The Bell Curve: Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life Cover
Podcast Mentions

The Bell Curve Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life

Richard Herrnstein

Postulating that a "cognitive elite" are at the top of a new class structure in America, and that low intelligence levels are at the root of many social problems, the authors challenge the fundamental American belief that everyone is created equal. 50,000 first printing. $50,000 ad/promo. Tour.

Podcasts 13
Quotes 37
The Tucker Carlson Show

The hosts said the public debate on genetics and race was crystallized by this book, noting its influence on past discussions about intelligence and socioeconomic outcomes.

"

And it all grew out of or was crystallized by a book called The Bell Curve. Have you heard of this?

— Episode: Tucker Debates Biotech CEO on Baby Custo...

Episode: Tucker Debates Biotech CEO on Baby Customization,...

The hosts said the public debate on genetics and race was crystallized by this book, noting its influence on past discussions about intelligence and socioeconomic outcomes.

"

And it all grew out of or was crystallized by a book called The Bell Curve. Have you heard of this?

Pod Save America

It was mentioned as a book funded by conservative and racist old white people, specifically, the Lyndon B. Johnson Foundation.

"

It's a bunch of weird billionaires you've never heard of. The Lyndon Harry Bradley Foundation, these like reactionists, you know, weird racist old white people that funded Charles Murray, the author o...

— Episode: “The Fear Olympics.”

Episode: “The Fear Olympics.”

It was mentioned as a book funded by conservative and racist old white people, specifically, the Lyndon B. Johnson Foundation.

"

It's a bunch of weird billionaires you've never heard of. The Lyndon Harry Bradley Foundation, these like reactionists, you know, weird racist old white people that funded Charles Murray, the author of the Bell Curves scholarship.

Episode: “The Fear Olympics.”

It was mentioned in the context of a discussion about dark money groups and their influence on voter suppression bills, specifically by funding individuals like Charles Murray.

"

It's a bunch of weird billionaires you've never heard of. The Lyndon Harry Bradley Foundation, these like reactionists, you know, weird racist old white people that funded Charles Murray, the author of the Bell Curves scholarship.

The Joe Rogan Experience

The book was referenced as a recent, highly controversial work that some had used to bolster racist arguments about intelligence and race. Both guests highlighted its contentious nature, noting that while it claims to show measurable IQ differences between groups, it also risks empowering racist perspectives and may be influenced by political motives. The discussion was largely critical of its implications.

Critiqued

Episode: #1320 - Eric Weinstein

It was brought up as a contentious subject for being racist or applauded for proving the measurable difference in IQ between certain races. It was mentioned that Charles Murray may have a political agenda that isn't necessarily racist but the facts might empower racist people.

"

It was brought up as a contentious subject for being racist or applauded for proving the measurable difference in IQ between certain races.

He appeared to have a political orientation which is that he didn't want money spent in certain ways and he wanted it spent in others. There there was an in political interpretation of why he wanted that which was maybe he's a closet racist. Then there was facts that will tend to empower people who are actually racist.

If you say Nigerians are particular who are incredibly industrious and some of the more successful immigrant groups that come over to America. Yeah also happen to be black. If you wanted to look at Nigerians right in terms of like if you wanted to if you if you if all if you if you wanted to look at them particularly as a group be very difficult to be racist, you'd have to say well these are superior. A lot of superior intellects come from Nigeria. They also trot out the Asian one right that eight like this one of the weird things that people like to show that they're not racist right like look it shows Asians are of a superior IQ. I I I puzzle on that one. That one's puzzling.

Episode: #1419 - Daryl Davis

The book was cited as a controversial recent publication that the clan member used to support racist arguments about intelligence and race.

"

and the bell curve had just recently come out and you know the one yeah very controversial exactly so he jumped on that

Stuff You Should Know

It was mentioned as a book often cited as evidence for white supremacy, which is largely considered pseudoscience.

"

You cited the conservative economist Charles Murray and his justifications for introducing UBI to the American economy. I'm sure you didn't realize this, but Murray is a particular favorite of white s...

