When published in 1981, The Mismeasure of Man was immediately hailed as a masterwork, the ringing answer to those who would classify people, rank them according to their supposed genetic gifts and limits. Yet the idea of biology as destiny dies hard, as witness the attention devoted to The Bell Curve, whose arguments are here so effectively anticipated and thoroughly undermined. In this edition, Stephen Jay Gould has written a substantial new introduction telling how and why he wrote the book and tracing the subsequent history of the controversy on innateness right through The Bell Curve. Further, he has added five essays on questions of The Bell Curve in particular and on race, racism, and biological determinism in general. These additions strengthen the book's claim to be, as Leo J. Kamin of Princeton University has said, "a major contribution toward deflating pseudo-biological 'explanations' of our present social woes."
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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, and 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 and belt tightening. It might not make you any smarter, but The Mismeasure of Man will certainly make you think. --Rob Lightner
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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A rare book-at once of great importance and wonderful to read....Gould presents a fascinating historical study of scientific racism....A major addition to scientific literature. -- Saturday Review
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CITIZENS OF THE REPUBLIC, Socrates advised, should be educated and assigned by merit to three classes: rulers, auxiliaries, and craftsmen. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
CITIZENS OF THE REPUBLIC, Socrates advised, should be educated and assigned by merit to three classes: rulers, auxiliaries, and craftsmen. Read the first page
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Most helpful customer reviews
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
This book is a touchstone of sorts. You can tell a lot about someone from what they say about it and from what they think Gould is saying. Some accuse Gould of trying to argue that there are no IQ differences among people -- he is not arguing that. Some people say that he is trying to argue that there are no IQ differences between any two given people of difference racial backgrounds -- he is not arguing that, either.
Gould's argument is fairly straightforward. He is of the opinion that the differences *between* racial groups are on average no greater than the differences *within* racial groups. How Gould's argument could get so distorted and why it gets so many people upset tells me that some people have a need to feel superior and like thinking that there is a scientific justification for them to feel superior.
Based on his analysis of historical instances of intelligence testing, he is also of the opinion that the general goal of intelligence testing has been to (1) come up with a single number scale, ranked highest to lowest, that can be used to peg people in a hierarchy of intelligence and then (2) use the results of that numbering scheme to determine social policies used on those people and (3) pass those results on to the public to reinforce the idea that those people who are disadvantaged actually deserve to be disadvantaged because they belong to an inferior race.
You can gauge based on how upset people get at Gould's reasoning how close to the truth -- and to the nerve -- he is striking.
I think this is an excellent and superbly argued book, and should be read by more people.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
I'd just like to note that this ground has been covered and recovered. See Science and Politics of IQ
by Leon J. Kamin for an earlier treatment of these issues.
by Leon J. Kamin for an earlier treatment of these issues.
Format:Paperback
If you want to believe that IQ doesn't mean anything, that "g" doesn't exist, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary: just give yourself permission to believe it. Don't make things worse by encouraging yourself to believe another huge conspiracy theory, exposing yourself to too much snideness. Learning, by example, to argue as if "persuasion", not objectivity, not a full and balanced account, not logic, and not even the truth, is the only goal or consideration.
If, on the other hand, you want to believe that IQ exist, (which is not to say life isn't complicated: As a simple example we could talk about a thing called Physical Strength, and believe it exist, even if someone else points out that there is "arm" strength and "leg" strength and proceeds to quibble and moan about your tests of strength ... not that I want to take this analogy any further), OR what you want is "objectivity", read the Bell Curve.
Sincerely,
Mark D. Stump
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3.8 out of 5 stars
Most recent customer reviews
1.0 out of 5 stars
For the soft-minded
Noticing that a book was on the market that rehashed the same, tired old 1960's idocy that there is "no difference" between races (subspecies) of homo sapiens, my ever-so-PC... Read more
Published on April 20 2004
2.0 out of 5 stars
Gould chooses political correctness over science
Gould wants to abolish the opinions that intelligence can be measured and that it is unevenly distributed among ethnic groups. Read more
Published on Mar 5 2004
2.0 out of 5 stars
Gould is too biased for this subject
Gould is usally an excellent science writer but his extreme liberal biases prevents him from writing objectively on the subject of intelligence and the evidence that it is unevenly... Read more
Published on Feb 8 2004
2.0 out of 5 stars
Gould can't hide his political agenda
Gould is a very confused person! His ambitious goal was to prove that intelligence is not inherited but a product of environmental factors such as education. Read more
Published on Aug 20 2003 by Svetoslav Tassev
3.0 out of 5 stars
A good book, but
Although the book is interesting in its content and writing style, the book remains historical in content. Read more
Published on Feb 22 2003
4.0 out of 5 stars
Gould is Gold
To put it bluntly: This book is fantastic. Gould makes incredibly cogent arguments as to the fallacies in logic made by IQ testers and those that tried to brand criminals with race... Read more
Published on Dec 20 2002 by Armand D Sanchez
1.0 out of 5 stars
Shows how an articulate person can make rubbish convincing
This book is a perfect example of how anything can be made to sound convincing by a writer that is good enough. Read more
Published on Oct 1 2002 by Chrome
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Mismeasure of Man
The Mismeasure of Man written by Stephan Jay Gould is an expose on the IQ measuring, the classification of people via ranking them according to their supposed gifts of... Read more
Published on Sep 9 2002 by Joe Zika
5.0 out of 5 stars
Lasting gift to intelligent dialogue about "intelligence"
Gould's book is so good that to give it a bad review borders on intellectual fraud.
He succinctly lays out the arguments against Hernstein and Murray's psuedo-scholarship in... Read more
He succinctly lays out the arguments against Hernstein and Murray's psuedo-scholarship in... Read more
Published on Aug 13 2002 by Drew Hunkins
5.0 out of 5 stars
Must Read!
Not to go over the top, this book is extraordinarily well-written, intelligent, impassioned, and amusing. Read more
Published on Mar 29 2002 by Eric Shtob
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