Talents, Intelligence, and Inequality in the French and American Republics, 1750-1940
Buch, Englisch, 422 Seiten, Format (B × H): 161 mm x 240 mm, Gewicht: 811 g
ISBN: 978-0-691-01715-0
Verlag: Princeton University Press
How have modern democracies squared their commitment to equality with their fear that disparities in talent and intelligence might be natural, persistent, and consequential? In this wide-ranging account of American and French understandings of merit, talent, and intelligence over the past two centuries, John Carson tells the fascinating story of how two nations wrestled scientifically with human inequalities and their social and political implications.Surveying a broad array of political tracts, philosophical treatises, scientific works, and journalistic writings, Carson chronicles the gradual embrace of the IQ version of intelligence in the United States, while in France, the birthplace of the modern intelligence test, expert judgment was consistently prized above such quantitative measures. He also reveals the crucial role that determinations of, and contests over, merit have played in both societies--they have helped to organize educational systems, justify racial hierarchies, classify army recruits, and direct individuals onto particular educational and career paths.A contribution to both the history of science and intellectual history, The Measure of Merit illuminates the shadow languages of inequality that have haunted the American and French republics since their inceptions.
Autoren/Hrsg.
Fachgebiete
- Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Kultur- und Ideengeschichte
- Sozialwissenschaften Pädagogik Pädagogik Bildungssystem Vergleichende und Empirische Bildungsforschung
- Sozialwissenschaften Psychologie Psychologische Disziplinen Wirtschafts-, Arbeits- und Organisationspsychologie
- Sozialwissenschaften Psychologie Allgemeine Psychologie Kognitionspsychologie Intelligenz, Denken, Problemlösen
- Sozialwissenschaften Pädagogik Schulen, Schulleitung Schulleitung, Schulentwicklung Schulevaluation, Schulinspektion
- Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Mentalitäts- und Sozialgeschichte
- Sozialwissenschaften Psychologie Psychologie / Allgemeines & Theorie Experimentelle Psychologie
- Sozialwissenschaften Pädagogik Pädagogik Pädagogische Soziologie, Bildungssoziologie
- Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Spezielle Soziologie Wirtschaftssoziologie, Arbeitssoziologie, Organisationssoziologie
Weitere Infos & Material
List of Tables ix
Preface and Acknowledgments xi
Introduction 1
PART I: MENTAL ABILITIES AND REPUBLICAN CULTURES 9
Chapter One: "The most precious gift of nature": Natural Aristocracy, Republican Polities, and the Meanings of Talent 11
Chapter Two: Mental Capacities and Orthodox Minds: Mental Science, Education, and the Politics of Individual Difference 38
Chapter Three: All Men Are Created Equal? Anthropology, Intelligence, and the Science of Race 75
PART II: INDIVIDUALIZING INTELLIGENCE THROUGH THE SCIENCE OF DIFFERENCE 111
Chapter Four: Between the Art of the Clinic and the Precision of the Laboratory: Individual Intelligence and the Science of Difference in Third Republic France 113
Chapter Five: American Psychology and the Seductions of IQ 159
PART III: MERIT, MATTER, AND MIND 195
Chapter Six: Out of the Lab and Into the World: Intelligence Goes to War 197
Chapter Seven: Intelligence and the Politics of Merit between the Wars 229
Epilogue 271
Notes 281
Index 387
