Genes in Control: Conservatism in Popular Science

Abstract

D. Bainbridge 'How the X Chromosome Controls Our Lives' Cambridge, Harvard University Press, 2003 (224 pp). ISBN 0-67401-028-0 (hard cover) RRP $46.74. S. Baron-Cohen 'The Essential Difference: Men, Women and the Extreme Male Brain' London, Allen Lane, 2003 (288 pp). ISBN 0-71399-671-4 (hard cover) RRP $39.95. R.W. Connell 'Gender' Cambridge, Polity Press, 2002 (184 pp). ISBN 0-74562-716-1 (paperback) RRP $32.95. Genetic explanations for complex human behaviour are growing in popularity, aided by recent advances in molecular genetics and the Human Genome Project. However, their popularity far exceeds their scientific validity. Books written for a general audience to promote genetic causes for differences in behaviour between men and women are not merely over-simplistic and inaccurate; they also promote particularly conservative opinions about society.