Date: Fri, 13 Jun 1997 12:49:18 -0600 From: Christopher Gunn <1k1mgm-AT-KUHUB.CC.UKANS.EDU> Subject: Re: M-TH: D'Souza Can Kiss My Brown Ass djones-AT-uclink.berkeley.edu (rakesh bhandari) writes: >[....] Well, it turns out that blacks are even more socio-economically >disadvantaged if we take wealth as the measure of socio-economic status. > >[....] Now add the daily assault of racism, which includes the national >puzzlement >over that fucking standard deviation, and the only surprise is that the gap >is as small as it is. > >[....] In my opinion, there is no reason to turn to the dubious and seemingly >idealist caste interpretation of black inferiority to explain this >so-called IQ gap as Claude Fisher, et al. do in Inequality By Design: >Cracking the Bell Curve Myth (Princeton, 1996). The real puzzle remains the >black culture of overachievement. I haven't read the Fisher book you mention, but I'll agree that some explanations of black/white differences try to walk a narrow line just this side of "culture of poverty" explanations. I was wondering what people thought about Claude Steele's hypothesis that minority differences on test results (and by implication gender and class differences, too) were the consequence of an agentic decision to embrace negative stereotypes as a strategy to preserve self-esteem (e.g., to say, 'Since they're going to treat me like a fuck-up, *I'll* show 'em fuck-up all right'). Steele had a long review article on the subject, "A Threat in the Air: How Stereotypes Shape Intellectual Identity and Performance," _American Psychologist_ Vol, 52, No. 6, June 1997, p. 613. I haven't looked at it closely but have skimmed some of his other stuff and have been trying to figure out whether I buy it or not. Christopher Gunn Molecular Graphics and Modeling Laboratory 1k1mgm-AT-kuhub.cc.ukans.edu University of Kansas Phone: 913-864-4428 or -4495 Malott Hall Lawrence, KS 66045 --- from list marxism-thaxis-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu ---
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