Does success come from your parents? New book supports genetic determinism

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Credit: tommie milacci (photoflurry) / Flickr

Gregory Clark’s startling new book, “The Son Also Rises,” asks you to rethink everything you thought you knew about social mobility. His research, if it’s correct, isn’t good news. It says that socio-economic status is mostly a matter of nature not nurture, and suggests that trying to help the disadvantaged move up won’t make much difference.

These findings defy the prevailing consensus, and one wants them to be wrong. But what if they’re not?

The Economist’s reviewer wrote: “`The Son Also Rises’ may not be a racist book, but it certainly traffics in genetic determinism.” As a rule, one traffics in things like illegal drugs and pornography, not in scientific findings. Genetic determinism is a horrible thing to contemplate, and it’s a theory one wants to be false. Unfortunately, that doesn’t make it false.

Read the full, original story: Want Success? Choose the Right Parents

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