Nature and Nurture

I’ve mentioned this subject before but anyone who is convinced that genetics is the sole determinant of achievement should consider the case of the burakumin of Japan. The burakumin (literally “village people”) are a hereditary class or caste in Japan of people who traditionally practiced occupations considered defiling in traditional Japanese culture, e.g. gravediggers, undertakers, slaughterhouse workers, executioners, and the like. Historically, they have been discriminated against and to some extent that discrimination continues right to the present day.

Japan is a remarkably homogeneous country. Other than the Ainu people of the north, the Ryukyuan people in the south, and a couple of million “foreigners”, mostly Chinese, Koreans, Filipinos, and Vietnamese, everyone in Japan is ethnically Japanese and the burakumin are no exception. They are not genetically distinguishable from other Japanese people.

Nonetheless the burakumin are widely considered to be lazy, slovenly, stupid, violent, and criminal. They do worse on standardized tests than other Japanese people.

The burakumin have been studied extensively, both by Japanese and Western scholars. One of the interesting things that has been determined is that expectations of individuals burakumin ancestry are quite low, both among the burakumin themselves as well as among other Japanese people. It is suspected those expectations have some influence on outcomes.