[Review of] William H. Tucker. The Science and Politics of Racial Research

Abstract

Since there is usually a two year period of time that elapses between the acceptance of a manuscript by a university press and its publication, we must commend William H. Tucker, who is an associate professor of psychology at Rutgers University, in his anticipation of contemporary controversies in reference to the relative abilities of races. Tucker argues that there is continuity in the thought of racists, which over the past two centuries include anthropometricians, eugenicists, and segregationists. ”The imprimatur of science,“ Tucker argues cogently, ”has been offered to justify, first slavery and, later, segregation, nativism, socio-political inequality, class subordination, poverty, and the general futility of social and economic reform. For Tucker, the attempt to demonstrate that one race is genetically less intelligent than others has been scientifically valueless and socially harmful. Scientific research into racial differences has, in essence, resulted in the “legitimation” of racist ideology. Nevertheless, Tucker is not pessimistic about winning the battle with racists. ”America\u27s democratic political traditions, he writes, ”have prevailed, and today universal suffrage, equal rights under law, and the guarantee of other civil liberties to all citizens are no longer up for debate; where demonstrable infringement has occurred, there is generally outrage and prompt redress