What is Race Science?
Race science is an alternative, illogical, and all around terrible explanation for why inequality persists.
Proponents of race “science,” or race “scientists,” present themselves as messengers of uncomfortable truths. They claim society has blinded itself to uncomfortable facts in favor of achieving a goal that can never be achieved.
But the idea that race science is uncomfortable and people would rather believe inequities are the result of racism and discrimination isn’t entirely accurate. It’s true that many people find race science uncomfortable and would rather believe inequities are the result of racism and discrimination, but it’s equally true that many people find the idea of racism and discrimination still affecting people’s lives today uncomfortable (because it attributes blame to particular groups) and would rather believe inequities are the result of innate differences.
The proof: Many people still buy into race science
The IQ Question
It’s inaccurate to say that IQ tests don’t measure anything. They measure a person’s ability to see patterns, trends, and connections between different items. That ability is useful in all facets of life
But intelligence-defined as the ability to absorb and apply information about the world- is made up of many different pieces and it’s unlikely that a single score can capture all of those different pieces.
But the bigger problem is that while a high score demonstrates high ability, a low score doesn’t necessarily demonstrate low ability, because there are so many factors that can impact the score. This becomes especially problematic when comparing different groups of people.
Researchers have found that when a test is presented as a measure of ability, black students perform worse than white students, but when the same test is presented not as a measure of ability black and white students perform equally well¹ Their hypothesis is that black students, when under stereotype threat- in other words, when their performance could support the stereotype that black students are less intelligent than white students- do not do as well due to the additional stress of the threat. A Stanford study found the same thing.
Not all of these studies used IQ tests, but a study that used the Raven’s Advanced Progressive Matrices- A highly renowned culture fair IQ test- arrived at the same conclusion. When there was high or standard stereotype threat, black students didn’t perform as well. When there was low stereotype threat (when the same test was presented as a series of puzzles that were not reflective of innate ability) black students performed just as well as white students.
This is good news for non racists because it suggests that the gap between the IQ scores of black and white students is not caused by biology or environment, but rather the mechanisms of the IQ test itself. To put it another way it suggests that black students, on average, are as intelligent and as capable as white students, on average.
The Crime Question
But that’s only one piece of the puzzle. IQ might dictate where somebody’s going to end up in life, but low IQ isn’t a threat to society. Criminal behavior is.
Race “scientists” take advantage of other stereotypes about black people to stoke fear, namely the idea that black people are naturally more aggressive.
There are a couple of different arguments race “scientists” make. One: Black people, due to biology, are more aggressive and more likely to commit crime. Two: Black people, due to racism and discrimination, are more aggressive and more likely to commit crime.
The second one is tricky because it acknowledges the very real effects of racism and discrimination, but arrives at the same conclusion as the first and has more or less the same implications. And race “scientists” aren’t the only ones making the case that black people commit more crime because a disproportionate number of black people are affected by poverty. But race “scientists” are the ones using it to argue in favor of segregation.
It’s difficult to pinpoint specific factors that correlate with crime. It’s generally assumed that there is a correlation between poverty and crime, but there’s conflicting data on this point. (There is nothing to suggest that biology is a factor.)
But the question is whether or not integrating society will lead to more crime, since that’s what race “science” claims. An analysis of Low Income Property Development found that low income properties, which are disproportionately black and Latino, did not increase the crime rate in wealthy communities.¹
Proponents of race “science” generally don’t argue that low income property development will decrease property values because that doesn’t have the same fear factor. But it’s worth noting that, as long as 50% of a community’s population are minorities, the value does not decrease.
Solitary Bowling
In Bowling Alone Robert Putnam a political scientist, says that diversity leads to more TV watching and protest marches, but less community engagement.
Conservative commentators like Ben Shapiro (who has flirted with race “science” at times- such as when he expressed the belief that IQ differences between black and white people are partly biological) often cite this in arguments against diversity.
Putnam does say that, in the short term, diversity has these effects but he himself argues that diversity is a good thing. To quote Putnam:
“I do need to step back a minuet and say I think that the — it’s not merely a fact that America’s becoming more diverse. It’s a benefit. America will — all of us will, over the long run, benefit from being a more diverse, more heterogeneous place. Places that are more diverse have higher rates of growth on average and they have better cuisine. And it’s just a more interesting place to live.”¹
It seems that the biggest obstacle to unifying society is the same obstacle society has always faced: itself.
Summary
There is no evidence to suggest that biology is the cause of racial inequities in modern society and a great deal of evidence to suggest otherwise. Race “scientists” either haven’t seen or are choosing to ignore alternative evidence because it doesn’t fit their fantasy of how the world is.
There is no reason to consider awful ideas like “nature is racist” if there are other explanations.
Race “science” isn’t just morally wrong, it’s just wrong.
