ABSTRACT
Culture rests on our ability to use language—letters, words, pictures, formulas, and so on—that stand for various aspects of the environment and the relationships among them. To make use of these symbols requires intelligence, the root word of which is intelligo. Given the role of intelligence in forming and maintaining complex cultures, it should play a prominent role in sociological theorizing since it greatly impacts so many areas of human social life. Yet, there are some who appear to dispute the importance of intelligence in human society. Intelligence involves neurobiological processes requiring the participation of chemicals that drive nerve impulses, the amount, concentration, and metabolism of which, and brain architecture, vary from person to person and are under substantial genetic control. The most solid evidence for environmental influence on intelligence comes from genetic research because if genes account for X percent of the variance in IQ scores then the environment must account for the other Y percent.
