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Part of the book series: Evaluation in Education and Human Services Series ((EEHS,volume 28))

Abstract

There has been a longstanding, scientific interest in the comparison of people belonging to different cultural groups. In the course of the history of Western science, practitioners of different disciplines have been involved. During the Renaissance the equality of races was an issue for theologians. In 1550 a number of them convened at the court of Charles V in Spain to solve the question of how the American Indians could be colonized “in a Christian fashion.” According to the chronicles, the debate focused on the question of whether the Indians formed an inferior race in comparison with their Spanish colonizers. The issue was never settled, even though “some of the most learned and powerful men of the age” participated (Boorstin, 1985, p. 633). During the nineteenth century, racial differences had become the domain of social philosophers, who, in turn, “passed the buck” (the use of the expression in this context coming from Mann, 1940) to psychologists.

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Ronald K. Hambleton Jac N. Zaal

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van de Vijver, F.J.R., Poortinga, Y.H. (1991). Testing Across Cultures. In: Hambleton, R.K., Zaal, J.N. (eds) Advances in Educational and Psychological Testing: Theory and Applications. Evaluation in Education and Human Services Series, vol 28. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-2195-5_10

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-2195-5_10

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