rural south dakota! (^_^) no, really.
luke asked: “OT, but maybe you can do some posts in the future on the ‘happiest, healthiest communities’ in the U.S., assuming there are some. Putnam, for example, has shown an inverse relationship between diversity and trust. So presumably he found some high-trust communities somewhere? Are they just neighborhoods in large metro areas? What about Lake Wobegons?”
well, i looked up putnam’s “E Pluribus Unum” paper [opens pdf] and, yes, he did indeed find some high-trust communities somewhere: rural south dakota, bismarck (north dakota), new hampshire, (moving to) montana, lewiston (maine)…. omg! it’s proximity to canada, again!
putnam looked at racial homogeneity in communities and inter-racial trust, racial homogeneity in communities and trust of neighbors, racial homogeneity in communities and intra-racial trust, and racial homogeneity in communities and ethnocentric trust. on each of these metrics, those communities with greater homogeneity just had more trust in all directions — the opposite was true in heterogeneous communities.
if trust means “happiest and healthiest” — and it sure seems to be important in having a functioning society (at least functioning as we know it) — then homogeneity is the way to go.
here are some of putnam’s graphs for you to enjoy. click on graphs for a LARGER view (should open in a new tab/window — you might have to give ‘em a click there, too, to view them full-size):
note that rural south dakota should NOT be confused with north minneapolis, which is a very vibrant community.
(note: comments do not require an email. south dakota!)
Haha, my gf had a thing or two to say about this. :) ;P
She’s from Maine (from right on the Canadian border, in fact) and went to college in Lewiston. Apparently, among Mainers Lewiston is known as “the armpit of Maine.” It has a reputation of being crime and drug-ridden (and this was the Lewiston of 2000, back when it was more ethnically homogenous; today it has a large population of Somali refugees). Putnam should have visited further north and east in Maine. Had he had gotten more data from these parts, he would have found something different, probably to the top of his charts in terms of trust.
Myself having lived in New York City, Connecticut, and now Maine, I can definitely say that there is an increase in trust going in that order. This article made me think of a friend of mine who’s a subway musician in NYC. His autobiographical book Underground gives one a glimmer into this contrast in trust between NYC and more rural (and Whiter) places outside the City.
Other things strike me as interesting about Putnam’s data. Rural SD scores highest, but does he mean including or excluding the many Native American reservations? I assume he means off the reservations, as declares this area as being highly homogenous.
Also, notice how low Detroit scores in terms of trust, as opposed to its level of homogeneity. Detroit is fairly homogenous—homogeneously Black. It doesn’t necessarily have a reputation for being friendly or trusting—indeed, quite the opposite (something that jives with the limited experiences I’ve had there). Jared Taylor remarks that it may not be homogeneity so much that impacts trust as the absence of minorities. Many of the surveyed areas that are homogeneously minority are urban areas, and I suspect that that may be a confounding variable to a degree, because living in an area of high population density may make everyone more miserable and suspicious. I wish Putnam had looked at some of the rural areas in the SE and SW, where we could get the attitudes of rural Blacks and Mexicans who live only with their own people.
It’s my suspicion that the requirements for a high trust society are two-fold. You need a society that is ethnically homogenous of people who are inherently highly trusting. As you’ve observed, people who haven’t gone down that “special path” that NW Euros have, especially those whose origins stem from closer to the equator, tend to be less trusting overall. I would predict that if one looks at rural minority areas, we wouldn’t necessarily find such high-trust (or more clannish, in-group over out-group based trust).
Putnam should have also looked at Hawaii, which is ethnically diverse, but such diversity consists primarily of Whites and East Asians (and some SE Asians & Pacific Islanders). My experience in Hawaii would lead me to say anecdotally that they are much more trusting than New Yorkers, but not as trusting Mainers.
As an interesting note on your observations about the level of inbreeding in a community and in-group/out-group trust, my gf remarked that in places that are highly trusting and close-knit—like her home town—many of the residents are extended family. Such a situation arises because there isn’t much inflow of new residents into the community, and as such, the people there are necessarily partly inbred. In her town, they even have a term for outsiders that move in: “people from away” or “PFAs”. While PFAs are generally well received by the towns folks (that trust thing), there is a definite awareness of their status as outsiders that persists in their interaction with the native-born residents.
