05.18.04
Human genetic diversity: Lewontin’s fallacy
Human genetic diversity:
Lewontin’s fallacy
A.W.F. Edwards
Summary
In popular articles that play down the genetical differences
among human populations, it is often stated that
about 85% of the total genetical variation is due to
individual differences within populations and only 15%
to differences between populations or ethnic groups. It
has therefore been proposed that the division of Homo
sapiens into these groups is not justified by the genetic
data. This conclusion, due to R.C. Lewontin in 1972, is
unwarranted because the argument ignores the fact
that most of the information that distinguishes populations
is hidden in the correlation structure of the data
and not simply in the variation of the individual factors.
The underlying logic, which was discussed in the early
years of the last century, is here discussed using a simple
genetical example. BioEssays 25:798–801, 2003.
2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.