The Torrents of Data: Floods of Genealogy, Freshets of Remaining Questions
About this article
Abstract
In this commentary on Gregory Clark's To Have and Have Not: The Determinants of Social Status in England, 1600-2026, third in a trilogy of Hemingway-themed books, we discuss five topics: (1) the "shared environment" component in behavioural genetics; (2) misunderstanding over indirect versus direct genetic effects; (3) the meaning of genetic nurture; (4) the strength of assortative mating, and (5) parenting. We agree with Clark that genetics has an encouraging message concerning fecundity. We applaud the ambition and scale of this book which will stimulate research and discussion. We hope that scholars from different fields will engage with Clark's thesis. Probing the nature of social status and its determinants is a pressing matter in the social sciences.
| Author |
|
|---|---|
| Keywords | behavioural genetics, shared environment, genetic nurture, social status, assortative mating, parent |
| Volume Number | 23 |
| Issue Number | 2 |
| Pages | 523–533 |
| File URL | The Torrents of Data: Floods of Genealogy, Freshets of Remaining Questions |
| File Format | |
| Access | |
| Publication year | 2026 |
Flag this article
Start the discussion.
Be the first to share your thoughts below.
Log in to Journaltalk to discuss this article!
Jt Article Discussions
Most recent article-specific discussions at Journaltalk.