Charles Murray
Charles Murray holds the F. A. Hayek Chair Emeritus in Cultural Studies at the American Enterprise Institute.
Dr. Murray first came to national attention with the publication of “Losing Ground: American Social Policy, 1950–1980” (Basic Books, 1984), which has been credited as the intellectual foundation for the Welfare Reform Act of 1996. In 1994, “The Bell Curve” (Free Press), ...
Charles's episode appearances
Episode 140: Talking with Charles Murray
Identity politics, and charges of systematic racism and white privilege, pose an existential threat to the American experiment and risk tearing our country apart. In this episode, I talk with Charles Murray – one of America’s greatest social scientists – who has now weighed in on this crisis with his latest book: “Facing Reality: Two Truths About Race in America” In it he argues that we must confront genuine race differences while at the same time defending our nation’s historic commitment to a melting pot and the goal of colorblindness. What good can come of bringing such uncomfortable realities into the open? Here Charles explains: “Ignoring them is destroying America’s most precious ideal, once known as the American creed: People are to be judged on an equal basis as individuals, not by national origin, social class, race, or religion. The ideology behind the charges of systemic racism repudiates this ideal, demanding instead that the power of the state must be used to favor some groups of people over others to advance social justice.” This is a challenging conversation about a […]
about Charles
Charles Murray holds the F. A. Hayek Chair Emeritus in Cultural Studies at the American Enterprise Institute.
Dr. Murray first came to national attention with the publication of “Losing Ground: American Social Policy, 1950–1980” (Basic Books, 1984), which has been credited as the intellectual foundation for the Welfare Reform Act of 1996. In 1994, “The Bell Curve” (Free Press), a New York Times bestseller he coauthored with the late Richard J. Herrnstein, sparked heated controversy for its analysis of the role of IQ in shaping America’s class structure. In 2012, in another the New York Times bestseller, “Coming Apart: The State of White America, 1960–2010” (Crown Forum), Dr. Murray described the nature and causes of the cultural polarization that, by 2016, would shape national politics. In his latest book, “Human Diversity: The Biology of Gender, Race, and Class” (Twelve Books, January 2020), he describes recent developments in genetics and neuroscience that are transforming the social sciences.
His other books include “By the People: Rebuilding Liberty Without Permission” (Crown Forum, 2015); “Human Accomplishment” (HarperCollins, 2003); “What It Means to Be a Libertarian” (Broadway Books, 1997); and “In Pursuit: Of Happiness and Good Government” (Simon & Schuster, 1988).
Dr. Murray, who was born and raised in Newton, Iowa, has a PhD in political science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a BA in history from Harvard University.