But on the issue of population density, here’s one other thing. My gf experiences says something about north of the border. She’s visited both Montreal and Quebec City and she’s noted some serious distinctions between the two places. Montreal, she reports, isn’t a friendly city by any means, where the people are rude and not necessarily helpful. Interestingly, Montreal is a kitbash of ethnicities, and in addition to being where French Canada meets English Canada, has a large immigrant population.
By contrast, she reports that the people of Quebec City are warm and friendly, much more so than in Montreal. This is despite the fact that Quebec City has nearly half a million people. However, Quebec City is almost entirely ethnically French. In fact, it’s distinct in that it is perhaps the “Whitest” city of such size anywhere in the New World.
“Also, notice how low Detroit scores in terms of trust, as opposed to its level of homogeneity. Detroit is fairly homogenous—homogeneously Black. It doesn’t necessarily have a reputation for being friendly or trusting—indeed, quite the opposite (something that jives with the limited experiences I’ve had there). Jared Taylor remarks that it may not be homogeneity so much that impacts trust as the absence of minorities.”
I think there’s two separate things in that. Most homogenous ethnic enclaves – Indians, Pakistanis, Chinese, Iraqis etc – are fairly peaceable (minus honor-crime) and i’d say medium trust with reasonable amounts of social capital – Indians probably visibly the most, Chinese possibly the same but less visibly. Homogenous white areas (non-underclass) i’d say were slightly less peaceable on average than them but higher trust which i think fits the greater degree of outbreeding combined with less centuries spent being pacified by high-density living. Some African populations aren’t that bad either.
I think the slave-descended black problem (and some other groups like Somalis and Albanians) is there’s a very specific kind of extremely violent impulsive individual and if you have too many of them in a population they prevent any kind of normal society from functioning. 80% of the black population are terrified of the other 20% so there’s no social capital even with homogeneity.
.
“I wish Putnam had looked at some of the rural areas in the SE and SW, where we could get the attitudes of rural Blacks and Mexicans who live only with their own people.”
Yes and me. I have a feeling the underclass environment has been specifically selecting for violence.
.
“It’s my suspicion that the requirements for a high trust society are two-fold. You need a society that is ethnically homogenous of people who are inherently highly trusting.”
Agreed. There’s probably a percentage of diversity that wouldn’t effect it *but* they would have to be the same underneath i.e. outbred, IQ etc blah blah.
Some African populations aren’t that bad either.
I think the slave-descended black problem (and some other groups like Somalis and Albanians) is there’s a very specific kind of extremely violent impulsive individual and if you have too many of them in a population they prevent any kind of normal society from functioning. 80% of the black population are terrified of the other 20% so there’s no social capital even with homogeneity.
Maybe there’s actually a decent environmental explanation for this one. In Africa, and in some other underdeveloped Black nations, Blacks live closer to their ancestral environment. There’s less mobility and hence far less anonymity than you get in your average urban ghetto in First World nations. Your neighbors are far more likely to be your extended family and the whole community is probably fairly related in general (thanks to polygyny). Conflict in those environments tend to be mostly between-group tribal warfare-type clashes. Within the group life is relatively peaceable and trust is moderately high because everyone knows everyone.
By contrast in First World ghettos, while they are some long-time neighbors, there’s a lot of mobility with new people constantly coming in and going out. As well, while there’s de facto polygyny, there’s enough shuffling around so that extensive networks of blood bonds with your neighbors generally don’t form. Shared identities don’t take hold and for some individuals, everyone else is fair game (as opposed to only the members of rival tribes). In essence, cities put Blacks in crowded urban environments without them having lived that way long enough to evolve either the docility of long-time urban dwellers or the broad sense of altruism and trust of highly outbred groups.
Well, thank you for the info, but brrrrr!
I noticed a good deal of special pleading on Putnam’s part. All those extra Nobel Prizes weren’t evenly spread around for instance, and the national income gains go to capital, not labor.
@jayman – “Apparently, among Mainers Lewiston is known as ‘the armpit of Maine.’ It has a reputation of being crime and drug-ridden (and this was the Lewiston of 2000, back when it was more ethnically homogenous; today it has a large population of Somali refugees).”
well, one man’s crime-ridden armpit might be another man’s peaceful, trusting paradise. (~_^)
seriously — if we look at crime rates for lewiston vs. san francisco (toward the bottom of putnam’s trusting heap) in 2000 we get:
lewiston crime index: 290.3
u.s. average crime index: 308.9
san francisco crime index: 451.9
clearly much better to live in lewiston 2000 than in san francisco 2000 (unless vibrancy is your thing).
but sure, yeah >> Putnam should have visited further north and east in Maine. Had he had gotten more data from these parts, he would have found something different, probably to the top of his charts in terms of trust.
