Abstract

Too often, sociologists ignore non-social factors in their research, or transform them into social factors - as illustrated by Sarti treating height as a proxy for social class. He himself shows that genetic factors are of increasing importance in affluent societies. Further, height, intelligence, beauty and even educational attainment are a combination of inherited genetic factors and social contextual factors. Yet sociologists cast intelligence, beauty, height and weight into black holes - making them invisible for social research and routinely ignore their role as determinants of success in adult life. New research shows that intelligence, physical attractiveness and personality factors such as self-confidence are more important than educational qualifications for predicting adult incomes.