CL 2/13

The Mismeasure of Man

1. How does Gould define biological determinism? (page 52)
2. What are the two major sources of data that have supported this theme known as biological determinism? (page 52)
3. What have biological determinists invoked when it comes to the issue of race? (page 52)
4. According to Gould on page 53, biological determinism is useful for:
   1. Groups in power
   2. Groups not in power
5. According to Gould on page 53, for the adherents of biological determinism, changes to a social and political system based on a racial caste system seen as an extension of nature is:
   1. Inconsequential
   2. an enormous costs for individuals psychologically
   3. an enormous costs for society economically
   4. Both 2) and 3)
6. Gould’s arguments against biological determinism begin by attacking which two fallacies? (page 56)
   1. Reification and ranking
   2. Geocentrism
7. In the last paragraph of page 56, what does Gould write is his book is about (his explanation continues onto page 57)?
8. Finish this sentence, which can be found on page 59: “In most cases discussed in this book, we can be fairly certain that biases—though often expressed as egregiously as in cases of fraud—were unknowingly __________________________________________________.”
9. On page 60, Gould describes biological determinism as a theory of limits. What does he mean by that?

Plessy v. Ferguson: A Brief History with Documents

1. According to Brook Thomas, the editor of Plessy v. Ferguson: A Brief History with Documents, what were the problems with laws designed to keep races separate (hint: it deals with the concept of skin color and “passing”)? (page 3)
2. What did Albion Tourgee want the Supreme Court to do when it came to segregation laws? (page 4)
3. Why was Homer Plessy chosen as a test case? (page 4)
4. Why did Justice John Ferguson rule in favor of Daniel F. Desdunes riding a train over state lines but against Homer Plessy, who rode a train within the borders of Louisiana? (page 5)
5. What is the difference between a social right, a political right, and a civil right? (page 12)
6. Why does Congress pass a civil rights act? (page 13)
7. According to Charles Walter Collins, what did the 14^th Amendment do? (page 14)
8. Which group was the first to bring a case before the Supreme Court citing a violation of their rights under the 13^th and 14^th Amendments (hint: it wasn’t African Americans)? (page 18.)

the measure of man

• shared behavioral norms and the social and economic differences between human groups primarily races, classes, and sexes-arise from inherited inborn distinctions and that society in this sense is an accurate reflection of biology.

• craniometr y (or measurement of the skull)
  and certain styles of psychological testing.

• that the traditional prestige of science as objective knowledge , free from social and political taint.
  They portray themselves as purveyors of harsh truth and their
  opponents as sentimentalists, ideologues , and wishful thinkers .
• 1. groups in power

• both 2 and 3
• 1. Reification and ranking

• This book, then, is about the abstraction of intelligence as a single entity,
  its location within the brain, its quantification as one number for each individual, and the use of these numbers to rank people in a single series of worthiness , invariably to find that oppressed and disadvantaged groups—races , classes, or sexes—are innately inferior and deserve their status. In short, this book is about the Mismeasure of Man.