Race, Genes and Intelligence

Over the past two centuries biomedical science has, at times, provided justification for white privilege. Science has been used to support the proposition that differences in achievement reflect innate differences in ability among racial groups. Broadly speaking, the view that differences in academic achievement, IQ scores, employment status or wealth primarily reflect innate differences is called “biological determinism.” 1 As the late Stephen J. Gould pointed out, at its core, biological determinism is “a theory of limits. It takes the current status of groups as a measure of where they should and must be (even while it allows some rare individuals to rise as a consequence of their fortunate biology).” 2, p. 28