Can anyone recommend a website or websites which would have a rundown/synposis of common misconceptions and falsehoods? My dad came to visit me recently and one night while we were eating dinner at Arturo’s he started to run off on all sorts of stupid things, such as Germans being real good with machines, Jews being bad at them, but good thinkers (explains why there are so many Jewish lawyers and doctors etc) and so on - the usual stuff. Then he said that it was well known (he’s 65, so maybe ‘back then’) that the source of white people’s bad teeth is that whites of different regions have been mixing for a long time, and when you have an englishman’s hed melded with the jaw of a frenchman, you get bad teeth. etc. And Africans, of course, have lovely teeth.
This was news to me. I spent an hour or so searching for information on this but turned up nothing online.
I suspect the things you note have some cultural reasons behind them.
I recall reading somewhere that Asian and Jewish children spend more time studying on average than children from other groups, which explains their overrepresentation in professional fields. Mainstream American Jewish culture presumably puts a higher premium on education than, say, backwoods fundamentalist Christian culture.
And I suspect that Germans have a history of engineering excellence, a history that they are proud of and thus strive to continue building on. There’s a reason that the phrase “German engineering” is used as a synonym for “quality.”
It isn’t a ‘stereotype’, the germans have a tradition of excellence for machine work, engineering, chemicals, dyes, etc; they are an extremely productive society. “Those clever cher-mans!” indeed. Ditto for the Japanese.
I seem to recall reading somewhere Jewish immigrants during the first ‘wave’ at the turn of the century (well, the last one) scored rather poorly on intelligence tests and such, but as they assimilated in our society and language in only a generation or two now score rather high as a group, establishing themselves as respected academics, physicians, etc.
It might be tough to straighten your dad out, though. He’s at the age where he’s not going to change long held beliefs like that. My father, who’s of a similar age laments womens’ suffrage, for example. “Shoulda never let em’ Vote!” he exclaims, and probably only half joking.
i personally would attribute the predominance of any group in a specific field to cultural or other reasons, but i also think that even if there were certain genetic tendencies towards aptitude in certain areas, they’re not really worth spending a lot of time thinking about, as you can’t assume that every member of that group shares those qualities (or disadvantages).
i don’t think germans are inherently more mechanically inclined, but if they have a tradition of excellence in making fine sports-sedans (or timepieces, as the swiss do) “they” will probably hold onto that reputation. but how many germans are actually involved in mechanical fields of work? pretty much ditto for anything, i think.
Well, it’s a shame your dad isn’t more familiar with basic principles of heredity. Exactly what is an “Englishman’s head” or “Frenchman’s jaw?” These aren’t discrete traits that are determined by specific genes, so it’s nonsense to talk about them as if they are the units passed down by having an English parent and a French parent. Is there even a difference between an Englishman’s head and a Frenchman’s? I doubt it. The formation and growth of head bones are a much more complicated matter than your father apparently believes.
Attributing a society’s reputation for good mechanical work to a genetic cause requires some genetic evidence. For example: is there a genetic difference between the Dutch and the Germans that explains how one is percieved as “good mechanically?” Given how similar people worldwide seem to be genetically, I doubt such a difference exists.
Oh, I wasn’t going to claim that germans have a Mr. Goodwrench gene, no. I hope that wasn’t inferred from my post. But it’s cool, from someone who appreciates fine machines, to see a culture that really knows how to turn out a fine clock or motor car. I knew I was in motor heaven when I noticed even their grease jockey’s wear lab coats. Hee.