@jayman – “Rural SD scores highest, but does he mean including or excluding the many Native American reservations? I assume he means off the reservations, as declares this area as being highly homogenous.”
yeah, i don’t think he’s including a reservation in the south dakota data. “rural south dakota” refers to one south dakotan county which he describes as (pg. 144):
“…in our rural South Dakota county (95 percent white) celebrating ‘diversity’ means inviting a few Norwegians to the annual Swedish picnic.”
heh. (^_^)
@jayman – “Also, notice how low Detroit scores in terms of trust, as opposed to its level of homogeneity. Detroit is fairly homogenous—homogeneously Black. It doesn’t necessarily have a reputation for being friendly or trusting—indeed, quite the opposite (something that jives with the limited experiences I’ve had there). Jared Taylor remarks that it may not be homogeneity so much that impacts trust as the absence of minorities.”
well, that could very well be right. or that minorities make the negative effects of diversity even worse.
notice one of the worst scoring communities in putnam’s survey is north minneapolis and that is pretty much a group of black neighborhoods:
“After the 1960s when much of the white flight occurred, the black population largely settled in North Minneapolis.”
@jayman – “It’s my suspicion that the requirements for a high trust society are two-fold. You need a society that is ethnically homogenous of people who are inherently highly trusting. As you’ve observed, people who haven’t gone down that ‘special path’ that NW Euros have, especially those whose origins stem from closer to the equator, tend to be less trusting overall.”
not gonna argue with that!
@jayman – “As an interesting note on your observations about the level of inbreeding in a community and in-group/out-group trust, my gf remarked that in places that are highly trusting and close-knit—like her home town—many of the residents are extended family. Such a situation arises because there isn’t much inflow of new residents into the community, and as such, the people there are necessarily partly inbred.”
interesting!
@jayman – “In her town, they even have a term for outsiders that move in: ‘people from away’ or ‘PFAs’. While PFAs are generally well received by the towns folks (that trust thing), there is a definite awareness of their status as outsiders that persists in their interaction with the native-born residents.”
i recently saw (again!) that classic movie, Jaws, and there’s a funny scene in it where sheriff brody’s wife (remember they moved to amity island to get away from dangerous new york) is trying to find out from one of the locals when she and her family (the brodys) will be considered “Islanders.” the native lady explains — never! if you’re not born on the island, you’re not an islander. (~_^)
@g.w. – “Some African populations aren’t that bad either.”
no, indeed. remember the world values survey numbers showing that many african groups are quite “civic.” they do seem to care, but maybe they just don’t manage any better ’cause of the iq problem.
@g.w. – “I have a feeling the underclass environment has been specifically selecting for violence.”
sure. in an upper-class (high iq) environment you can outwit your competitors; in an under-class (low iq) environment, individuals will probably more likely resort to brute force.
@jayman – “Your neighbors are far more likely to be your extended family and the whole community is probably fairly related in general (thanks to polygyny).”
consider, too, that africans weren’t one people when they were first brought to the americas. the genetic relatedness of the original black slaves was really shuffled up. how long would it take for blacks in this country to forge a new african people here? have they had the opportunity? i dunno.
@luke – “Well, thank you for the info, but brrrrr!”
(^_^) (^_^) (^_^)
oh, no problem! just throw a parka on and you’ll be fine. (~_^)
@luke – “I noticed a good deal of special pleading on Putnam’s part.”
not just special pleading, but also that in the long run diversity and immigration is just going to be GREAT for everybody and the problems we’re seeing now are just short term things. how the h*ck can he be so sure?!
“Maybe there’s actually a decent environmental explanation for this one. In Africa”
I think it’s genetic via environment. The biggest distinction is definitely farmers vs pastoralists and if i knew more about the different histories i wouldn’t be surprised if how many centuries they’d been farming wasn’t important and at what population density (and probably if it was couple farming or female only farming).
@JayMan
Oops, missed a bit. Black gangbangers complain about Somalis being psycho and gangsters complain about Albanians. It’d almost be funny if it wasn’t so tragic.
