'Intelligence' and Race (was Re: Invention of the white race //Rakesh on eugenics)

Charles Brown charlesb at CNCL.ci.detroit.mi.us
Sun May 31 15:08:56 PDT 1998


I can go with that. I can't think of a reason to measure "intelligence", especially given the history of "IQ" etc. I may have cut in without catching the sense of the whole thread.

I can see a benevolent motive for measuring some "abilities" and including "mental abilities" , but like everything, motives are never fully benevolent in racist-capitalist-patriarchy.

Charles


>>> Yoshie Furuhashi <furuhashi.1 at osu.edu> 05/31 7:05 PM >>>
Charles replies to Justin: <<I agree that if you are doing studies, there is a need to operationalize the measures. But "intelligence" has too important a meaning in valuing people to allow the limits of ability to measure to limit the application of the word to people's abilities.>>

In my view, there is no need to test 'intelligence' or even to posit such a category. What's the point of inventing and measuring it, except that administrators might want it for the purposes of educational sorting and hierarchizing with an appearace of scientific objectivity and that 'intelligence' business helps to shore up the ideology of meritocracy?

Further, why even _ask_ questions such as, 'Do different races have different levels of intelligence?' I think that racism is inherent in questions like the above.

Yoshie



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