ABSTRACT
Projection of the logic of science onto the thinking of the general public, however, leads to paradoxical results. The white public therefore appears simultaneously to accept and to reject racist beliefs. Our findings make it clear that much of the white public not only does not think in scientific terms about race; it does not even think in pseudoscientific terms. The ideas about psychogenetic racial differences that played such a large role in American social science in the early part of the century have gradually been replaced by assumptions of environmental determinism. In addressing white Americans today, however, it may be essential to take account of exactly the distinction drawn here between deterministic and free will viewpoints. In espousing free will, white Americans deny the reality of the problems faced by black Americans and thus place the whole burden of black disadvantage on blacks themselves.
