Discrimination and disparities

Thomas Sowell, 1930-

Book - 2018

"Economic and other outcomes differ vastly among individuals, groups, and nations. Many explanations have been offered for the differences. Some believe that those with less fortunate outcomes are victims of genetics. Others believe that those who are less fortunate are victims of the more fortunate. [This book examines a] wide array of empirical evidence ... to challenge the idea that different economic outcomes can be explained by any one factor, be it discrimination, exploitation, or genetics"--Amazon.com.

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Subjects
Published
New York : Basic Books 2018.
Language
English
Main Author
Thomas Sowell, 1930- (author)
Edition
First edition
Physical Description
vii, 179 pages ; 25 cm
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN
9781541645608
  • Chapter 1. Disparities and Prerequisites
  • Chapter 2. Discrimination: Meanings and Costs
  • Chapter 3. Sorting and Unsorting People
  • Chapter 4. The World of Numbers
  • Chapter 5. Social Visions and Human Consequences
  • Acknowledgements
  • Endnotes
  • Index
Review by Choice Review

For decades, Sowell (Hoover Institution, Stanford) has been speaking statistical and historical truth to the hegemonic power of cultural and intellectual liberal elites in the US. This wide-ranging primer explores the vast disparities between groups whether they be nation-states, races, or religious sub-cultures. Barring now-discredited genetic explanations, the prevailing assumption is "that these disparities would not exist without corresponding disparities ... in the way they are treated by other people." But because people spontaneously sort in all manner of interconnected ways, attempts to coercively manipulate these differences in pursuit of the "invincible fallacy" of equal outcomes not only fail but also cause unacknowledged harm to both supposed victims and perpetrators. The repeated failures of school reforms, rent controls, and minimum wage laws to mitigate group disparities are mocked by the unaccountable and extraordinary success of maligned minority groups such as Mormons, Asians, and Jews in the US and overseas Chinese almost everywhere: "disparities do not imply discrimination." An obverse complement to Sowell's analysis is the political response to liberal social engineering in Salena Zito and Brad Todd, The Great Revolt: Inside the Populist Coalition Reshaping American Politics (Crown, 2018). Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty. --Eldon John Eisenach, emeritus, University of Tulsa

Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.