"Bright" Children, Genetics, and the Hidden Racism of the New Eugenics

• In Event: The "New Eugenics" and Education

Abstract

Objectives
The paper examines current discourses surrounding the nature of academic ability and education policy in England. Beneath a rhetorical commitment to ‘equal opportunities’ for all, and fuelled by the over-blown claims of behavioural geneticists (Panofsky, 2014), popular media treatments and formal education policy alike promote a view of ability as fixed and heritable. The paper analyses the hidden role of race in these debates.

Theoretical Framework
The paper draws on a policy sociology approach that is shaped by Critical Race Theory (cf., Buras, 2013; Gillborn, 2014). Policy is scrutinized for the deployment of racialized beliefs as part of its rationale and, in turn, its consequences are interrogated for racist inequity.

Methods and Techniques of Inquiry
We utilize mixed methods by combing quantitative data (on the inequitable position of Black students in academically selected programs) and qualitative critical discourse analysis to explore the conceptions of ability, worth and deficit within contemporary media and education policy debate.

Data Sources and Evidence
We draw on a range of official statistics including the National Pupil Database (which records the attainment of all students attending state-maintained schools in England and includes variables on poverty and ethnic origin). Textual discourse analyses will be conducted using data on government debates, policy texts, and media coverage of relevant issues, especially genetics and intelligence, drawing on official sources and dedicated search engines such as LexisNexis.

Results and Substantiated conclusions
The paper charts the growth and influence of ‘the new eugenics’ across the media and education policy; i.e. a belief that (a) human beings are naturally ordered by intelligence, (b) that these differences are significantly shaped by inevitable and fixed genetic factors; and (c) that for the benefit of the whole population, and to support national economic competitiveness, the most intelligent should receive a different (better) educational provision in order to help them make the most of their ‘natural abilities’ and/or ‘potential’.

One of the defining characteristics of the ‘new’ eugenics is the inexplicit nature of its treatment of race and racism. The debates and policies have racist consequences because of the systematically lower proportion of Black children judged as meeting the criteria for high intelligence and giftedness. However, the racial dimension of the debate is removed from public scrutiny: IQ-advocates have learnt from past controversies that naming race differences can be damaging (Gates Jr, 2008; Murray, 2013) and so they avoid direct reference to race differences and characterize anti-racist critics as ideologically driven and lacking the necessary scientific credentials to comprehend contemporary genetics.

Scientific and Scholarly Significance of the Study
By exposing the deeply racialized nature of the these debates the analysis adds to the antiracist critique of current policy and aids community mobilization against neoliberal technologies of sorting and selection that promote a colorblind rhetoric of ‘ability’ that has demonstrably racist outcomes.

Author

• David Gillborn, The University of Birmingham