1994 book by Richard J. Herrnstein and Charles Murray
For the principal, mathematical meaning of the term "bell curve", see Normal distribution. For other senses of the term, see Bell curve (disambiguation).
The Bell Curve
Cover of the first edition
Authors
Richard J. Herrnstein Charles Murray
Subject
Intelligence
Publisher
Free Press
Publication date
1994
Media type
Print (hardcover and paperback)
Pages
845
ISBN
0-02-914673-9
OCLC
30913157
Dewey Decimal
305.9/082 20
LC Class
BF431 .H398 1994
The Bell Curve: Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life is a 1994 book by psychologist Richard J. Herrnstein and political scientist Charles Murray, in which the authors argue that human intelligence is substantially influenced by both inherited and environmental factors and that it is a better predictor of many personal outcomes, including financial income, job performance, birth out of wedlock, and involvement in crime than are an individual's parental socioeconomic status. They also argue that those with high intelligence, the "cognitive elite", are becoming separated from those of average and below-average intelligence, and that this separation is a source of social division within the United States.
The book has been, and remains, highly controversial, especially where the authors discussed purported connections between race and intelligence and suggested policy implications based on these purported connections. The authors claimed that average intelligence quotient (IQ) differences between racial and ethnic groups are at least partly genetic in origin, a view that is now considered discredited by mainstream science.[1][2][3] Many of the references and sources used in the book were advocates for racial hygiene, whose research was funded by the white supremacist organization Pioneer Fund.[4]
Shortly after its publication, many people rallied both in criticism and in defense of the book. A number of critical texts were written in response to it. Several criticisms were collected in the book The Bell Curve Debate.
^Evans, Gavin (2 March 2018). "The unwelcome revival of 'race science'". The Guardian. Archived from the original on February 20, 2019. Retrieved May 2, 2021.
^Turkheimer, Eric; Harden, Kathryn Paige; Nisbett, Richard E. (June 15, 2017). "There's still no good reason to believe black-white IQ differences are due to genes". Vox. Vox Media. Archived from the original on May 4, 2021. Retrieved 29 April 2021.
^Panofsky, Aaron; Dasgupta, Kushan; Iturriaga, Nicole (2021). "How White nationalists mobilize genetics: From genetic ancestry and human biodiversity to counterscience and metapolitics". American Journal of Physical Anthropology. 175 (2): 387–398. doi:10.1002/ajpa.24150. PMC 9909835. PMID 32986847. S2CID 222163480.
^Rosenthal, S. J. (1995). The Pioneer Fund: PROD. The American Behavioral Scientist, 39(1), 44.
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