Kathryn Paige Harden

The Genetic Lottery argues that genome-wide studies do show real genetic contributions to outcomes like years of schooling, and that people on the political left should engage with the finding rather than leave it to their opponents, because egalitarian policy built on a false premise will fail. Harden is a behaviour geneticist in Texas. The attacks came from both sides: geneticists arguing the effects are small and confounded by population structure, and social scientists arguing the book will be used by precisely the people it claims to answer. She has replied to both in print at length. Few books in that field have been argued over this hard.