| Kevin B. Macdonald |
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| CATEGORIES ABOUT KEVIN B. MACDONALD | |
| scholars of antisemitism | |
| american academics | |
| evolutionary psychologists | |
| 1944 births | |
| living people | |
| people from oshkosh, wisconsin | |
| california state university, long beach | |
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Kevin B. MacDonald, (born January 24 , 1944 ) is a professor of Psychology at California State University, Long Beach , best known for claiming to use Evolutionary Psychology to inform his study of Judaism . MacDonald's most controversial idea is his assertion that a suite of Jewish psychological traits, including higher-than-average verbal intelligence and Ethnocentricism , enhances the ability of Jew s to out-compete non-Jews for resources while undermining the power and self-confidence of the white majority in Europe and America. Leading scholars, such as Steven Pinker , have rejected MacDonald's work as contradicting "basic principles of contemporary evolutionary psychology" and failing "basic tests of scientific credibility," though it has found an audience among White Supremacist s for his opinions about Jews. EARLY YEARS MacDonald was born in Oshkosh, Wisconsin . His father was a Policeman , his mother a secretary. He went to Roman Catholic schools and played basketball in high school. He entered the University Of Wisconsin and became a radical activist in the Anti-war Movement from about 1965 to 1975 . During this period, he perceived the East Coast Jewish origins of the majority of the movement there (C of C, p 104), which served to spark an interest in Jewish intellectual movements in his later years as a professor of psychology. He became a Philosophy major, lost his religion, and became very sympathetic to Psychoanalysis . He embarked on a career as a Jazz Pianist , but by the late 1970s had abandoned it in favour of academia. He has two adult children from his first marriage. PROFESSIONAL BACKGROUND MacDonald is the author of seven books on evolutionary psychology and child development and is the author or editor of over thirty academic articles in refereed journals. He received his B.A. from the University Of Wisconsin in 1966 , and M.S. in biology from the University Of Connecticut in 1976. He earned a Ph.D. in 1981 (Biobehavioral Sciences) from the University of Connecticut where he studied under Professor Benson E. Ginsburg , one of the founders and leaders of modern behavior genetics, as his advisor. His thesis was on the behavioral development of wolves and resulted in two publications: MacDonald, K. B., and Ginsburg, B. E. (1981). Induction of normal behavior in wolves with restricted rearing. Behavioral and Neural Biology, 33, 133-162; MacDonald, K. B. (1983). Development and stability of personality characteristics in prepubertal wolves. Journal of Comparative Psychology, 97, 99-106, 1983. He completed a post-doctoral fellowship with Ross Parke at the psychology department of the University Of Illinois in 1983 . His work there concerned rough and tumble play in children (he had two small boys at home at the time as well) and resulted in three publications: MacDonald, K. B., & Parke, R. D. (1984). Bridging the gap: Parent-child play interactions and peer interactive competence. Child Development, 55, 1265-1277; MacDonald, K. B., & Parke, R. D. (1986). Parent-child physical play: The effects of sex and age of children and parents. Sex Roles, 15, 367-378, 1986; MacDonald, K. B. (1987). Parent-child physical play with rejected, neglected and popular boys. Developmental Psychology, 23, 705-711. He served as Secretary-Archivist of the Human Behavior And Evolution Society and was elected as a member of the executive board from 1995 to 2001, much to the embarrassment of the organization. He was an editor of '' Population And Environment '' and is an associate editor of the journal '' Sexuality & Culture ''. He serves on the Advisory Board of ''The Occidental Quarterly '' and makes occasional contributions to '' VDARE .com'', an Immigration Reduction ist Weblog . He has been with the Department of Psychology at California State University--Long Beach since 1985 and as a full professor since 1995. ACADEMIC WORKS ADDRESSING JUDAISM AS A COLLECTIVE EVOLUTIONARY STRATEGY For the main article, see MacDonald is best known for his trilogy that claims to analyze Judaism and Jewish Culture from the perspective of Evolutionary Psychology , comprising ''A People That Shall Dwell Alone'' ( 1994 ), ''Separation and Its Discontents'' ( 1998 ), and ''The Culture of Critique'' ( 1998 ). He proposes that Judaism is a Group Evolutionary Strategy to enhance the ability of Jew s to out-compete non-Jews for resources. Using the term ''Jewish ethnocentrism'', he argues that Judaism fosters in Jews a series of marked genetic traits, including above-average verbal intelligence and a strong tendency toward collectivist behavior. Jewish role in facilitating mass immigration Extreme right-wing groups and some members of the Immigration Reductionism movement have long argued that there has been a significant or central Jewish role in facilitating mass immigration into the United States and other western nations. Recently MacDonald has echoed their claims, arguing that "the organized Jewish community" has been the single most important and powerful group in favor of unrestricted immigration to the United States, and that the community has been acting in its "own perceived collective interests", regardless of whether these are in conflict with the interests of other Americans. {Link without Title} MacDonald's main thesis centers on the period preceding the all-important 1965 Immigration Act when strict, country-of-origin based quotas existed, mostly favoring immigration from Europe. According to MacDonald, while most of the ethnic communities in that period were somewhat active in trying to affect the increase of immigration quotas from their own countries of origin (i.e. the Irish for immigration from Ireland, Greeks for immigration from Greece etc.), only the Jewish community activists were requesting (and ultimately obtained in 1965) the dismantling of country-of-origin quotas and an increase in immigration across the board. This policy shift benefitted primarily non-European immigration and had a profound impact on the US demographics in the following decades. He also contrasts U.S. immigration policy with the more restrictive immigration policies of Israel. {Link without Title} He cites '' website: Why members of the Jewish community, which over so many centuries demonstrated such determination to preserve its distinctiveness, should have been so demonstrably active in preventing the preservation of the nation in which they find themselves, is an interesting question... Much of the effort was done more or less surreptitiously so as not to fan the flames of anti-Jewish sentiment. {Link without Title} MacDonald also points out that even the Jewish activist Stephen Steinlight , who argues against mass immigration, does so on explicitly ethnocentric grounds: "Our present privilege, success, and power do not inure us from the effect of historical processes, and history has not come to an end, even in America." {Link without Title} ''. He cites MacDonald's statement that it is in “the ethnic interests of white Americans to develop an ethnically and culturally homogeneous society.” and states: And on the point of Israel having something very much like the old American dispensation, I am unimpressed by MacDonald’s oft-repeated argument—it is a favorite with both Israelophobes and anti-Semites—that it is hypocritical for Jews to promote multiculturalism in the U.S. while wishing to maintain Jewish ethnic dominance in Israel. Unless you think that ethnic dominance, under appropriate restraining laws, is immoral per se—and I don’t, and Kevin MacDonald plainly doesn’t either—it can be the foundation of a stable and successful nation. A nation that can establish it and maintain it would be wise to do so. The USA was not able to maintain it because too many Americans—far more than three percent—came to think it violated Constitutional principles. {Link without Title} In his reply to the review, MacDonald noted that Derbyshire explicitly acknowledged the fact that careers could be ended or severely harmed by criticism of the role of the Jewish community in American public life, and suggested that Derbyshire himself was frightened of running foul of "the Jew thing". He further claimed that Derbyshire :lives in a sort of childlike world in which Jewish interests are legitimate and where Jewish attempts to pursue their interests, though they may occasionally be irritating, are not really a cause for concern, much less malice. {Link without Title} Race, culture, and intelligence Like his fellow contributors to '' Vdare '', MacDonald questions claims that racial differences are unimportant or illusory and that racial and cultural assimilation will be an easy process. He points to the phenomenon of popular scientists such as Stephen Jay Gould , Richard Lewontin , Leon Kamin , Steven Rose , and Jared Diamond , who were all born to Jewish parents, and who have been leading proponents of the view that there is no biological basis for race, and that variance between races in mean IQ is caused by environmental rather than hereditary factors. See also: Race And Intelligence . MacDonald on Neoconservatism MacDonald published an article in , a philosophy professor, taught several of the putative founders of the neoconservatism, MacDonald concludes he is a central figure in the neo-conservative movement and sees him as "the quintessential rabbinical guru with devoted disciples". {Link without Title} MacDonald contends that, like Jewish opinion. MacDonald's views of neoconservatism are not widely accepted by intellectuals. His views have been characterized as " Anti-Semitic " and have been condemned as "nauseating" by Jews and many non-Jews alike. RELATIONS WITH OTHER ACADEMICS AND THE PUBLIC Accusations of poor scholarship to promote anti-Semitism Academic from Brandeis University , has published a paper alleging that MacDonald has distorted evidence and chosen evidence selectively for rhetorical purposes {Link without Title} . Academic John Tooby , the president of the Human Behavior and Evolution Society and a professor of Anthropology at the University Of California At Santa Barbara , notes that MacDonald bases his work on the notion of Group Selection Theory , widely considered discredited, and that there is no basis for the premise that Jews are a genetically distinct group. MacDonald has been accused of Anti-Semitism by other scholars and has developed an extensive following among White Supremacist s and Neo-Nazi s. In October 2004 he accepted a literary prize from ''The Occidental Quarterly'', using the award ceremony as an occasion to argue for the need for a "white ethnostate" to maintain high racial birthrates. However, he denies having any affiliation or contact with extremist groups. World-famous Harvard psychology professor Steven Pinker has written of the ability of MacDonald's theses to pass the threshold of attention-worthiness and/or peer-approval: MacDonald's ideas, as presented in summaries that would serve as a basis for further examination, do not pass that threshold, for many reasons: Slate: How to Deal with Fringe Academics MacDonald has replied to Tooby, Pinker, Schatz, and Lieberman on his website. {Link without Title} MacDonald and David Irving MacDonald testified on behalf of the Historian David Irving in the unsuccessful lawsuit he brought against Deborah Lipstadt over her description of him as a Holocaust Denier . The testimony drew on MacDonald's theories of inter-group conflict and questioned whether Irving's book should have been dropped by St. Martin's Press. MacDonald alleged Irving's book on Goebbels was rescinded by St. Martin's Press not because of its scientific merit but because of pressure from "certain Jewish ethnic activist organizations," "newspaper columnists," and "people like Deborah Lipstadt." MacDonald has defended himself against criticism of his action by arguing that he acted from a concern for academic freedom and that he would willingly testify on behalf of any Jewish scholar subject to similar pressures for his views. Discussion of the Irving case on MacDonald's website CRITICISM Journalist Mark Potok of the Southern Poverty Law Center , a controversial Civil Rights advocacy and Anti-racism organization, has said of MacDonald that "he put the anti-Semitism under the guise of scholarly work... Kevin MacDonald’s work is nothing but gussied-up anti-Semitism. At base it says that Jews are out to get us through their agenda ... His work is bandied about by just about every neo-Nazi group in America.” {Link without Title} BOOKS AND MONOGRAPHS ''Main article: The Culture Of Critique Series ''
EXTERNAL LINKS MacDonald's website
Criticisms of MacDonald's work
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