Race As An Occam’s Razor

1,758 words

Except for a few individuals with a “bad guy” complex (the same people who derive some sort of pleasure from being labeled intolerant, xenophobic, and homophobic), generally speaking, no one in Western societies likes to be accused of being discriminatory. Discrimination is regarded as something negative, and no one wants to be accused of something negative.

Unfortunately for us, the word “racism” carries an undeniably negative connotation, as does the word from which it originates—race. Post–World War II anti-Nazi propaganda has done its part, and any initiative or perspective that includes race as an important element (not even a central one—merely mentioning it as relevant is enough) can be and has been attacked as intrinsically perverse. In the struggle to discredit racism (and race itself, which is often dismissed as unserious or even unscientific) and to permanently bury the anti-democratic, totalitarian ideologies of the Old Right, i.e., fascism and National Socialism, we have lost the ability to objectively analyze the past. Nowadays, discussions on migration ignore the racial identity of migrant peoples, and attention is focused solely on the fact of being a “migrant,” as if there were no significant racial differences across different migration flows.

I prefer to speak of realism and its many derivations, including cultural, economic, and racial realism. Cultural realism is the view that recognizes, for example, that installing traffic lights in third-world countries will not magically solve traffic chaos. Economic realism helps us understand why the lifespan of a welfare state is so limited and why it will inevitably collapse amid social chaos, famine, fiscal disaster, and foreign debt. Racial realism, for its part, is the perspective that kills every idealization rooted in egalitarianism and stops demanding that all peoples behave according to certain standards—for instance, expecting some African tribes to achieve the same scores on intelligence tests as certain populations in China. As I mentioned, realism is the opposite of idealism, and within realism, all hope born of wishful thinking about an imagined reality dies.

Gulielmus Occamus (the Latinized form of his name) was a Franciscan friar who, during a time when people debated the sex of angels, proposed the principle of parsimony (also known as Occam’s Razor)—Frustra fit per plura quod potest fieri per pauciora—which, in essence, states that the simplest and sufficient explanation is the most probable one, though not necessarily the true one. It is not irrefutable, but it helps to bring the obvious to light amidst the swamp of distracting elements in which we often become entangled when trying to explain things.

Society presents an immense range of problems, and depending on the school of thought—that is, the lens through which we view and approach them—these problems will be understood as an issue of “<insert field here>.” For example, from a Marxist perspective, society and all its social problems are derived from relations of production, and thus everything is interpreted through the dynamic of oppressor/oppressed, which in turn is resolved through class struggle.

To speak of race and ethnicity as a way to explain the causes of social phenomena and society itself today seems, on the one hand, extremely incorrect. However, serious studies demonstrate that differences between human groups do exist, despite the enormous efforts to discredit and delegitimize research that confirms such differences—just as studies that reflect differences in IQ scores between men and women are likewise attacked and scrutinized. This is due to the widespread belief that confirming the existence of group differences might spark outbreaks of hatred. Nevertheless, such a claim ignores one simple fact: human beings have never needed studies or scientific research to foster antagonisms, nor have studies ever been sufficient to dismantle them. Racial and ethnic differences—regardless of the seriousness with which the scientific community regards them, or the legitimacy with which they are presented—are a reality that transcends the goals of any agenda. Thus, despite all the efforts to refute the presence of differences between two human groups, human groups will continue to observe these differences.

Despite ideological struggles to declare race as an obsolete concept, it exists. Race is a reality.

If, beyond individual belief, we can observe the effects of racial and ethnic difference in social relations, why not include this in the analysis of society? Ignoring the racial and ethnic factor means resorting to complicated explanations for phenomena that are experienced daily in social interactions. And while such investigations and hypotheses should not be dismissed, they often prove too convoluted to offer simple explanations to a society that is more concerned with solving its problems than understanding the intricate webs underlying them.

Principle of parsimony: immigrant group B tends to exhibit more violent behaviors than immigrant groups C, D, and E, and more so than the host population A. We can explain the problem through complex social, historical, and cultural relations (which, undoubtedly, also play a role in the equation), or we can attribute it to what seems obvious—yet is often ignored for being obvious and politically incorrect: immigrant group B possesses a racial and ethnic identity associated with low delay of gratification, higher impulsivity, and different hormonal levels compared to groups A, C, D, and E. It is likely that other factors also contribute to the low compatibility between immigrant group B and host population A, but the racial and ethnic factor was decisive—and not only that: it was the first logical explanation for the problem at hand.

Here are some examples of realities associated with human groups:

• Disparities in crime rates between ethnic groups

Observation: Crime rates, especially violent crimes, are disproportionately high among certain ethnic minorities in Western countries.

Usual, complex explanation: Historical marginalization, poverty, systemic racism, over-policing, lack of opportunity.

Parsimony-based explanation: Elevated crime rates may reflect persistent group differences in behavioral traits such as aggression, impulse control, and time preference.

Data:

In the United States, young Black males (ages 15–34) account for over 50% of homicide offenders, despite being about 3% of the population (Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2019).

In Sweden, foreign-born individuals are 2.5 times more likely to be criminal suspects than native Swedes (BRÅ, 2005; updated data show this pattern persists).

Supporting research:

Herrnstein & Murray (1994) link crime and intelligence in The Bell Curve.

Rushton (1995) and Lynn (2002) discuss racial differences in behavior and evolutionary psychology.

