Hockenbury Discovering Psychology 5th txtbk

The Nature of Intelligence309Take the case of the Burakumin people of Japan. Americans typically think ofJapan as relatively homogeneous, and indeed the Burakumin are not racially differentfrom other Japanese. They look the same and speak the same language. However,the Burakumin are the descendants of an outcast group that for generationsworked as tanners and butchers. Because they handled dead bodies and killedanimals, the Burakumin were long considered unclean and unfit for social contact.For centuries, they were forced to live in isolated enclaves, apart from the rest ofJapanese society (DeVos, 1992; DeVos & Wagatsuma, 1967).Today, there are about 3 million Burakumin in Japan. Although the Burakuminwere legally emancipated from their outcast status many years ago, substantial socialdiscrimination against them persists (Payton, 1992). Because there is no way to tellif a Japanese citizen is of Burakumin descent, there are dozens of private detectiveagencies in Tokyo and other Japanese cities that openly specialize in trackingBurakumin who are trying to “pass” and hide their background. Until fairlyrecently, corporations in Japan openly consulted computer databanks to identifyBurakumin who applied for jobs, as did individuals who wished to investigate theancestral background of prospective marriage partners.The Burakumin are the poorest people in Japan. They are only half as likely asother Japanese to graduate from high school or attend college. Although thereare no racial differences between the Burakumin and other Japanese, the averageIQ scores of the Burakumin in Japan are well below those of other Japanese. Asshown in Table 7.2, their average IQ scores are about 10 to 15 points below thoseof mainstream Japanese. But, when Burakumin families immigrate to the UnitedStates, they are treated like any other Japanese. The children do just as well inschool—and on IQ tests—as any other Japanese Americans (Ogbu, 1986).Of course, Japan is not the only society that discriminates against a particularsocial group. Many societies discriminate against specific minority groups, such asthe Harijans in India (formerly called the untouchables), West Indians in GreatBritain, Maoris in New Zealand, and Jews of non-European descent in Israel.Children belonging to these minority groups score 10 to 15 points lower on intelligencetests than do children belonging to the dominant group in their societies.Children of the minority groups are often one or two years behind dominant-groupchildren in basic reading skills and mathematical skills. Minority-group children areoverrepresented in remedial programs and in school dropout rates. They are alsounderrepresented in higher education. The impact of discrimination on group differencesin IQ remains even when the minority-group and dominant-group membersare of similar socioeconomic backgrounds (Ogbu, 1986, 2008). In many ways,the educational experiences of these minority groups seem to parallel those of minoritygroups around the world, providing a cross-cultural perspective on the consistenteffects of discrimination in many different societies.Table 7.2The Effects of Discriminationon IQ Scores in JapanPercentage ofChildren Scoring in aGiven RangeRange of Non-IQ Scores Burakumin BurakuminAbove 125 23.3 2.6124–109 31.8 19.5108–93 23.3 22.192–77 11.7 18.2Below 76 9.9 37.6Source: Adapted from DeVos & Wagatsuma (1967),Table 2, p. 261.The Burakumin of Japan are not raciallydifferent from other Japanese, but theyhave suffered from generations of discrimination.Their average IQ scores are about10 to 15 points below those of mainstreamJapanese (Ogbu, 1986). In manyother cultures, a similar gap in IQ scoresexists between the discriminated-againstminority and the dominant group.Defying Centuries of Discrimination Membersof the Buraku Liberation League singa traditional Buraku lullaby on a rooftopin Japan. They chose a lullaby, the group’sleader said, “to sing this as a song forprotecting children while reflecting oursuffering, sadness and wishes, all of whichare conveyed in the song.” Overt discriminationagainst the estimated 1 millionBuraku people is technically illegal inJapan, yet they remain the poorest groupin Japan and discrimination persists inemployment, marriage, and other areas(Ikeda, 2001).