The Bell Curve theory.

[Andy Bowden]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bell_Curve

Does anyone know Socialist criticisms of this theory?

Or indeed, any criticisms.

Is the bell curve theory widely accepted?

[Mujer Libre]

Originally posted by Andy [email protected] 6 2006, 08:19 PM
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bell_Curve

Does anyone know Socialist criticisms of this theory?

Or indeed, any criticisms.

Is the bell curve theory widely accepted?
The Bell Curve has been totally discredited, and is only ever held up as an example of disgusting shit by the academic community...

One good reason I can think of over the top of my head is that IQ tests are hopelessly culturally biased and therefore, being developed in white, Western societies- of course they favour those.

It's also biologistically determinist, which sort-of indirectly supports the idea that a racist and capitalist society is a meritocracy. "Hey, its not our fault if Africans are poor- they're just stupid."

Here are some links to criticisms. Gould's are probably the most well-known.
Human Intelligence (http://www.indiana.edu/~intell/bellcurve.shtml#gould)
The Bell Curve Flattened (http://www.slate.com/id/2416)

[CCCPneubauten]

It seems even by the Wiki article that there are more critics than people who support it.

[ComradeRed]

Also, IQ tests aren't objective; they constantly change.

My friend made me take an IQ test with him, and I got four standard deviations . Well, this is based on the population of those tested rather than some measure of intelligence.

And wtf good is that?!

[red team]

racist and capitalist society is a meritocracy

No, it doesn't even qualify for that honor. If it was truly a meritocracy there wouldn't be thousands of competent, technical people out of work after the dot-com market crash nor would there be thousands of Russian nuclear scientists out of work and hawking backpack nukes for a living.

There's nothing wrong with meritocracy given that everybody is trained to be equally competent. Small, irrelevant differences in skills doesn't make you incompetent.

[mikelepore]

Even if the theory were true, it would have no consequences that should guide action in a decent social system. In modern lingo, it's not "actionable." For example, in a good social system, you and I would both have the opportunity to take in as much education as we can absorb, be as creative and inventive as we can be, and fulfill our personal potential the best we can. This isn't changed by the possibility that you may be naturally smarter than me or more talented than me. Therefore, even if the theory were true, it would be socially useless, nothing more than a variation on the childish "my daddy can beat up your daddy."

Mike Lepore * lepore at bestweb dot net * deleonism.org

[patrickbeverley]

Parts of "The Bell Curve" are, I believe, based on the now universally-discredited work of psychologist Robert Yerkes (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Yerkes), who carried out IQ tests that, he claimed, found that immigrants were significantly less intelligent than American citizens. What he neglected to mention was that his test was highly biased - a large proportion of the questions given to newly-arrived immigrants were on American history and culture. His findings were utterly refuted by Stephen J. Gould (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_J._Gould).

[RedAnarchist]

An IQ test measures only a small part of a very wide spectrum of intelligence. It is my personal view that all humans are highly intelligent, and that each person has their own strengths and weaknesses that cannot be measured with tests.