April 28, 2018 By Richard Kirk
"Just the facts, ma'am." That was Joe Friday's interrogation refrain on Dragnet. The same comment could serve as the subtitle of Thomas Sowell's recent book, Discrimination and Disparities. Few works on politically explosive topics maintain such a consistent focus on empirical evidence while avoiding rhetorical jabs at opponents. On the other hand, empirical evidence cuts deep, especially when critics can't protest the author's "nasty" style. As radio talker Larry Elder observes, "[f]acts are to liberals what kryptonite is to Superman."
 |
| Discrimination and Disparities By Thomas Sowell |
Sowell's title, if employed by a member of the leftist intelligentsia, would doubtless imply a causal link between statistical disparities and some form of discrimination – usually racial. Sowell, by contrast, marshals an abundance of evidence to show that this automatic assumption isn't justified
Focusing simply on statistical probabilities, Sowell notes that if five prerequisites are needed for success in a particular field, and if the chances are two out of three that any person will have each characteristic, the chance of possessing all five characteristics are still only one in eight – a calculation that helps explain why most pro golfers have never won a PGA tournament while Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, and Tiger Woods have collectively won over 200 times.
Consequently, "[g]iven multiple prerequisites for many human endeavors, we should not be surprised if economic or social advances are not evenly or randomly distributed among individuals, groups, institutions or nations at any given time."............Read more
No comments:
Post a Comment