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EUGENICS.
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History, philosophy convictions, racism, political issues.... More...
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Paper Abstract:
History, philosophy convictions, racism, political issues.
Paper Introduction:
Eugenics is historically an outgrowth of the study of human heredity, aimed at “improving” the genetic quality of the human stock. It is both ancient and widespread; very few societies have remained untouched by its ideas. While the idea of improving humanity is on some level appealing and even appropriate – of we did not think that humans could be improved, we should foreswear the idea of the importance of education, after all – the concept has become inextricably bound up with some of the most virulent forms of racism, for those who have sought to “improve” the human race have done so by seeking to eliminate those that they considered to be inferior from the gene pool right way, without waiting for the slow effects of evolutionary selection (Weiss, 1987, p. 21).
The most dramatic example of eugenics is the attempt in Nazi Germa
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(2 ). But the United States, alongwith every European nation, has also at some time in the past century triedits hand at eugenics. Washington DC: Gallaudet University. (1996) The hour of eugenics: Race, gender and nation inLatin America. 37). Inthe U.S. It is hard to imagine an historicalmoment when the concept of eugenics is entirely absent, because there willalways be groups of people who consider other individuals or groups to beso much less important and desirable than themselves that the only properway to treat them is to remove them from the genetic pool. 212). He devotedspecial attention to fingerprints and devised a method of identification byfingerprinting. 111). Thekey triumph of the U.S. Dubow, S. and Friedlander, H. From the outset the movement was closely associated with a sense ofwhite Anglo-Saxon superiority. A brief look at the history of eugenics is useful to understand how itcame to hold such a large philosophical and political role in the 2 thcentury in both Europe and America. The horrors perpetuated inthe name of eugenics around the world during World War II - from German toJapanese about racial purity to the realization that the native peoples ofthe New World had been nearly exterminated - began to turn public opinion(Stepan, 1996, p. Eugenics is historically an outgrowth of the study of human heredity,aimed at "improving" the genetic quality of the human stock. 123). 39) Galton became interested in heredity and themeasurement of humans and collected statistics on height, dimensions,strength, and other characteristics of large numbers of people. (1999). Parks, D.B. New York: ColumbiaUniversity. Laws were alsopassed restricting marriages between members of various racial groups. Controlling human heredity: 1865 to the present.New York: Humanity Books. Manchester: Manchester University. The most dramatic example of eugenics is the attempt in Nazi Germanyto wipe out not only Jews but also other groups of people considered to beinferior, including the physically and mentally handicapped, Gypsies andSlavs (Biesold and Friedlander, 1999, p. 21). The favorite catchwords ofsocial Darwinism - "struggle for existence" and "survival of the fittest" -when applied to humans in society, suggested that the rich were betterendowed than the poor and hence more successful in life. Inheriting shame: The story of eugenics and racismin American. 21). Bodies in glass: Genetics, eugenics, embryoethics. Weiss, S.F. Much of thethinking of American eugenicists was taken directly from Galton's writings(Selden, 1999, p. eugenics movement came in 1924, when a coalition ofeugenicists and some big-business interests pushed through the Johnson Act,severely limiting immigration into the U.S. Their rhetoric was barely distinguishable from that heard atthe end of the 2 th century in South Africa (Dubow, 1995, p. In 19 , with the birth of modern genetics, the undercurrents ofinterest in "improving" the human race were transformed into aninstitutionalized movement, now known as the eugenics movement.Historically, the movement had two general aspects: positive eugenics,concentrating on the means to increase the breeding potential of especially"fit" individuals, and negative eugenics, emphasizing the restriction onbreeding for particularly "unfit" types. Buchanan, A. (1999). He also, like Galton, sought to apply these ideas to theimprovement of the human race through eugenics. 