The Measure of Merit: Talents, Intelligence, and Inequality in the French and American Republics, 1750–1940

by John Carson

How have modern democracies squared their commitment to equality with their fear that disparities in talent and intelligence might be natural, persistent, and consequential? In this wide-ranging account of American and French understandings of merit, talent, and intelligence over the past two centuries, John Carson tells the fascinating story of how two nations wrestled scientifically with human inequalities and their social and political implications.



Surveying a broad array of political tracts, philosophical treatises, scientific works, and journalistic writings, Carson chronicles the gradual embrace of the IQ version of intelligence in the United States, while in France, the birthplace of the modern intelligence test, expert judgment was consistently prized above such quantitative measures. He also reveals the crucial role that determinations of, and contests over, merit have played in both societies--they have helped to organize educational systems, justify racial hierarchies, classify army recruits, and direct individuals onto particular educational and career paths.

A contribution to both the history of science and intellectual history, The Measure of Merit illuminates the shadow languages of inequality that have haunted the American and French republics since their inceptions.

Genres: History

416 pages, Hardcover

First published October 30, 2006

About the author

John Carson
Associate Professor of History, University of Michigan

Reviews

[John Carter McKnight · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent narrative of the history of intelligence as a concept and intelligence testing in the US and France up to World War 2. Really very well done. Not personally interested enough for 280pp - the Cliffs Notes would've been fine for me. Assigned for comps.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

If a six-tentacled alien anthropologist slithered into a classroom filled with children busily scribbling into test booklets with their #2 pencils, what might they think was going on? Would they understand that adults were trying to "see" something invisible called the "mind," and that by asking children a series of questions we could create a number that described their "intelligence?"

So much of what we take as common practice in schooling is built from historical construction. Some of it begins as far back as Plato and Descartes (e.g., the concept of mind/body dualism). Some are relatively recent inventions (e.g., the pencil-and-paper test as a way of measuring one's "intelligence" with a single number). Was this journey was as inevitable as we might think? Answering this question is, in part, the mission of The Measure of Merit. I found it a fascinating exploration of how intelligence came to be conceptualized and used as a means of ranking and comparing in two societies: the U.S. and France. This comparison demonstrates that two countries, that, in many ways are alike, nonetheless approached the question of merit in very different ways for a host of philosophical, social, and cultural reasons. The result is that today, these two western democracies (and much like our tentacled alien anthropologist) look at each other's means of measuring its citizens askance. For the reader, it helps reveal that so much of what we take for granted in the measurement of merit, is in fact historically contingent and incredibly political. In other words, it didn't have to be this way, and we must continue searching for other ways for organizing society more equally.

If you're someone interested in understanding the historical conditions that led to how contemporary society decides its winner or losers, I strongly recommend reading this book.