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Maybe someday
45
/100
I Index Overall Rating
Readers
37/100Critics
Scholars
99/100Author:
Kathryn Paige Harden
Publisher:
Princeton University Press
Date:
September 21, 2021
Seeking to reclaim genetic science from the legacy of eugenics, Harden argues that the refusal to recognize the power of DNA in individual life outcomes perpetuates the myth of meritocracy and keeps us from enacting change that would lead to a fair society.
What The Reviewers Say
I’m not convinced by Harden’s thinking on education. Medicine, however, is a different matter.
In the first part, Professor Harden is at pains to explain that any genetic causes of individual differences within ancestral groups for a trait such as educational attainment cannot be taken to explain observed average differences between ancestral groups. She is also at pains to explain the connections and differences between ancestral groups and socially defined racial groups. A number of reviewers have argued that she fails to do this convincingly or properly. It seems to me that, on the contrary, she is careful and rigorous about this.
While we admire Harden’s social justice aims, we remain unconvinced by her biological explanation for socioeconomic inequality. In making her case to liberals, we believe Harden extrapolates beyond what current scientific results allow.
Working her way through some difficult science in a somewhat repetitive explication, Harden proposes that identifying the lottery winners is one thing. What remains is to put this body of scientific study to work to mitigate the less desirable effects of the social inequalities that result when one segment of the population has better access to wealth than others.
