Geoff Jones: Genetic Politics

[Socialism Today, No 25, February 1998, p. 30]

The Doctrine of DNA, by RC Lewontin. Penguin Books, £5-95. Reviewed by Geoff Jones.

The recently announced plans for human cloning by US scientist Richard Seed once again provoked widespread media comment on the role of genetics in determining human development.

In fact, although a person’s genes define their physical make-up and, possibly, some of their psychological and intellectual characteristics, any individual’s personality is the result of interaction between their genetic makeup and the environment in which they were brought up. Two clones would be no more identical than two twins.

Yet, every few years, a rash of books appear which aim to prove the genetic basis of all aspects of human behaviour, in particular, the „innate, genetic‘ reason for exploitation and poverty in society. In the USA the latest such product was Charles Murray’s The Bell Curve, which picks on blacks and Hispanics. In Britain the target is usually the working class or the ‚underclass‘.

These books run to thousands of pages, with many tables and statistics. Richard Lewontin is an internationally famous geneticist, disgusted at such perversions of his subject. His book of only 125 pages enables anyone to understand the basic fallacies behind such outpourings and, equally important, the political agenda which motivates their authors.

Lewontin starts from the basic proposition that science must be moulded by society because it is a human productive activity guided and directed by the forces in society that have control over money and time.

Lewontin starts from the basic proposition that science must be moulded by society because it is a human productive activity guided and directed by the forces in society that have control over money and time. Consequently, he argues, the people who have the power want to use science as a way of legitimising their rule, using ’science‘ to convince people that the present unjust form of society is inevitable.

He argues that science has taken on the role of religion in this respect, having the same ideological characteristics. First it must appear to derive from sources outside the social struggle: second, it must seem to have a transcendent truth beyond human error, third it must have a veiled or mystical quality.

He gives examples of this use of science particularly in the definition of „equality‘. As he tartly points out, you could hardly get people to shed blood under a banner of ‚equality for some‘! So, (as in the slogans of New Labour) „equality‘ becomes „equality of opportunity‘. The fact that children of working class parents generally stay in the working class can be „explained‘ not by the exploitative nature of society but by their „ingrained‘, „genetic‘ inferiority.

This ‚ideology of biological determinism‘ is very familiar. Lewontin demonstrates conclusively that there is not a shred of evidence for such a view. He destroys in a few sentences the whole ideology of the ‚IQ‘ test, asking sardonically, ‚if intelligence tests are supposed to measure innate ability, why are people taking the tests allowed to wear glasses?‘

Another facet of the same ideology is looking in genetics for the sole cause of one or another human characteristic. As he points out, the phenomenon with the highest correlation between parents and children is religion and political affiliation – but not even the most blinkered geneticist has suggested looking for a ‚Protestant‘ or ‚Catholic‘ gene.

The ‚Human Genome Project‘, trumpeted as the route to a solution of all life’s problems, is exposed as a bandwagon providing billions of dollars of research funding and, equally important, billions of dollars worth of spinoffs for biotechnology companies set up and employing the same researchers.

This book is indispensable for any socialist with an interest in science.