Genetics, Social Structure and Intelligence

Bibliographic Data

ID5635271
AuthorsA H Halsey (corresponding author)
Year1958
Volume9
Issue1
Pages15
Publication date1958-03-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueBritish Journal of Sociology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0007-1315 • E-ISSN: 1468-4446
PublisherJSTOR (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.2307/587619
OpenAlexW2326716808
LanguageEN
Citations received7

tT IS OUR PURPOSE in this paper to consider the question of | social class differences in measured intelligence as an illustration of Xthe more general problem of the relation between social structure and the distribution of genetic characteristics in populations. Though innate intelligence may legitimately be inferred from available evidence, the evidence is also strong that it is determined not by one gene but polygenically. On these assumptions a genetic model may be constructed which, when relevant variations in social skucture are taken into account, throws considerable doubt on the possibility that mean differences between dasses in measured intelligence are innate. This doubt arises from the fact that the relevant aspects of social structure have not been stable enough for long enough in differentiated societies to allow sufficient time for the kind of polygenic process involved in human intelligence to develop class differences of the order suggested by the known social distribution of measured intelligence. This conclusion is, moreover, strengthened by a consideration of the variance found in measured intelligence among social class groups

Biology · Computational biology · Evolutionary biology · Evolution and Genetic Dynamics · Evolutionary Game Theory and Cooperation · Opinion Dynamics and Social Influence · Psychology