Also when i say homogenous ethnic enclaves (with some exceptions) can have plenty of social capital i mean they have it *within* the enclave. It doesn’t translate city-wide. At a city-wide level if you have scores of ethnic enclaves it’s no different to a diverse neighborhood but on a larger scale. You can see the effect in local politics as it goes from mostly civic to mostly dog eat dog.
I am calling bullshit on this piece. I am from West Virginia.
There are about 14.5k blacks in the Charleton WV Metro area (309k people). 14k in Kanawa County, 7500 of which are in Charleston itself. 800 in South Charleston, 400 in Cross Lanes, 900 in Dunbar. That leaves about 4.5k to be scattered around the rest Kanawa County, and 500 more to be scattered around the remaining 109k people in the Charleston Metro Area, the rural parts of the Kanawa Valley.
Now we West Virginians, especially us in the rural areas, we don’t trust anybody. Maybe a few close neighbors. And I hate to spoil the liberals dreams, but we certainly don’t trust anybody “that don’t look like us”, and we don’t trust people we don’t know.
Regarding the area where this was done, there was student in one of my college classes whose family was run out of town after he came back from his romp in San Fran with AIDS, or maybe it was his brother. Anyways, after they were run out, the townsfolk burnt the house down because it was diseased – at least I think they waited until after they were gone.
So, yeah, I am calling bullshit.
The only other explanation could be that people responded in a manner in which they perceived themself, what’s that called?
@r j p
Well let’s take a look at this:
Check out this map of poverty in the U.S. by county. Also take a look at this map (from here) of areas of persistent poverty in the U.S.
This and the NAEP scores of the U.S. states broken down by race would indicate that the average IQ of White West Virginians is about 94, assuming that the mean White national NAEP score is equivalent to an IQ of 100.
As well, we have the fairly high rate of inbreeding, at least historically, in Appalachia. As we’ve seen on this blog, trust works differently in inbred societies.
If anything you’ve actually lent support to some of the notions raised in this post.
In a future blog post on my own blog I will take a look at the American South, Appalachia in particular.
@r j p – “I am calling bullshit on this piece.”
i love it when someone calls b*llsh*t! makes the discussion much more exciting! (~_^)
seriously — you’re saying that rural west virginia (kanawha valley) shouldn’t have scored so highly on trust levels? — that maybe they were just telling the survey takers what they wanted to hear. hmmm. maybe. you could be right. hard to know.
it’s not like the “distressed cavaliers” of virginia weren’t inbred (see this post, too), so that could conceivably have contributed to low trust levels amongst (west) virginians. what about hackett fischer’s indentured servants of virginia, though? who were they? many were apparently irish and scottish (low-ish trust), but there were a lot of english, too. can their background help explain the low trust levels (if you’re right) of west virginians?
@jayman – “In a future blog post on my own blog I will take a look at the American South, Appalachia in particular.”
oops! great minds…. (~_^) i’ve got an appalachia post in the works (i.e. on one of the back burners in the dark and dusty recesses of my little brain), too. nothing big, just an interesting thing i ran across the other day. look forward to comparing notes! (^_^)
First, I am from West Virginia, I am not from Appalachia.
My only intention was I don’t believe the paper hbdchick reference is necessarily believable based on where West Virginia ranked.
Second, Appalachians have been fuct by about every outsider that came into the state. First it was the mining companies, and it wasn’t pretty. The Battle of Blair Mountain. The only place in this country that unions provided any meaningful influence in my opinions were in the coal mines of West Virginia.
West Virginia is not easily traveled terrain. That is probably why there was some inbreeding in the past. Have you ever walked up a 800 foot tall hill to get to the bottom on the other side and then up another to do the same to an area where multiple families could settle? That’s Appalachia to this day, except a person probably has a car today – probably. Looking at a two hour hike each way, your second cousin might start looking good, hell she’s probably wondering if anybody would make the hike for her. For the record, first cousin marriage is illegal in West Virginia. – Side note, a study done a few years back found that the lack of a reliable automobile is a barrier for many in Appalachia on government support, it was in the Charleston Daily Mail I can’t find it.
I have friends that have hunting cabins in Appalachian West Virginia. You know from the moment you go into these areas that you are an outsider, they know by the vehicle if nothing else, but your money is good though and they are polite, of course.
Would I ever go by myself to a cabin in an area I had ever been once or twice before which had a general grocery store which I might have visited three times where the girl behind the counter seemed sweet and was awful nice to me, seemingly out of her way nice?
