now, on to the qualifications. A flaw in the book is Gould's revised measurements of Morton's skulls.
Gould is a good person and an excellent thinker. This is a call to scientists to examine their own biases and it is a demolishment of centuries of racist genetic testing. It's also such a pleasure to read someone who is a sound thinker and can write logically. I know some of his debunkings (i.e. Morton) have since been debunked, but that does nothing to diminish the importance of this work. Also, he notes that racist "science" tends to proceed from movements demanding equality. And so it is that
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