Scientific racism: reflections on peer review, science and ideology. 1990

C Leslie
Center for Science & Culture, University of Delaware, Newark 19716.

The scholars who use Social Science & Medicine in their research and teaching, who publish their work in it, participate in its peer review of manuscripts, and attend its conferences belong to various nationalities, disciplines, and cultural traditions. Our common enterprise originated in and depends upon liberal democratic social institutions, and assumes their values. With all our differences and disagreements, we are committed to scientific research in a common effort to improve human health and welfare. Our professional careers are a large part of our personal lives, so that our science, our lives, and our values are a single fabric. The present lecture is a meditation on this situation based upon my own heritage, personal experience, and career in anthropology, and on the recent publication in Social Science & Medicine of an essay that attributed the epidemiology of AIDS to racial variation.

UI MeSH Term Description Entries
D010380 Peer Review An organized procedure carried out by a select committee of professionals in evaluating the performance of other professionals in meeting the standards of their specialty. Review by peers is used by editors in the evaluation of articles and other papers submitted for publication. Peer review is used also in the evaluation of grant applications. It is applied also in evaluating the quality of health care provided to patients. Review, Peer,Peer Reviews,Reviews, Peer
D011287 Prejudice A preconceived judgment made without factual basis. Anti-Semitism,Islamophobia,Anti Semitism,Anti-Semitisms,Islamophobias,Prejudices
D012107 Research Design A plan for collecting and utilizing data so that desired information can be obtained with sufficient precision or so that an hypothesis can be tested properly. Experimental Design,Data Adjustment,Data Reporting,Design, Experimental,Designs, Experimental,Error Sources,Experimental Designs,Matched Groups,Methodology, Research,Problem Formulation,Research Methodology,Research Proposal,Research Strategy,Research Technics,Research Techniques,Scoring Methods,Adjustment, Data,Adjustments, Data,Data Adjustments,Design, Research,Designs, Research,Error Source,Formulation, Problem,Formulations, Problem,Group, Matched,Groups, Matched,Matched Group,Method, Scoring,Methods, Scoring,Problem Formulations,Proposal, Research,Proposals, Research,Reporting, Data,Research Designs,Research Proposals,Research Strategies,Research Technic,Research Technique,Scoring Method,Source, Error,Sources, Error,Strategies, Research,Strategy, Research,Technic, Research,Technics, Research,Technique, Research,Techniques, Research
D005075 Biological Evolution The process of cumulative change over successive generations through which organisms acquire their distinguishing morphological and physiological characteristics. Evolution, Biological
D006801 Humans Members of the species Homo sapiens. Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D000163 Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome An acquired defect of cellular immunity associated with infection by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a CD4-positive T-lymphocyte count under 200 cells/microliter or less than 14% of total lymphocytes, and increased susceptibility to opportunistic infections and malignant neoplasms. Clinical manifestations also include emaciation (wasting) and dementia. These elements reflect criteria for AIDS as defined by the CDC in 1993. AIDS,Immunodeficiency Syndrome, Acquired,Immunologic Deficiency Syndrome, Acquired,Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome,Acquired Immuno-Deficiency Syndrome,Acquired Immuno Deficiency Syndrome,Acquired Immuno-Deficiency Syndromes,Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndromes,Immuno-Deficiency Syndrome, Acquired,Immuno-Deficiency Syndromes, Acquired,Immunodeficiency Syndromes, Acquired,Syndrome, Acquired Immuno-Deficiency,Syndrome, Acquired Immunodeficiency,Syndromes, Acquired Immuno-Deficiency,Syndromes, Acquired Immunodeficiency
D012725 Sexual Behavior Sexual activities of humans. Anal Sex,Oral Sex,Sexual Activity,Sexual Orientation,Premarital Sex Behavior,Sex Behavior,Sex Orientation,Sexual Activities,Activities, Sexual,Activity, Sexual,Behavior, Premarital Sex,Behavior, Sex,Behavior, Sexual,Orientation, Sexual,Sex, Anal,Sex, Oral
D012919 Social Behavior Any behavior caused by or affecting another individual or group usually of the same species. Sociality,Behavior, Social,Behaviors, Social,Social Behaviors
D012942 Social Sciences Disciplines concerned with the interrelationships of individuals in a social environment including social organizations and institutions. Includes Sociology and Anthropology. Science, Social,Sciences, Social,Social Science
D044469 Racial Groups Groups of individuals with similar physical appearances often reinforced by cultural, social and/or linguistic similarities. Continental Population Groups,Race,Racial Stocks,Continental Population Group,Group, Continental Population,Group, Racial,Groups, Continental Population,Groups, Racial,Population Group, Continental,Population Groups, Continental,Races,Racial Group,Racial Stock,Stock, Racial,Stocks, Racial

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