Yes I probably would have when I was younger and dumber, BUT I never had the opportunity until I had aged though that period. So …. I am still alive.
I am not saying it is Deliverance down there, but outsiders are carefully scrutinized in “hollers” far away from areas like Charleston, Huntington, Wheeling, etc.
Anyways, after the mine owners come the unions. Then the outsiders come in in the 60s to buy votes for Kennedy. Do you think the hillbillys thought there life would actually change in anyway based on their vote? Then the clear air people came. Then the anti-strip-mine people. Then the clean air people again. Every time, West Virginians lose jobs. Now they’re back again, against mountain top removal and power plants (along our rivers). But you can only build little communities over hill and over dale in terrain like West Virginia. You can’t have strip malls, you can’t even really have a functional and safe airport. You can however have a dead football team, We Are Marshall.
If the power plants in West Virginia shut down, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Wash DC are SOL. And I have actually emailed my Senator from West Virginia (I am still a legal resident) asking him to push legislation that if West Virginia is blacked or browned out in order to feed an outside entity that the fine would be 10X the cost of the needed power taken from West Virginia.
I might be from the lily white middle finger in the air of of State of West Virginia, but I love my state. All of it.
Even the people not shown in the video.
I’m in Chicago for work. Would I rather be back in my home looking for hedging solutions for coal operators In a heartbeat, but that has all been farmed out to Goldman Sux. There are no jobs in West Virginia because of the recent regimes. West Virginia is the beaten mule of states. We aren’t allowed to do shit there courtesy of the EPA.
hbdchick seriously — you’re saying that rural west virginia (kanawha valley) shouldn’t have scored so highly on trust levels? — that maybe they were just telling the survey takers what they wanted to hear. hmmm. maybe. you could be right. hard to know.
Yes, I am saying that. There is a term for responding to questions based on how you perceive yourself and a term for responding to how you want to be perceived.
@rjp – “There is a term for responding to questions based on how you perceive yourself and a term for responding to how you want to be perceived.”
yeah, i know. i can’t remember it either, g*sh d*rnit! (^_^)
@rjp – “West Virginia is not easily traveled terrain. That is probably why there was some inbreeding in the past. Have you ever walked up a 800 foot tall hill to get to the bottom on the other side and then up another to do the same to an area where multiple families could settle? That’s Appalachia to this day,”
mountains again.
@rjp – here’s (maybe a stupid) question: putnam, et. al., surveyed people in kanawha valley (which includes charleston, right?). might there be much difference between the people in the valley and the folks up in the hills? i mean, maybe the low-trust folks you’re describing are not found so much in the valley, i.e. maybe putnam didn’t really survey them?
maybe the low-trust folks you’re describing are not found so much in the valley, i.e. maybe putnam didn’t really survey them?
That is a possibility hbd.
I will admit I have never spent any time in Charleston, which is in the Kanawha Valley …. just realized my misspelling … oops. But then Charleston is not “rural” and at 15% black, residents may have different opinions, but I still question.
Just noticed something. — Why Wikipedia should never be considered a definitive reference:
31,059 + 360 is greater than 28,486, right?
Anyways, back to Charleston. Charleston has a very high crime rate.
http://www.neighborhoodscout.com/wv/charleston/crime/
vs.
http://www.neighborhoodscout.com/wv/wheeling/crime/
vs.
http://www.neighborhoodscout.com/wv/morgantown/crime/
vs.
http://www.neighborhoodscout.com/wv/charles-town/crime/
If that is accurate, I am many times safer in boring old shrinking Wheeling (Upper Ohio Valley) or collegiate liberal Morgantown (Monongahela Valley), than Charleston. But you also got to take into consideration that it pays to upgrade crime in low crime area and pays to downgrade crime in high crime areas for federal grant purposes. And I really don’t know how big the hillbilly heroin (Oxycontin) or meth problem is in Charleston. As for Morgantown, I would expect his findings might more correlate to that area due to the large out of state population.
Charleston still has a high crime rate. It could be some liberal enclave in the Mountain State, but I doubt it. Because the white people are almost all still West Virginians that know better than to go to the darker parts of town. And if you are a full throttle liberal, do you really want to be in Charleston, West Virginia, nearly 200 miles away from any serious population center?
