Where Have All the Liberals Gone?

by James R. Flynn

Ever since the publication of Race, IQ, and Jensen (1980), Professor James R. Flynn has been the most respected critic of the notion that the IQ gap between black and white Americans is genetic in origin. This new book is a must for those who want to be up to date with that debate. He also offers an alternative to the vision of American society popularized by The Bell Curve. His overriding purpose is to rearm American idealism with new ideas. Where...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: B01E1TNDNG
• ISBN13: 9780521494311
• Release Date: September 2008
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 1.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.3" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

Crucial new insights

James Flynn is an expert on intelligence testing. His book "What is Intelligence?" reveals the crucial fact that intelligence tests have had to be recalibrated periodically because results have gradually improved over the decades. This is now known among sociologists as the "Flynn effect." The implications are profound. Either our grandparents were morons or we are geniuses or the tests are measuring something that changes over time. Flynn demonstrates that, although the tests do in part measure what can be considered genetically based intelligence, they also incorporate a cultural component, abstract reasoning, that has become increasingly prevalent in education as the developed world becomes more scientifically literate. It is difficult to praise "What is Intelligence?" enough. "Where Have All the Liberals Gone?" brilliantly elaborates the implications of the nature of intelligence testing for minorities and others. These arguments are enclosed within a larger framework that is implied in the title. Flynn is arguing for liberal political policies and philosophy. This overall framework is not as rigorously organized or presented as the intelligence-specific sections, but is very valuable nonetheless. Many of his arguments are incisive. Also, the historical background information on liberal phiosophy and policies is helpful and illuminating.

Insightful, in your Face Argument

Charles Murray and Richard Herrnstein became infamous for suggesting that the data supports the view that the 15 point different in IQ between blacks and whites in the USA is mostly genetic, and we should stop trying to equalize economic outcomes between blacks and whites for this reason. James Flynn provided one of the most plausible counter-argumes, showing that IQ measures rise so rapidly over time that blacks of the present generation have about the same distribution of IQ scores as whites two generations ago. For this reason, we cannot rule out the possibility that IQ differences are fully determined by environmental differences between blacks and whites. Flynn deepens this analysis in this book, and adds that while black children from middle class families in the US do worse that white children from similar environments (thus supporting the hereditary position), black children in Germany, sired by American soldiers during WWII, show no such deficit. Flynn believes that in fact American black culture values education, but does not value hard work and strict discipline, so even middle class black parents do not foster the sorts of attitudes that show up as high scores on IQ tests. Flynn concludes that anyone who tells you he/she is certain that the black-white IQ gap is purely environmental either does not know the literature or is simply lying. He believes there is a lot of lying going on among liberals, who are too lilly-livered to confront the data. Flynn supplies a fine analysis of the sad state of the black family in the United States. He argues that for every marriage-age black female, there are only about 0.57 marriagable black males, the remainder being in jail, dead, married to a non-black, or homeless. Because black females want to have children, they simply do so without the guarantee of marriage. Because the marriage market is so favorable to American black males, they get all the sex and love they want without being tied down. Flynn shows that the marriage market is much better for Hispanics in the US, mainly because there is a constand flow of males from Latin America to the US, so there is effectively no male deficit. This material is all quite excellent, and delivered with the usual Flynn insight. However, Flynn uses his pulpit to range far and wide in support of his social democratic sympathies. There is nothing new here, just a lot of intellectual history and the usual arguments against military spending, for affirmative action, and the like. I wish he had left this material out of the book, concentrating on what he does best.