— Episode: The Legends of Lost Nazi Gold

Episode: The Legends of Lost Nazi Gold

It was mentioned as a book often cited as evidence for white supremacy, which is largely considered pseudoscience.

"

You cited the conservative economist Charles Murray and his justifications for introducing UBI to the American economy. I'm sure you didn't realize this, but Murray is a particular favorite of white supremacists for his views on genetics and their contribution to social inequality between whites and people of color.

He has a book called The Bell Curve that is often cited as data proven evidence for white supremacy. It's also largely been debunked as pseudoscience.

Episode: Selects: The Legends of Lost Nazi Gold

It was mentioned as a book often cited by white supremacists for its views on genetics and social inequality, though it has largely been debunked as pseudo-science.

"

you cited the conservative economist Charles Murray and his justifications for introducing UBI to the American economy... Murray is a particular favorite of white supremacists for his views on genetics and their contribution to social inequality between whites and people of color.

Episode: The Legends of Lost Nazi Gold

It was mentioned as a source that has been cited as evidence for white supremacy, but also widely debunked as pseudoscience.

"

You cited the conservative economist Charles Murray and his justifications for introducing UBI to the American economy...Murray is a particular favorite of white supremacists for his views on genetics and their contribution to social inequality between whites and people of color.

He has a book called The Bell Curve that is often cited as data proven evidence for white supremacy. It's also largely been debunked as pseudoscience.

Episode: The Legends of Lost Nazi Gold

It was mentioned as a book that is often cited as evidence for white supremacy, though it has been largely debunked as pseudoscience.

"

You cited the conservative economist Charles Murray and his justifications for introducing UBI to the American economy. I'm sure you didn't realize this, but Murray is a particular favorite of white supremacists for his views on genetics and their contribution to social inequality between whites and people of color.

He has a book called The Bell Curve that is often cited as data proven evidence for white supremacy. It's also largely been debunked as pseudoscience.

Freakonomics Radio

Glenn Loury criticized Charles Murray's "The Bell Curve", describing it as borderline racist.

"

He broke with that group in the mid 90s after publicly attacking some of their books, including Charles Murray's The Bell Curve, which Lowry described as borderline racist.

— Episode: 588. Confessions of a Black Conservative

Episode: 588. Confessions of a Black Conservative

Glenn Loury criticized Charles Murray's "The Bell Curve", describing it as borderline racist.

"

He broke with that group in the mid 90s after publicly attacking some of their books, including Charles Murray's The Bell Curve, which Lowry described as borderline racist.

The Jordan B. Peterson Podcast

It was the most vilified book of the 90s, and it was discussed in the context of the guest's PhD research on the brain and cognitive abilities, which was considered politically controversial.

"

which was the most vilified book of the 90s if you like and hernstein and marie were both at Harvard although hernstein had just passed away and we had been the neuropsych guys had been speculating on

— Episode: 328. Jordan Peterson's Psychological Too...

Episode: 328. Jordan Peterson's Psychological Tools | Dr. D...

It was the most vilified book of the 90s, and it was discussed in the context of the guest's PhD research on the brain and cognitive abilities, which was considered politically controversial.

"

which was the most vilified book of the 90s if you like and hernstein and marie were both at Harvard although hernstein had just passed away and we had been the neuropsych guys had been speculating on

Episode: 245. The Uncomfortable Truth Behind Economic Inequ...

It was discussed in the context of IQ and its relationship to societal outcomes, particularly focusing on the distribution of cognitive abilities in the population.

"

One of the things Hernstein and Murray said in that book that really stuck in my mind is that academic types like you and me, we virtually never encounter anyone in the lower 50th percentile of the cognitive distribution.

Behind the Bastards

It was mentioned that Pat Buchanan suggested his boss, President Nixon, read an article in The Atlantic co-authored by one of this book's authors, discussing the impact of heredity on intelligence.

"

Pat Buchanan suggested His boss, the president, read an article In The Atlantic by Richard Hearnstein A co-author of a little book You might have heard of called The Bell Curve

— Episode: How Pat Buchanan, Secret Nazi, Paved The...

Episode: How Pat Buchanan, Secret Nazi, Paved The Way For D...