• Academic achievement gaps between ethnic groups

Observation: East Asian and Ashkenazi Jewish populations consistently outperform other ethnic groups in standardized testing and academic achievement.

Usual, complex explanation: Socioeconomic differences, stereotype threat, unequal schooling, cultural bias in tests.

Parsimony-based explanation: Group differences in general intelligence (g) and educationally relevant traits (e.g., conscientiousness, future orientation) better explain long-term patterns.

Data:

Global IQ averages: East Asians ~105, Europeans ~100, Sub-Saharan Africans ~70–80 (Lynn & Vanhanen, 2012).

PISA results (OECD, 2018) show consistent underperformance of North African, Middle Eastern, and Sub-Saharan groups in Europe, even across generations.

Supporting research:

Jensen (1998) on the heritability of IQ and group differences.

Rindermann (2007) links national IQ to development outcomes.

• Social cohesion decline in multiethnic neighborhoods

Observation: Increased ethnic diversity correlates with lower social trust and civic engagement.

Usual, complex explanation: Urban density, economic competition, lack of community programs, linguistic barriers.

Parsimony-based explanation: Humans have evolved to trust those who resemble them; diversity weakens shared identity and group cohesion.

Data:

Robert Putnam (2007) found that higher diversity correlates with lower social trust—even among members of the same ethnic group.

Supporting research:

Salter (2006) and Turchin (2007) discuss ethnic genetic interests and group selection.

Alesina & La Ferrara (2002) find lower trust in ethnically heterogeneous societies.

Incompatibility with liberal norms

Observation: Some migrant communities show resistance to liberal values (gender equality, free speech, secularism).

Usual, complex explanation: Socioeconomic exclusion, postcolonial resentment, psychological trauma, etc.

Parsimony-based explanation: Cultures rooted in collectivism, patriarchy, or religious absolutism are less likely to assimilate liberal norms.

Data:

Pew Research Center (2013) shows that 84% of Muslims in Egypt support death for apostasy; similar figures in Pakistan and Jordan.

In European cities with large Muslim populations, parallel legal structures and resistance to secular law have been documented (e.g., Sharia courts in the UK).

Supporting research:

Inglehart & Welzel (2005) link cultural values to economic and political modernization.

Huntington (1996) predicted civilizational clashes arising from incompatible value systems.

• Persistent ethnic disparities despite equal policy input

Observation: Despite access to welfare, education, and anti-discrimination laws, some ethnic groups lag persistently behind others.

Usual, complex explanation: Implicit bias, systemic barriers, policy failures.

Parsimony-based explanation: Innate group differences in behavior, time preference, intelligence, or in-group preference explain long-term disparities better than systemic factors alone.

Data:

Despite decades of affirmative action in the US, the Black–White achievement and wealth gaps remain largely unchanged (Reeves, 2017; Fryer, 2011).

Children of Nigerian and Chinese immigrants in the UK and US often outperform native Whites and other minority groups.

Perhaps explaining a social problem through race as an Occam’s razor is not always the most accurate or exclusive approach, but given the increasingly diverse realities of modern societies, it is better to integrate race into our analyses than to proceed from ideological assumptions where race does not exist—especially when racial riots erupt worldwide, and spikes in criminal behavior are associated with population flows alien to the host country, among other outcomes of social processes tied to multiculturalism, multiethnicity, and multiracialism.

References:

Alesina, A. & E. La Ferrara. (2002). “Who Trusts Others?” Journal of Public Economics, 85(2), 207–234.

Fryer, R. G. (2011). Racial inequality in the 21st century: The declining significance of discrimination. In D. Card & O. Ashenfelter (Eds.), Handbook of Labor Economics, Vol. 4, Part B (pp. 855–971). Elsevier.

Heath, A., & S. Y. Cheung. (2007). Unequal Chances: Ethnic Minorities in Western Labour Markets. Oxford University Press.

Huntington, S. P. (1996). The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order. Simon & Schuster.

Inglehart, R. & C. Welzel. (2005). Modernization, Cultural Change, and Democracy: The Human Development Sequence. Cambridge University Press.

Jensen, A. R. (1998). The G Factor: The Science of Mental Ability. Praeger.

Lynn, R. & T. Vanhanen. (2012). Intelligence: A Unifying Construct for the Social Sciences. Ulster Institute for Social Research.

OECD. (2018). PISA 2018 results. https://www.oecd.org/pisa/

Pew Research Center. (2013). The World’s Muslims: Religion, Politics and Society. https://www.pewresearch.org

Putnam, R. D. (2007). “E Pluribus Unum: Diversity and community in the twenty-first century”. Scandinavian Political Studies, 30(2), 137–174.

Reeves, R. V. (2017). Dream Hoarders: How the American Upper Middle Class Is Leaving Everyone Else in the Dust. Brookings Institution Press.

Rindermann, H. (2007). “The G-factor of International Cognitive Ability Comparisons: The homogeneity of results in PISA, TIMSS, PIRLS, and IQ tests across nations.” European Journal of Personality, 21(5), 667–706. https://doi.org/10.1002/per.634

Salter, F. K. (2006). On Genetic Interests: Family, Ethnicity, and Humanity in an Age of Mass Migration. Transaction Publishers.

Turchin, P. (2007). War and Peace and War: The Rise and Fall of Empires. Penguin.