Race and Evolution

by Stephen Sanderson

George Farkas and Keven Vicknair, sociologists at the University of Texas at Dallas, found the same basic pattern.63 They suggested that wage disparities between blacks and whites might be explained by differences in cognitive skills rather than by discrimination. They tested their theory by using data from a large national sample of male workers between the ages of 26 and 33 for the year 1991. In their statistical analysis they found that discrimination did initially appear to be one of the factors that explained wage gaps, but this was only because the possible role of cognitive skills was ignored. When cognitive skills were taken into account (statistically controlled), the wage gap not only disappeared but actually shifted slightly in favor of blacks. In other words, when blacks and whites were compared at the same level of cognitive skill, blacks actually outearned whites! The authors’ grand conclusion was that blacks as a whole earn less than whites because of poorer cognitive skills. (In referring to cognitive skills the authors say they are not talking about IQ but about the kinds of cognitive skills taught in schools, such as reading, mathematics, and analytical reasoning. However, Farkas and Vicknair say they measure cognitive skills “as the average score on tests of word knowledge, paragraph comprehension, arithmetic reasoning, and mathematical knowledge.” These are really intelligence

H