A book like this displays something about our culture that few want to admit: for as much as we tout the virtues, glory, and objectivity of science, books like this remind us that to some degree all the 'science' we accept today is part of a paradigm that is interwoven with our social mores. I say this not because the authors represent an outmoded racist worldview but because the majority of people who bashed this book did so simply because of its thesis and not because of its content or supporting evidence.

THE moral of our culture is that racism (however defined) is the utmost evil. So the quest to see whether or not inherent differences (and especially those relating to intelligence) exist between races is met with considerable suspicion and derision. Other possible research enterprises that can only result in one conclusions (the acceptable one, that is? How about whether or not there are differences in mathematical/scientific reasoning between males and female? Can homosexuality be 'cured'? Is homosexuality a 'birth defect'? And it is not difficult to make this list longer.

This book was written nearly 20 years ago. The thesis is that the intellectual landscape has changed drastically in the 20th century - a process they call cognitive stratification. It is a useful concept and I one I have noticed and thought about before. They confirm it - nearly all smart people are going to college and getting 'smart' jobs. The less professional jobs are being populated by lower levels of intelligence. In a way a caste society is forming in our nation.

The authors continue to show that many of the bad behaviors can be correlated with low IQ.

The book is most controversial when the subject of IQ and race is brought up. Their examination of studies suggests that African-Americans have lower IQ across the spectrum of American life. All the issues of nature/nurture and biased tests are discussed ad nauseum. The authors conclude that it is likely both genetics and environment that lead to intelligence. They also admit that the study of racial differences has been poorly examined and their pronouncements sometimes are tentative (and other times not).

I'm not sure what kind of research has been done on the subject of IQ variability between races since The Bell Curve. I expect other reviews here mention them. It seems to me that the question could be answered by studies that measured IQ of Africans as opposed to African Americans and did so in a systematic way. And additionally study IQ in other populations (Indian, East Asian, European).

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