Intelligence arguments and australian psychology

Abstract

It is hard to deny that racist views can hide behind claims about the objectivity of science, since some, perhaps too many, people have espoused such views in debates on intelligence throughout this century. Peter Butler (1998, this issue) has lifted the mask that hides such views. In this commentary I shall address two issues related to Hermstein and Murray's (1994) book The Bell Curve: Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life, a book which is the most visible recent example of the biological renaissance alluded to by Butler. My aim will be to remind Australian psychologists that some of our own work has contributed to a racist position.¹ I shall also summarise the results of the analyses of new data which indicate that, in this country, social stratification based on intelligence does not occur, and may not develop in future.