J. Philippe Rushton

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J. Philippe Rushton : biography

December 3, 1943 – October 2, 2012

Robert Sussman, an evolutionary anthropologist and the editor in-chief of American Anthropologist, explained why the journal did not accept ads for Rushton’s 1998 book:

In 2000, after Rushton mailed a booklet on his work to psychology, sociology, and anthropology professors across North America, Hermann Helmuth, a professor of anthropology at Trent University, said: "It is in a way personal and political propaganda. There is no basis to his scientific research." Rushton responded, "It’s not racist; it’s a matter of science and recognizing variation in all groups of people.", UWO Gazette, Volume 93, Issue 68, February 1, 2000

Since 2002, Rushton was the president of the Pioneer Fund. Tax records from 2000 show in that year that his Charles Darwin Research Institute was awarded $473,835, or 73% of the fund’s total grants that year.", Southern Poverty Law Center The Southern Poverty Law Center, an American civil rights organization, characterizes the Pioneer Fund as a hate group., Southern Poverty Law Center. Quote: "In publication after publication, hate groups are using this "science" to legitimize racial hatred." Rushton has spoken on eugenics several times at conferences of the American Renaissance magazine, a monthly racialist magazine, in which he has also published a number of general articles., Southern Poverty Law Center

Rushton published articles on the website VDARE, which advocates reduced immigration into the United States. Stefan Kühl wrote in his book, The Nazi Connection: Eugenics, American Racism, and German National Socialism (2002), that Rushton was part of the revival in the 1980s of public interest in scientific racism.Stefan Kühl, The Nazi Connection: Eugenics, American Racism, and German National Socialism, Oxford University Press, 2002,

William H. Tucker, a professor of psychology who writes histories of scientific racism, noted in 2002:

In 2005, Lisa Suzuki and Joshua Aronson of New York University wrote an article noting that Rushton ignored evidence that failed to support his position that IQ test score gaps represent a genetic racial hierarchy. He did not change his position on this matter for 30 years., Psychology, Public Policy, and Law. Vol. 11, No. 2, pp. 320–327. Rushton replied in the same issue of the journal., Psychology, Public Policy, and Law,’’ Vol. 11, No. 2, pp. 328–336.

In a paper for the International Journal of Selection and Assessment in 2006, Steven Cronshaw and colleagues wrote that psychologists need to critically examine the science used by Rushton in his "race-realist" research. Their re-analysis of the validity criteria for test bias, using data reported in the Rushton et al. paper, led them to conclude that the testing methods were biased against Black Africans. They disagree with other aspects of Rushton’s methodology, such as his use of non-equivalent groups in test samples.Steven F. Cronshaw, Leah K. Hamilton, Betty R. Onyura, and Andrew S. Winston (2006), "Case for Non-Biased Intelligence Testing Against Black Africans Has Not Been Made: A Comment", in International Journal of Selection and Assessment, 14 (3), 278–287. Rushton responded in the next issue of the journal. He said why he believed his results were valid, and why he thought the criticisms incorrect.See International Journal of Selection and Assessment, 14, 381-384.

Work and opinions

Genetic similarity theory

Early in his career, Rushton did research on altruism. He theorized a heritable component in altruism and developed Genetic Similarity Theory, which is an extension of W. D. Hamilton’s theory of kin selection. It holds that individuals tend to be more altruistic to individuals who are genetically similar to themselves even if they are not kin, and less altruistic, and sometimes outwardly hostile, to individuals who are less genetically similar. Rushton describes "ethnic conflict and rivalry" as "one of the great themes of historical and contemporary society", and suggests that this may have its roots in the evolutionary impact on individuals from groups "giving preferential treatment to genetically similar others." He says "the makeup of a gene pool [i.e., a human population’s total reservoir of alternative genes] causally affects the probability of any particular ideology being adopted."