| Steven Goldberg
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| | Born | 1941
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| Nationality | American |
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| Field | Sociology |
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| Institutions | City College of New York |
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| Known for | The Inevitability of Patriarchy
Why Men Rule |
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Steven Goldberg (born 1941) is a native of New York City and was president of the sociology department at City College of New York (CCNY). In his book, Fads and Fallacies in the Social Sciences, Goldberg reveals his personal hero is Jackie Robinson and devotes a whole chapter to him. Goldberg also devotes a chapter to Bob Dylan, whose lyrical ideas stimulate his sociological mind.
Additional recommended knowledge
Biography
William Helmreich, a colleague of Goldberg's at CCNY, wrote a short biography of him for Heterodoxy. At the end of this short biography, Helmreich reveals the core passion in Goldberg that motivated Helmreich to write about him – "[Goldberg] even goes so far as to write that, while the best thing about truth is that it is true, the second best thing about truth is that it is, whatever the authority system, subversive. In this sense he continues to represent the anti-authoritarian spirit of the 1960s."[1]
Helmreich tells us Goldberg is "a heavyset man with a quick smile who has been called a 'typical New Yorker,' perhaps because his words come so rapidly in an attempt to keep up with his thoughts."[2]
Goldberg has a particular passion for the work of cultural anthropology.
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| Cultural anthropology has given the world a priceless treasure the ethnographic descriptions of many hundreds—or thousands, if one counts less formal works—of societies and the incredible variation they have demonstrated. In the future, when the homogenization of the world has made all societies more alike than different, only these ethnographies will stand against the human ethnocentric tendency to think things had to be the way they are [emphasis original].[3]
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In Fads and Falacies Goldberg placed professional academics in his own discipline under scrutiny. It made him unpopular with many people, however, he constantly gets letters from other academics who praise him for his "courage".[4] He can't accept that compliment.
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| It was Freud, I think, who once pointed out when someone called him courageous, all one has to lose by unpopular arguments is contact with people one would not be terribly attracted to anyway. Now, five hundred years ago when you said something unpopular they BOILED YOU IN OIL. That took courage [emphasis original].[5]
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Goldberg is best known for his two books on patriarchy. Goldberg anticipated the popular Brain Sex: The Real Difference Between Men and Women, by more than 15 years, and the even more popular Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus by almost 20 years. Goldberg's books on this topic are particularly valuable because of the way they bring biology of gender and anthropological research results into the field of sociology.
Goldberg and Brain Sex only spoke of results that were then known – the effects of hormones on brain development and hence social behaviour. In 2005 and following years, however, biology has been producing exciting results that show sexual dimorphism in brains can be influenced by genes even before the influence of hormones in the womb. "Genes on the sex chromosomes can directly influence sexual dimorphism in cognition and behaviour, independent of the action of sex steroids." Skuse, David H (2006). "Sexual dimorphism in cognition and behaviour: the role of X-linked genes". European Journal of Endocrynology 155: 99-106. This will have been no surprise to Goldberg, it provides even more of exactly the kind of evidence of biological influence on male dominance behaviour that Goldberg's hypothesis predicted.
Guinness Book of Records
Goldberg's The Inevitability of Patriarchy won a place and was long listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the book rejected by most publishers before being published "to acclaim" in 1973 – 69 rejections, from 55 publishers.
Books
- The Inevitability of Patriarchy. New York: William Morrow and Company, 1973.
- When Wish Replaces Thought: Why So Much of What You Believe Is False. Buffalo, New York: Promethius Books, 1991.
- Why Men Rule: A Theory of Male Dominance. Chicago, Illinois: Open Court Publishing Company, 1993.
- Fads and Fallacies in the Social Sciences. Amherst, New York: Humanity Books, 2003.
Reviews
- 'The Politics of Gender'. Review of Why Men Rule
From back cover of Why Men Rule:
- "Splendid—one of those rare books that changes one's mind about a profound issue. ... A book that has endured and is even more imposing than when it was first written. ... Goldberg has one of the keenest minds in the social sciences today." Joseph Adelson
- "Iron clad." William Kephart
- "... persuasive and accurate. It is true, as Professor Goldberg points out, that all the claims so glibly made for societies ruled by women are nonsense. We have no reason to believe that they ever existed. ... men everywhere have been in charge of running the show. ... men have always been the leaders in public affairs and the final authorities at home." Margaret Mead
- "Coolly, tightly, cogently, even brilliantly reasoned." Morton Kaplan
- "Absolutely plausible and a sound corrective to the psuedoscientific fad that tries to disregard genetic and hereditary influences." Journal of Sex Research
- "Intellectually challenging." Rosemary Campbell, Washington Post
- "The most significant work on sex differences in decades." Murray Rothbard
- "A classic." Daniel Seligman
- "A classic." Ernest van den Haag
- "A classic." George Gilder
From back cover of Fads and Fallacies:
- "Among contemporary social scientists, the admirable Steven Goldberg is anomalous: unlike many of his peers, he believes that scholarship is, above all, for getting at the truth. In this compelling new book he demonstrates that there is widespread indifference to truth-seeking in current social science, and argues for the urgency of a return to serious inquiry." Paul Goss, author of Higher Superstition.