118). Based on an analysis of patterns of human inheritance, Davenportargued that not only physical characteristics but also behavioralcharacteristics, such as an inclination to be dishonest or poor, were theproducts of heredity. Scientific racism in modern South Africa. from eastern European andMediterranean countries. Berkeley:University of California. Broberg, G. By 1925 eugenicists were beginning to be severely criticized for whatwas seen as their overt racial bias, their subjectivity and bias in the useof evidence, and their lack of scientific rigor. etal. Many organizations devoted toeugenic purposes arose around the world, but the movement was especiallystrong in England, the United States, and Germany between 191 and 194 (Selden, 1999, p. It is only when the time-span forimprovement of the human species is artificially shrunken and one group ofhumans decides that it can command the direction of the future of thespecies that eugenics becomes a dirty word (Buchanan etal, 2 , p. (1995). References Biesold, H. Race hygiene and national efficiency. The continual andnatural sorting out of "better" and "worse" elements would therefore leadto continued improvement of the species (Broberg, 1996, p. It is bothancient and widespread; very few societies have remained untouched by itsideas. East Lansing:Michigan State. Steinberg, D.L. 81), and gradually the political discourse of eugenicswas driven underground, where it remains suppressed, although calls for themass sterilization of the handicapped and of black mothers on welfare stillappear with great regularity on talk radio. 38). the dean of the eugenics movement was Charles B.Davenport, who was primarily responsible for organizing the Eugenics RecordOffice in Cold Spring Harbor, New York. Davenport, who died in 1944, was azoologist by training and (like Galton) an important figure in establishingstatistical methods in biology and in applying such methods to the problemsof heredity. (1998). Ithaca: Cornell. (1997). Cambridge:Cambridge University. New York: Teachers College. Although the idea of eugenics iscontained in Plato's Republic, the modern concept became prominent duringthe second half of the 19th century (Steinberg, 1997, p. The eugenics movement was by no means a purely academic exercise. Perhaps best known as examples of eugenicallyoriented social policy in the United States have been the Tuskeegeeexperiment in which black men were considered to be dispensable and so wereintentionally infected with syphilis, which could then be spread to otherdisposable black people and the sterilization of poor black and handicappedwomen (Parks, 1995, p. He also demonstrated fundamental techniques in statisticalmeasurement, notably in the calculation of the correlation between pairs ofattributes. Cambridge: Cambridge University. Underlyingthis interest in eugenics were two widespread philosophical convictions: abelief in the perfectibility of the human species and a growing faith inscience as the most dependable and useful form of knowledge. (1987). Between 1911 and 193 , forexample, 24 states passed sterilization laws aimed at various social"misfits": the mentally retarded, criminals, and the insane. Imperfect conceptions. Modern eugenics has its roots in, but differs from, social Darwinism.The latter was characterized by its laissez-faire attitude, that is,allowing nature to take its course so that the worst elements of societywould eventually be eliminated. (1996) Eugenics and the welfare states. Like many eugenicists before World War II (1939-1945), he urged limitations on immigration into the United States ofpopulations he believed to be inferior; the prohibition of interracialmarriages; and careful consideration of who should be encouraged toreproduce and who should be discouraged, or prevented, from doing so(Dikotter, 1998, p. One 19th-century predecessor of 2 th-century eugenics was the group ofsociological theories known as social Darwinism. Few people object to the idea that overthe course of hundreds of thousands of years people may produce healthieroffspring through freely chosen mates. In the U.S. While some of this work was politically harmless and some of itbiologically important, his aim was to correlate certain physicalcharacteristics with undesirable mental ones, and this idea was taken upgladly by American nativists and those who might now be called White Powersupporters. Modern eugenics, on the other hand, isbased on the notion that careful planning through proper breeding is thekey to bettering society. Selden, S. 4). While the idea of improving humanity is on some level appealing andeven appropriate - of we did not think that humans could be improved, weshould foreswear the idea of the importance of education, after all - theconcept has become inextricably bound up with some of the most virulentforms of racism, for those who have sought to "improve" the human race havedone so by seeking to eliminate those that they considered to be inferiorfrom the gene pool right way, without waiting for the slow effects ofevolutionary selection (Weiss, 1987, p. Dikotter, F. Eugenicists claimed that these immigrants wereinferior to Anglo-Saxons and were "polluting" the "pure" Americanbloodstream (Selden, 1999, p. Sir Francis Galton (Charles Darwin'scousin), the founder of the English eugenics movement, for example, hadbeen drawn to the study of human heredity and eugenics by his curiosityabout what he called the hereditary "genius" in his own family. This jump in thinking is the root of all that isbad in modern eugenics movements. This paper examines some of the ways in whichideas about eugenics were popular in the United States in the 2 th century,and the ways in which these practices and beliefs have been suppressed -although not entirely eliminated. (1995). From chance to choice: Genetics andjustice. it exerted considerable influence on popular opinion and wasreflected in some state and federal legislation. Crying hands: Eugenics anddeaf people in Nazi Germany. 118). Stepan, N.L.
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