Intellectuals and Society

Intellectuals and Society
cover Cover
Author(s)	Thomas Sowell
Language	English
Publisher	Basic Books
Publication year	2010, revised 2012
ISBN	0465025226

Intellectuals and Society is a 2010 book by the Afro-American "libertarian conservative" economist and social theorist Thomas Sowell. It was revised and enlarged in 2012. In 2013, the related book Intellectuals and Race was published.

Influential views by intellectuals disliked by Sowell include less politically correct genetic views on race and race and intelligence, although Sowell himself has sometimes supported politically incorrect race-related views, such as by arguing that aspects of Black culture affect Blacks (and others) negatively and by supporting libertarian related opposition to affirmative action. His anti-woke view on race and intelligence has been described as

"He argues that an ethnic group's IQ scores are primarily determined by its environment, not heredity, and rise as conditions improve. But, nevertheless, he insists that IQ tests do usefully predict the likelihood of an individual's academic success."

Sowell apparently has written little directly on Cultural Marxism, despite the large influence of the intellectuals associated with this on society, including on race issues.

Publisher description

"This much revised and reorganized edition of Intellectuals and Society is more than half again larger than the first edition. Four new chapters have been added on intellectuals and race, including a chapter on race and intelligence. These new chapters show the radically different views of race prevailing among the intelligentsia at the beginning of the twentieth century and at the end-- and yet how each of these opposite views of race had the same dogmatic quality and the same refusal to countenance differing opinions among their contemporaries, much less engage dissenting opinions in serious debate. Moreover, each of these very different views of race produced flourishes of rhetoric and travesties of logic, leading to dire social consequences, though of very different sorts in the two eras. Other additions to this edition include a critique of John Rawls' conception or justice and a re-examination of the so-called "trickle-down theory" behind "tax cuts for the rich." There are other revisions, from the preface to the final chapter, the latter being extensively rewritten to bring together and highlight the themes of the other chapters, and to make unmistakably clear what Intellectuals and Society is, and is not, seeking to do."

Quotes

• Education is not merely neglected in many of our schools, but is replaced to a great extent by ideological indoctrination.

External links

• Intellectuals and Race
• American Renaissance: Thomas Sowell