Human Diversity: The Biology of Gender, Race, and Class

4.5 stars. Charles Murray, the controversial author behind The Bell Curve dips his toes into more controversial territory with Human Diversity. The central thesis of this book is that there exist notable psychological differences between groups of human beings, and these differences are due in large part to genetic factors.

Examples of groups differentiated in these ways include males/females, races (or the more academic ‘ancestral populations') and social classes. He argues that these differences are biological in origin (not merely socially constructed) and have proven robust to any social policy interventions we could throw at them. We cannot hope to erase these differences though social policy. Instead, policy makers should acquaint themselves with the nature of these differences, and understand what is or isn't amenable to change.

Considering that Murray is a policy analyst and not a psychologist/anthropologist/geneticist/neuroscientist/some other -ist, his arguments are surprisingly good. It is clear that he has engaged the research, and explores the implications of very recent developments in all of these fields (as of early 2020) to the topic of human diversity. This book is rigorous enough that it can be hard to follow, even for a philomath like myself. Even then, I think he does well to illustrate his basic point, while making sure to expound on the relevant data and references for the interested reader. He never seems to overstate his point, coming to modest conclusions from the evidence.

The weakest chapter is probably the final one, where he leaves the data behind and begins to expound on his personal conservative views, calling for people to rally around family, community, faith, and vocation.