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Fatal Invention: How Science, Politics, And Big Business Re-create Race In The Twenty-First Century (2011)

by Dorothy Roberts(Favorite Author)

4.28 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

1595584951 (ISBN13: 9781595584953)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

New Press, The

review 1: This book definitely falls into the category of reading that has significantly broadened my thinking. It was assigned for a class this semester, and I made my way more slowly through it again once the semester wrapped up a few weeks ago. This is a lengthy book that covers lots of topics, but I think Roberts' central argument is that, despite widespread beliefs in America that we're living in a 'post-racial' era and making progress towards racial equality, scientific research is still being used to advance the idea of biological differences among racial groups. So, how can we reconcile efforts to achieve greater social and political equality in America with scientific advances which suggest that racial groups are fundamentally distinct? Relatedly, to what extent is scientif... moreic research being used to confirm enduring popular ideology regarding racial difference? Roberts offers these questions and more - "Fatal Invention" is extremely thought-provoking, and one of the few books I've encountered in awhile that has thrown me for a loop, in a really good and mind-opening way.
review 2: One of those times I wish GoodReads allowed half stars, as I teetered back and forth between 3 and 4 for a long time. In the end I went with three, mostly because some chapters felt repetitive. Perhaps that's the nature of a book like this, but when it gets to the point that I'm tempted to skip the rest of a chapter because I feel like I already read it, it's a bit too much. But Roberts makes several excellent points, primarily that we are still too quick to try to base race on biology when it's increasingly clear that what we call race is a pernicious socioeconomic construct that we're still trying to justify. I will certainly be taking future headlines regarding 'scientific studies' as applied to race with a very large shaker of salt, as I had not realized that researchers (some with a profit motive) were playing so fast and loose with the data. less

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