ABSTRACT
The conceptualization of human intelligence as a product of sociocultural as well as psychobiological forces is well established. It is known that mental development occurs within socially structured environments; that these environments vary systematically in complex societies; that such variability is associated with variation in the levels and (arguably) types of intelligence produced. As Berger (1978:31-2) suggests, what is known as "intelligence" in the modem world is a "manifestation of a collective configuration of consciousness." As such, it coexists with other formations in the history of modem mentalités, an element of collective consciousness anchored in the structures of a given time and place.
