November 06, 2005

Racial preference as an extension of kin preference



French-Canadian psychologist J.P. Rushton has just put out a new paper elaborating on themes he has been discussing for some time. The Abstract of the paper is below:

"Genetic Similarity Theory extends Anthony D. Smith's theory of ethno-symbolism by anchoring ethnic nepotism in the evolutionary psychology of altruism. Altruism toward kin and similar others evolved in order to help replicate shared genes. Since ethnic groups are repositories of shared genes, xenophobia is the `dark side' of human altruism. A review of the literature demonstrates the pull of genetic similarity in dyads such as marriage partners and friendships, and even large groups, both national and international. The evidence that genes incline people to prefer others who are genetically similar to themselves comes from studies of social assortment, differential heritabilities, the comparison of identical and fraternal twins, blood tests, and family bereavements. DNA sequencing studies confirm some origin myths and disconfirm others; they also show that in comparison to the total genetic variance around the world, random co-ethnics are related to each other on the order of first cousins."

The paper will of course arouse great ire in any Leftist who reads it on the grounds that it treats preference for one's own race as natural. And yet precisely that conclusion is in fact old hat among psychologists. There was for a while a controversy about it but by 1986 we find in Roger Brown's popular social psychology textbook (titled simply Social Psychology) the conclusion that "ethnocentrism" and its associated phenomena are "universal ineradicable psychological processes". And given the usual Leftist inclinations of psychologists, the evidence had to be pretty overwhelming for that conclusion to be arrived at. So it is only the know-all Leftists who in fact know nothing who would jib at Rushton's basic point. Where Rushton's work is interesting therefore is not his discovery of the naturalness of race-preference but rather his explanation for it. He shows where it fits into theoretical biology as an aspect of both kin preference and altruism. Bringing several different phenomena together within a single theoretical framework is of course a great goal in any science so Rushton's conclusions are impressive if only for that reason. The entire paper is quite readable and I think anybody who looks at the variety of evedence Rushton masrshalls in support of his conclusions will find it hard to argue with them. See here or here for the full paper





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