It was mentioned that Pat Buchanan suggested his boss, President Nixon, read an article in The Atlantic co-authored by one of this book's authors, discussing the impact of heredity on intelligence.

"

Pat Buchanan suggested His boss, the president, read an article In The Atlantic by Richard Hearnstein A co-author of a little book You might have heard of called The Bell Curve

Episode: America's War On Children

The Bell Curve, a book about IQ, was mentioned in passing as being written by friends of James Q. Wilson, the co-author of the Broken Windows Theory of Crime.

"

And coincidentally, best friends with the guys who wrote the racist book about IQ, The Bell Curve, which is fun.

Episode: How Pat Buchanan, Secret Nazi, Paved The Way For D...

It was said that Pat Buchanan suggested his boss, President Nixon, read an article by Richard Herrnstein that argued that heredity over environment determined intelligence.

"

Pat Buchanan suggested His boss, the president, read an article In The Atlantic by Richard Hearnstein A co-author of a little book You might have heard of called The Bell Curve

Episode: America's War On Children

It was mentioned as a book co-written by friends of James Q. Wilson, who is connected with the 'super predator' myth and the broken windows theory of crime. It was described as a racist book about IQ.

"

And coincidentally, best friends with the guys who wrote the racist book about IQ, The Bell Curve, which is fun.

Episode: How Pat Buchanan, Secret Nazi, Paved The Way For D...

It was mentioned as a book that Pat Buchanan suggested his boss, President Nixon, read, that focuses on the theory that heredity determines intelligence, not environment, and that blacks are on average 15 IQ points below whites.

"

Pat Buchanan suggested His boss, the president, read an article In The Atlantic by Richard Hearnstein A co-author of a little book You might have heard of called The Bell Curve

Basically, Hearnstein's article demonstrates That heredity rather than environment Determines intelligence and that the more We proceed to provide everyone with a good Environment, surely the more heredity Will become the dominant factor in their intelligence

Episode: America's War On Children

It was mentioned as a racist book about IQ co-written by friends of James Q. Wilson, who was also a proponent of the Broken Windows Theory of Crime.

"

And coincidentally, best friends with the guys who wrote the racist book about IQ, The Bell Curve, which is fun.

Episode: How Pat Buchanan, Secret Nazi, Paved The Way For D...

It was mentioned that Pat Buchanan suggested the president read an article in The Atlantic based on this book, which argued that intelligence is determined by heredity rather than environment.

"

Pat Buchanan suggested His boss, the president, read an article In The Atlantic by Richard Hearnstein A co-author of a little book You might have heard of called The Bell Curve

The Ben Shapiro Show

The book was mentioned in the context of Kristen Clark allegedly mocking its contents with an op-ed about Black supremacy, which Clark claimed was satire.

"

Clark claims that this racist diatribe was mocking the controversial book, The Bell Curve.

— Episode: Ep. 1236 - Team Biden Thinks America Suc...

Episode: Ep. 1236 - Team Biden Thinks America Sucks

The book was mentioned in the context of Kristen Clark allegedly mocking its contents with an op-ed about Black supremacy, which Clark claimed was satire.

"

Clark claims that this racist diatribe was mocking the controversial book, The Bell Curve.

Her notion that she was penning these letters on race as sort of a parody of The Bell Curve is about as plausible as her assertion today in front of the Senate that her newsweek op-ed titled, I prosecuted police killings, defund the police, but be strategic wasn't actually about defunding the police.

Timcast IRL

The Bell Curve was discussed, specifically its arguments about race and intelligence, which chatGPT refused to answer questions about.

"

And I said, I asked chat GPT on default. What was that argument? Like what is it? And he goes, I cannot perpetuate these ideas. They're wrong. And I will not tell you. And I said, I don't agree with t...

— Episode: Timcast IRL #710 Trump Posts Truth Claim...

Episode: Timcast IRL #710 Trump Posts Truth Claiming DeSant...

The Bell Curve was discussed, specifically its arguments about race and intelligence, which chatGPT refused to answer questions about.

