The R-K Theory

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What comes to your mind when you read or hear “r-K Theory”….are you as puzzled as I was when I first read it? The article assigned, Cross-National Variation in Violent Crime Rates: Race, r-K Theory, and Income, clarified my confused thoughts about the theory overall. A proposal was presented by J.P. Rushton that demographic, environmental, and population variables correlate to racial differences. According to the article, the r-K theory defines a genetically correlated cluster of characteristics, “that evolved together to meet the trails of life: survival, growth, and reproduction” (Rushton & Whitney, 2002, pg. 502). The purpose of this paper is to define what r-K theory is and how it is a significant attribute to the high rates of arrest and …show more content…
The article states that the discrimination model and distributional model explains why there is a racial difference in the average rate of crime and other socially valued outcomes (2002, pg. 504). The discrimination model emphases that institutional and social practices discriminate individuals or groups that are different from their own. The r-K theory explains that individuals that are described to be the “r”, had zero positive influence as a child and those tend to be the ones who are discriminated against because of the high rates of arrest and incarceration due to low investment in parenting or guidance and low …show more content…
Negroids are prime examples of the “r” and mongoloids are individuals that have the “K” characteristics. According to the article, caucasiods are in the middle of them both but lean towards mongoloids rather than negroids (2002, pg. 502). The results show that the distributional model is why the races differ the rate of crime and other socially valued outcomes over the discrimination model. However, I propose that racial difference are not 100% based off of genetics but based on the culture, genes, and interactions of the individuals. Characteristics would involve higher intelligence and common sense and culture factors indicate their values and socialization

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