Att konstruera begåvning - debatten om IQ

• Throughout the 20th century, the nature of intelligence has been a hot topic and an intensely debated issue. It is the measuring and testing of intelligence, in particular, that has aroused the strongest reactions from defenders and protesters alike. The discussion on intelligence tests have frequently revolved around questions such as whether these tests will lead to an increased social mobility and liberation or, on the contrary, to exclusion and discrimination of certain groups. The focus of the present article, however, is not the consequences of intelligence testing but rather the debate concerning the testing within the research community. This debate is approached from three different perspectives: a historical perspective, a psychological perspective, and a perspective allowed for by discourse analysis. Having done this, I discuss one other tentative way of dealing with intelligence testing that does not necessarily have to involve narratives of liberation or of oppression. This is done with the help of Michel Foucault’s concept ‘governmentality’.

Nyckelord

Foucault

governmentality

intelligence testing

power

knowledge

Publikations- och innehållstyp

ref (ämneskategori)

art (ämneskategori)