Word: murrayism
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Writing in this past Monday's Wall Street Journal that "IQ is substantially heritable," it is clear that Murray has maintained his conviction and, with his new book, he now offers more statistical evidence for his claims. Murray even offers conservative prescriptions which focus on abolishing most social programs, including welfare, affirmative action, food stamps and subsidized housing...
...York Times reveals, Murray begins his new book with a paradox. The success of America's ideal of equality, which has been promoted through equal opportunity, has effectively served to create a country of classes divided by intelligence. Meritocracy ensures inequality, as individuals become separated socioeconomically based on their ability to perform in the free market of the academy and the workplace...
...Murray ends his Wall Street Journal editorial (which is an excerpt from his forthcoming book) with a distressing conclusion: "Unchecked, these trends will lead the U.S. toward something resembling a caste society, with the underclass mired ever more firmly at the bottom and the cognitive elite ever more firmly anchored...
...continues: "Among the other casualties of this process would be American civil society as we have known it. Like other apocalyptic visions, this one is pessimistic, perhaps too much so. On the other hand, there is much to be pessimistic about." Murray is certainly playing with powerful ideas. But, one must ask, how seriously should these proclamations be taken...
...While Murray's research ostensibly seems legitimate, one cannot ignore the fallacies regarding intelligence that have been promoted for centuries. America (like most of the Western world) has witnessed apparently objective and well-meaning scientists searching for scientific data to confirm society's worst prejudices--especially regarding racial inferiority...