[296] in libertarians
Laissez Faire Book News: Murray and Herrnstein's THE BELL CURVE
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Chris Whitten)
Fri Oct 7 13:24:24 1994
Date: Fri, 7 Oct 1994 12:47:20 -0400 (EDT)
From: Chris Whitten <lfb@panix.com>
Apparently-To: <libertarians@mit.edu>
The controversial work on intelligence that Charles Murray's been
working on for 5 years is finally here! Murray signed 500 copies
for Laissez Faire Books. As always, you're seeing this first, so if you
order right away, you'll be sure to get one.
The controversial role of intelligence in human destiny
THE BELL CURVE
Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life
by Richard J. Herrnstein and Charles Murray
(reviewed by Jim Powell)
This is one of the most anxiously-anticipated books in
years. I expect it will be among the most-smeared.
Charles Murray became an intellectual star because he
accomplished what no one else had before: his 1985 book *Losing
Ground* launched an epic attack against the welfare state which
has had an enormous influence on mainstream thinking. His next
book *In Pursuit of Happiness and Good Government* helped
solidify his lofty reputation.
Then Murray began work on a book about intelligence. To many
people, including myself, that seemed like a dead end, since
human beings are endowed with unalienable rights, regardless of
intelligence. Many of us feared Murray's new book could wreck his
career and perhaps result in libertarian views generally being
tarred as racist.
Meanwhile, Murray discovered that Harvard psychology
professor Richard Herrnstein was working on a similar project,
and the two men decided to collaborate. The result is *The Bell
Curve*.
At the outset, I should say that despite what you might have
read in the mass media, the book isn't about race. It really is
about intelligence.
It combines *Losing Ground*'s revealing analysis of
statistics with *In Pursuit*'s Jeffersonian thrust.
The book breaks important ground by affirming that
intelligence has an enormous impact on an individual's destiny
and on social phenomena, a taboo subject if ever there was one.
Although demographers as well as psychologists have performed
many studies documenting all this, their findings have been
banned from popular publications, even textbooks. A lot of the
findings reviewed by the authors aren't new, but you've probably
never seen them before.
The authors review considerable data which show how American
society is increasingly becoming stratified according to
intelligence. High-IQ people get on a fast track for better
schools, better jobs, better neighborhoods and so on, while low-
IQ people of whatever race face a tougher struggle just to
survive. Low-IQ people, the authors report, account for the great
bulk of chronic poverty, broken families, child abuse, welfare
cases and violent crime.
The authors go on to report that low-IQ people are having
more children, starting at an earlier age than high-IQ people.
Consequently, the average IQ level in the United States is
declining. Even a small decline, the authors warn, means more
chronic poverty, broken families, child abuse, welfare cases and
violent crime social catastrophe.
Moreover, since research shows intelligence is 40% to 80%
determined by one's genetic inheritance, the authors suggest that
costly and oppressive government programs cannot solve social
problems. Thus, the authors further undermine the intellectual
legitimacy of the welfare state.
Murray's aim here, as in his other books, is to help revive
the humane ideal of community where everyone, regardless of
income, race or intelligence, can make worthwhile contributions
and find a valued place.
Intelligence & human destiny; A few provocative insights from
Herrnstein and Murray's *The Bell Curve*:
A nation-wide survey of 12,686 youths 14-22 showed: 48% of
the poor come from the bottom 20% of intelligence.
* * *
"Welfare mothers come mainly from the lower reaches of the
distribution of cognitive ability... Welfare mothers have been
estimated to have reading skills that average 3-5 years below
grade-level. Poor reading skills and little schooling both define
populations with lower-than-average IQ... "
* * *
Outlook for children: "it is worse to have a mother with a
low IQ than one from a low socioeconomic background."
* * *
"Sixty-two percent of those ever interviewed in jail or
prison came from the bottom 20 percent of intelligence."
Book No. PY6156 (hardcover) 847p. $30.00
LAISSEZ FAIRE PRICE ONLY $24.95
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Thank you,
Chris
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Chris Whitten lfb@panix.com
Laissez Faire Books 1-800-326-0996
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