- "No person in American sociology is so well informed concerning the current fads and fashions in ideas among American intellectuals and semi-intellectuals. ... Goldberg has emerged as a leading sociological logician. ... The spirit of the great masters of sociological theory is in him." Lewis Feuer
Debate
- Eleanor Leacock. 'The Invitability of Patriarchy'. American Anthropologist new series 76 (1974): 363-365.
- Frank B Livingstone. 'The Invitability of Patriarchy'. American Anthropologist new series 76 (1974): 365-367.
- Steven Goldberg. 'Response to Leacock and Livingstone'. American Anthropologist new series 77 (1975): 69-73.
- Eleanor Leacock. 'On Goldberg's Response'. American Anthropologist new series 77 (1975): 73-75.
- Frank B Livingstone. 'Reply to Goldberg'. American Anthropologist new series 77 (1975): 75-77.
- Joan Huber. 'The Invitability of Patriarchy'. The American Journal of Sociology 81 (1974): 567-568.
- Steven Goldberg. 'Comment on Huber's Review of the Inevitability of Patriarchy'. The American Journal of Sociology 82 (1976): 687-690.
- Joan Huber. 'Huber's Reply to Goldberg'. The American Journal of Sociology 82 (1976): 690-691.
Articles
- 'Women's Lib: Goldberg Replies To Kinsky', The Libertarian Forum December 1974: 4-5.
- 'Reaffirming the Obvious', Society 23 (1986): 4-7.
- 'Utopian Yearning versus Scientific Curiosity', Society 23 (1986): 29-39.
- 'The Theory of Patriarchy: A Final Summation, Including Responses to Fifteen Years of Criticism'. International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy 9 (1989): 15-62.
- 'Are males better at mathematical reasoning and if so, why? A reply to Ruskai'. American Journal of Physics 59 (1991): 775.
- 'Is Patriarchy Inevitable: men rule not because they are told to, but because it is their nature to do so'. National Review November, 1996: 32ff.
- 'The Erosion of the Social Sciences'. In Katherine Washburn and John F Thornton (eds). Dumbing Down: Essays in the Strip Mining of American Culture. New York: Norton, WW & Company Inc., 1997.
- 'The Logic of Patriarchy'. Gender Issues (1999): 53-69.
Published Letters
- 'To the editor'. City Journal (Winter, 1995).
- 'Re: Gramsci v. Tocqueville'. Policy Review 108 (2001).
- 'The Uncertainty Principle'. Discover 25 (2004).
Interviews
- Linda Nicolosi. 'Understanding How We Think about Homosexuality'.
Biographies
- Helmreich, William. 'Steven Goldberg, Iconoclast: The Most Controversial Professor in America'. Heterodoxy 2 (September 1994): 2, 12-14.
- Gale Reference Team. 'Biography - Goldberg, Steven (1941-)'. In Contemporary Authors. Thomson Gale, 2006.
Goldberg as reviewer
- Chynoweth, W. Edward. Masquerade: The Feminist Illusion. Trafford Publishing, 2004. ISBN 1412011450
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| Those of us who have addressed the strictly scientific aspects of sex differences have long looked in vain for a work that examines the wide range of likely social effects of these differences. Finally such a work, W. Edward Chynoweth's Masquerade, takes up this challenge. Analyzing a great number of possible manifestations of these differences in modern society, Chynoweth offers a fascinating analysis of what we can expect. Challenging a host of 'politically correct,' but scientifically baseless assumptions that have become widely accepted (without much changing the world that those making the assumptions wish to engender), Chynoweth has written a book as eminently readable as it is valuable.
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Goldberg's and other reviews of Chynoweth's book are available online, quoted by Elizabeth Kantor, editor-in-chief, Conservative Book Service — 'Our Editor's Review'.
See also
- Patriarchy (anthropology)
- Patriarchy in feminism
References
- ^ William Helmreich, 'Steven Goldberg, Iconoclast: The Most Controversial Professor in America', (Heterodoxy 2, September 1994): 14.
- ^ Ibid., p. 2.
- ^ Ibid.
- ^ Ibid., p. 13
- ^ Ibid.
| Persondata
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| NAME
| Goldberg, Steven
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| ALTERNATIVE NAMES
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| SHORT DESCRIPTION
| Sociology academic and author
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| DATE OF BIRTH
| Spring 1941
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| PLACE OF BIRTH
| New York, United States of America
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| DATE OF DEATH
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| PLACE OF DEATH
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