The Assault on Equality
critiques the social theory underpinning the social policies of the new political right. It focuses on the attempt by Herrnstein and Murray in
The Bell Curve
to provide theoretical justification for social program cutbacks and coercive social policies.
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
. 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
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.