Why was the work of Dr. Rushton deemed racist by some? Are there arguments against this position?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Dr. Ruston claimed that r/K selection principles can be applied to humans—more precisely, to human races. These principles link the reproductive style to physical, familial, and cognitive differences. According to him, Africans employ r strategy, characterized by earlier physical maturity, larger number of offspring, and less parental care. Moreover, they have smaller brains and lower IQs. On the other hand, eastern Asians employ K strategy; they have fewer children, more parental care is present, and they have higher IQs and larger brains. According to Dr. Rushton’s research, Caucasians fall in between
eastern Asians and Africans. Dr. Rushton’s work caused great controversy, as many researchers rejected his findings, along with stating that race is nothing more than a socioeconomic construct. Moreover, his work was deemed racist, as he basically stated that there are evolved differences between races, and some races have traits that are highly valued, such as higher IQ. However, rejecting objectively collected data solely because they are in contradiction with the standards and norms of a society is not justified
from a scientific point of view. In addition, while the K strategy is favored by society, from an evolutionary perspective, none of these two strategies is considered moral or immoral, good or bad, or superior; they can only be more or less successful in certain environments.