Kevin MacDonald is Still Confused
By • 12/21/09In reading Kevin MacDonald’s response to my last blog post about ethnic altruism, I realized that whole debate between us is probably due to MacDonald’s misunderstanding of the thesis of my article “The Ethnic Nepotism Fallacy.” MacDonald seems to think that my sole object of criticism in that article was genetic similarity theory (GST). However, it was not. What I mean by an ethnic nepotism theory is any theory that supposes that people evolved to direct altruism at co-ethnics because of relatedness. The question of which psychological mechanisms are responsible for this altruism is irrelevant. Thus, my critique applies to MacDonald’s theory of ethnicity if he believes that people instinctually direct altruism at co-ethnics through what he calls “social identity mechanisms” like ethnocentrism and collectivism.
In my blog post, I pointed out that MacDonald clearly believes that ethnocentrism causes people to make sacrifices for the ethny and that the term “sacrifice” implies altruism. MacDonald responds to my point as follows:
Right. But notice that that passage where I quote Sumner is in my section on social identity theory — not GST. Jobling is oblivious to the whole point of my article — that we need to posit several different psychological mechanisms related to ethnicity and ethnic conflict. I clearly don’t think that GST provides a psychological basis for the phenomenon of ingroup-outgroup conflict or for martyrdom, but I do argue that social identity theory does provide such a theory.
This is not responsive to my point as my criticisms were never meant to apply only to GST, but to all theories of ethnic nepotism. I am not oblivious to the point of MacDonald’s article; my argument is merely broader than he realizes.
In “An Integrative Evolutionary Perspective on Ethnicity” (“Evolutionary Perspective”), the article in which MacDonald defines his theory of ethnicity, he explains the evolution of social identity mechanisms in the following terms:
I suggest that social identity mechanisms were adaptive in the EEA [that is, the “environment of evolutionary adaptedness,” or the environment in which human social instincts evolved] because an important set of outgroups were groups living in nearby areas that did not show detectable physical differences in appearance while nevertheless being on average less genetically similar than ingroups…. As a result, mechanisms that result in discrimination in favor of ingroup and against outgroups would also tend to benefit people genetically. (p. 77)
So it would seem that MacDonald is arguing is that people evolved to direct altruism at (or make sacrifices for) their ethnies because of relatedness among co-ethnics. If that is not what MacDonald is arguing, why does he even mention genetic similarities among co-ethnics in his discussion of the evolution of social identity mechanisms? If MacDonald believes that ethnocentrism evolved solely because of the benefits that it brings to individuals, genetic similarities among co-ethnics would be irrelevant to his argument.
If MacDonald’s theory of ethnicity has changed since 2001, when he published “Evolutionary Perspective,” or if that article does not clearly convey what he intends to say, he should write a new article.
Generally speaking, MacDonald’s post is dishonest and evasive. He makes no effort accurately to represent my arguments against him and adopts a bullying, blustering tone, complete with insults and pompous appeals to authority, that is meant to intimidate me. Moreover, he revises his position on many of the issues addressed in “Evolutionary Perspective” and then acts as though these had been his arguments all along. The post to which MacDonald is responding was not arrogant, hostile, or childish. Rather, it was objective and sharp.
If MacDonald squarely and honestly confronts the single issue that I raise in this post, I will go on debating him. If not, I will consider the matter settled in my favor.
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