22/11/2010

Noam Chomsky against Affirmative Action

As to social importance, a correlation between race and mean I.Q. (were this shown to exist) entails no social consequences except in a racist society in which each individual is assigned to a racial category and dealt with not as an individual in his own right, but as a representative of this category … In a non-racist society, the category of race would be of no greater significance [than height]. The mean I.Q. of individuals of a certain racial background is irrelevant to the situation of a particular individual, who is what he is.

Noam Chomsky, "I.Q. Tests: Building Blocks for the New Class System." Rampart: 24–30 (excerpted here)

1 comment:

  1. The excerpt and the linked article it's taken from don't even touch on the topic of affirmative action, explicitly or implicitly.

    ReplyDelete

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