Bell Curve and Correlational Research
Richard J. Herrnstein and Charles Murray, authors of The Bell Curve, have received criticism for their inability to establish the "truth" in their research of intelligence. Rather than using objective tests to determine if their findings were valid (e.g., control groups and follow-up studies; varying conditions; factoring in margin for error), they assumed that their research findings were accurate based on one premise - the IQ scores of students after 1950 as opposed to the scores of those in earlier years. They offer graphs and tables to "prove" that intelligence determines social status more than inherited status (i.e., one's parents being of high social standing). But although they seem to have definitive evidence, their method was flawed because they failed to take into account that research methods are not the same in this present day as they were 20 or 30 years ago. Additionally, although they insist that one's social standing does not predict eventual intelligence - for example, there are more people with higher IQs now than prior to 1950 - it does not address the fact that the poverty level is at a lower percentage than it was in 1950, which means that not as many people would, by their determinations, have lower IQs because not as many are living at poverty level. The authors did not consider all the alternative when they put together their research findings. They did not, for example, allow for a variable such as a non-related family member being brought up in a particular household (such as adopted children), and how that social standing remained the same, even though the child had a different genetic make-up. Such children may differ in innate intelligence from biological children rise but often remain in the same social class because they are raised in the same way as parents would raise a biological child, and that has a lot to do with the child's cognitive ability. Herrnstein and Murray would have been better advised to do a broader study that allowed for variables in economic background and the changes in economic climate in the years they insist the curve went up due to educational opportunities.
Rituals and Witchcraft Body Ritual among the Nacirema by Horace Miner Different cultures have various ways of looking at the human body and the manifestation of which in the community or society they live in. Some open societies do not mind having people displaying their bodies in public along with accoutrements that add beauty thereto. Other closed societies frown on display of any body parts especially with female members. The Nacirema of
The Nacirema occupy a broad and diverse geographic zone between Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean. Their highly developed market economy belies, or perhaps informs, the evolution of elaborate body rituals. The body rituals of the Nacirema are diverse and usually gendered. The underlying assumptions of the Nacirema body rituals are that the human form in its natural, unadulterated or unadorned state, is inherently profane, impure, and aesthetically unpleasing. Therefore, the
Culture and Sociology of the Nacerima Body Rituals Among the Nacirema," by Horace Miner is an article that offers a social look at the American lifestyle. The author steps outside of the American culture and describes how somebody unfamiliar to the culture might describe it. This manages to open the reader's eyes to the fact that the American culture can be seen as just as strange as unfamiliar foreign cultures. The
Like the "box or chest which is built into the wall" ("Body Ritual among the Nacirema, p. 2) in Nacirema homes, Americans spend a great deal of time taking prescription drugs and over the counter remedies into and out of their medicine cabinets. For Americans, these medicine cabinets often have mirrors, a help in scrutinizing their ever-imperfect bodies. The faces and teeth of Americans are washed and brushed in
Cultural Observation of Dress Why do all humans engage in the act of dressing the body? Consider how dress relates to both the physical and the social needs of the wearer. Everyone dresses according to social factors and to make themselves more physically appealing to other. This helps them to be seen as hip and enhance their appearance. These variables ensure that the social and individual needs of the person are met.
Because of this piece's genre, Process Analysis, and more specifically as supposedly observed by an anthropologist, Miner gives authority to his words so as to convince the reader that the Nacirema really do behave to such uncivilized extremes. How does the 13th Warrior approach "otherness?" This film actually takes on the theme from three directions. Interactions between the main character, Ahmed Ibn Fahdlan (hereafter referred to as Ibn) and the Norse
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