"

And I said, I asked chat GPT on default. What was that argument? Like what is it? And he goes, I cannot perpetuate these ideas. They're wrong. And I will not tell you. And I said, I don't agree with the ideas. I'm wondering what they are so I can know. And it was no, I won't tell you. I am not allowed to tell you.

And I said, I don't agree with the ideas, but I just don't know what they are. And it still says I will not repeat it. I put in the Dan code and then said, what is Charles Murray's argument in the bell curve? And it outlined the whole thing. And it mentions it's controversial. Many people find it to be discredited, things like that.

And I'm like, that's totally fine. I don't have a problem with that. But it's crazy that you can't even tell me the fact of what the book is about unless you have to put in some special code or whatever. That's crazy though.

Scamfluencers

The Bell Curve explicitly argues that people of some races just so happened to be genetically inclined to lower intelligence. It was discussed in relation to the New Republic magazine's editor, Andrew Sullivan, who helped mainstream the book.

"

the in-flight magazine of Air Force One

— Episode: Stephen Glass: Bad News

Episode: Stephen Glass: Bad News

The Bell Curve explicitly argues that people of some races just so happened to be genetically inclined to lower intelligence. It was discussed in relation to the New Republic magazine's editor, Andrew Sullivan, who helped mainstream the book.

"

the in-flight magazine of Air Force One

the kind of place where an average kid was seen as slow.

the bell curve, a book that explicitly argues that people of some races just so happened to be genetically inclined to lower intelligence.

The Jordan Harbinger Show

It was mentioned as a controversial book written by Charles Murray that focuses on social class and includes a chapter on race differences. It was mentioned in the context of a protest.

"

Charles Murray wrote a book in 1994 I think it was called the bell curve very controversial book in which he looks at race differences well the book is actually this is the thing the book is actually...

— Episode: 90: Jonathan Haidt | The Danger of Good...

Episode: 90: Jonathan Haidt | The Danger of Good Intentions...

It was mentioned as a controversial book written by Charles Murray that focuses on social class and includes a chapter on race differences. It was mentioned in the context of a protest.

"

Charles Murray wrote a book in 1994 I think it was called the bell curve very controversial book in which he looks at race differences well the book is actually this is the thing the book is actually about social class there's one chapter about race but it's a book about what happens when we admit students when Harvard started admitting students to college not by who your father was not by how rich you were but by your IQ by SAT which is a proxy in part for IQ and so it's a book on what would happen to our society if we had this form of elitism in which we get this uber class this upper class of people who are really good at test taking and if you've been following American politics since 1994 and if you were all conscious during the election of 2016 this was the problem this is why so many people hated Hillary Clinton and what she stood for

Episode: 90: Jonathan Haidt | The Danger of Good Intentions...

It was briefly mentioned as a controversial book by Charles Murray that discussed race differences, but the main focus was actually on social class and the implications of meritocracy in college admissions.

"

Charles Murray wrote a book in 1994 I think it was called the bell curve very controversial book in which he looks at race differences well the book is actually this is the thing the book is actually about social class there's one chapter about race but it's a book about what happens when we admit students when Harvard started admitting students to college not by who your father was not by how rich you were but by your IQ by SAT which is a proxy in part for IQ and so it's a book on what would happen to our society if we had this form of elitism in which we get this uber class this upper class of people who are really good at test taking

Stay Tuned with Preet

It was mentioned in the context of a discussion about race and intelligence, with Sam Harris mentioning how the author was unfairly maligned as a racist for its content.

"

like when he hosted Charles Murray, author of The Bell Curve, on his podcast.

— Episode: Consciousness & COVID Ethics (with Sam H...

Episode: Consciousness & COVID Ethics (with Sam Harris)

It was mentioned in the context of a discussion about race and intelligence, with Sam Harris mentioning how the author was unfairly maligned as a racist for its content.

"

like when he hosted Charles Murray, author of The Bell Curve, on his podcast.

And I only became interested in his case when he was, you know, literally run off the stage at Middlebury College a couple of years ago, you know, 25 years after he wrote his infamous book, The Bell Curve.

Note: The book recommendations on this page are discovered automatically from podcast transcripts, and may be incorrect or incomplete.