Now as for the far Eastern Panhandle I would expect it to be completely different at this point from all the rest of WV. My cousin tells me Charles Town is nothing but a shithole suburb of DC. It is poised to become a major gambling center on the East coast, bar other states legalizing full casino gaming. One of my sisters lives near (but not too near) that area and tells me real estate agents are very careful when discussing crime in an area around there — this area’s the high school has a good tennis team vs. that area’s high school has a great basketball team.
The problem with estimating IQ by NAEP scores is that while it correlates, on the whole, with general intelligence, it can be more easily confounded than an actual IQ test by variables such as educational resources. Thus a state like West Virginia, which is poor, and thus unable to spare a lot of local resources for education, and not a special object of concern for the elites (because poor whites are the one minority about whom our elites don’t give a sh*t) will probably underperform, while an area like Washington DC that has had lots of educational resources lavished on it will have its performance artificially raised (although not to a degree that justifies the immense resources expended on it). This probably explains the results found here:
http://anepigone.blogspot.com/2010/05/state-iq-estimates-2009.html
My guess is that the table understates the gap between mostly-white West Virginia and mostly-black Washington DC (although W.VA, possibly the poorest of white states, still comes out ahead of Washington DC).
One error earlier, I meant Martinsburg WV, not Charles Town.
http://www.neighborhoodscout.com/wv/martinsburg/crime/
I by chance happened to stumble on a movie somebody at work told me to watch, at first I thought it was going to be a comedy, then I was like is this a mocumentary? Then I was like I don’t know what this is, but it is sad. According to Wikipedia it is a documentary.
The Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia
And I hate to say this, but this movie is an accurate portrayal of life in a lot of small West Virginia mining and mill towns.
If you watch the movie, there is one thing that sticks out to me that is striking, the faces of the women. A lot of the women from the smaller towns in WV have that same look: the pallid skin, especially of the face, the dark seemingly deep set eyes, and the long thin noses. It may be indicative that there are two few degrees of separation in the family trees. None of my sisters have that look.
I’m done. No more WV talk for a while.
Forgot one thing about the movie, it takes place in Boone County, which is just south of the Kanawha Valley.
The movie can be found on torrent sites like Isohunt.
@rjp – “As for Morgantown, I would expect his findings might more correlate to that area due to the large out of state population.”
well, that’s the thing. we can’t be sure exactly who putnam surveyed (that was my problem with murray’s recent work as well) — plus there are the eternal problems with self-reported data — are people telling the truth, or just what they think is expected of them?
i thought of another thing, too, with the west virginians surveyed — maybe they had an extra incentive not to tell the truth ’cause they want to improve the reputation of that area of the country. you know, put a stop to the stereotype that west virigians (and appalachians) are constantly infighting and not trusting and hate blacks, etc., etc. who knows?
it would be useful to have other data on kanawha valley — and everywhere else in putnam’s survey! — to see how it all compares. some harder data would be nice.
@rjp – “31,059 + 360 is greater than 28,486, right?”
heh. somebody can’t add! or cut-and-paste correctly.
@rjp – “The Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia”
huh. interesting. i’ll keep an eye out for it.
@rjp – “If you watch the movie, there is one thing that sticks out to me that is striking, the faces of the women. A lot of the women from the smaller towns in WV have that same look: the pallid skin, especially of the face, the dark seemingly deep set eyes, and the long thin noses. It may be indicative that there are two few degrees of separation in the family trees.“
that was my thought as i was reading your comment!
@Georgia Resident
I thought that initially, but the thing is that IQ tests that measure “crystallized” g, that is knowledge and such that come from learning, as the NAEP or SAT do, are more g-loaded, oddly enough, than tests that measure fluid-g, like many straight IQ test or the Raven’s Progressive Matrices would.
Though educational resources are often lacking in impoverished areas, it is a hand-in-hand relationship with IQ, because lower-IQ areas tend to be poorer.
As well, the quality of instruction is lacking in poorer areas in large part because lower-IQ students can only absorb a curriculum that is only so rigorous.
The PISA results out of rural China vs rural India, both impoverished, casts doubt on the poverty causes low scores phenomenon.
@rjp:
“A lot of the women from the smaller towns in WV have that same look: the pallid skin, especially of the face, the dark seemingly deep set eyes, and the long thin noses.”
Well there is that attractiveness-IQ thing. Half Sigma discussed a Slate article that notes that it may not be that people get better looking as they get smarter, it’s just that there are fewer attractive people among the unintelligent. The effects of inbreeding depression on IQ may be part of the reason why this is so.
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