The Assault on Equality

^IThe Assault on Equality^R critiques the social theory underpinning the social policies of the new political right. It focuses on the attempt by Herrnstein and Murray in ^IThe Bell Curve^R to provide theoretical justification for social program cutbacks and coercive social policies. ^IThe Assault on Equality^R reanalyzes Herrnstein and Murray’s own data and demonstrates that their conclusions are questionable results of polemic and ideology that ignore and contradict the fundamental findings and methods of 20th-century sociology and genetics. The policy proposals of Newt Gingrich are the political counterpart to the flawed social theory of ^IThe Bell Curve^R. Both scholarly and readable, this is an appropriate supplement in courses such as race relations, stratification, theory, policy, and research methods. It shows the contemporary relevance of basic theoretical and methodological insights of sociology contradicted by ^IThe Bell Curve^R and other works of the new political right. Appendices present the statistical issues and the theoretical background ignored by such works. From a multi-disciplinary perspective, the authors take issue with the social policy positions of the new right concerning affirmative action, education, family, race, social class, and welfare.