Straightening the bell curve: how stereotypes about Black masculinity drive research on race and intelligence

Description

Finally, an answer to The Bell Curve Straightening the Bell Curve offers a new way of looking at the distressingly persistent subject of intelligence research as it relates to race and gender. Constance Hilliards premiseùthat researchers preoccupied with proving racial hierarchies often sacrifice scientific truth to masculine insecuritiesrests on her examination of works of historical and contemporary figures in the field of racial research. Based on this thesis, Straightening the Bell Curve explores the emotional fixations concealed behind the presumably rational ones that propel otherwise clearheaded researchers to ignore elemental flaws in their conceptions as they set out to prove the cognitive inferiority of African Americans. The tendency to justify racial and cultural stereotypes on the grounds that they reflect underlying biological differences has a long and controversial history in America. As far back as the eighteenth century, new areas of...