Topic XVI. Mismeasure of Man
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LEARNING GOALS
- B. CONCEPT ACQUISITION
- Just World Fallacy: The tendency to believe that outcomes are deserved and existing social structures are justified.
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EXAMPLES
- Cautionary Quotes: Mistakes, Misconceptions, & Misunderstandings
LEARNING GOALS
- C. CONCEPT APPLICATION
- Explain how the validity of human classifications (e.g., race, gender) can be problematic and contribute to such abuses (e.g., because there isn’t any there, there are a number of things there, there is one thing there but it doesn’t have the significance you take it to).
- Provide historical examples of the abuse of science for social and political ends.
- Provide examples of cases in which the study of human groups is legitimate and beneficial.
- Distinguish legitimate inquiry into human groups from bad science.
CLASS ELEMENTS
- Homework Questions
- Describe some of the dangers and problems with finding valid categories to use in classifying human groups.
- Explain in your own words what Gould means by ‘biological determinism’ (p. 52). How does it relate to what he calls ‘ranking’ (p. 56)? Briefly set out one argument for OR against biological determinism.