Eugenics- Loved for its Scientific Contributions or Economic Benefits? Eugenics refers to the science of regulated breeding to increase the occurrence of favorable traits, decrease that in undesired ones and overall, improve a species. During the years 1890- 1930- known as the progressive era, the science sparked a movement of groups in Britain and the US who supported this controlled reproduction to achieve an improved human race in their society. During this time it was highly supported as it was believed to be a method to eliminate the increasing criminals, poor and incapable workers in society. The progressive era was a time of strong desires for reform to rid of industrial and social problems in society. The sudden influx of scientific …show more content…
During the Progressive Era, eugenics was first perceived as a possible method to eradicate unfavored races and nationalist from American society. The eugenic movement soon became concerned with the creation of minimum wages since it could “[rid] the labor force of the ‘unemployable” and that “the most ruinous to the community is to allow them to unrestrainedly compete as wage earners.” (Leonard 213). The science grew rapidly as it “ it appealed to an extraordinary range of political ideologies, not just progressives” (Leonard 216). Eugenics also pushed for child labor bans “because the unfit poor would be unable to put their children to work and thus would have fewer children, a eugenic goal” (Leonard …show more content…
He appeals to the popular concept of a “self-made man” by showing statistics as to how middle-class working men can become rich through eugenics. He proposed that eugenics would “reduce all to a perfect equality of economic condition”and “all classes would probably contribute equally” (Hamilton 298). Thus supporting the claim that the economic motivations of the time exceeded the scientific. In Back to the Future: Eugenics—A Bibliographic Essay, Cullen begins by teaches the background of eugenics as it grew from “Better Baby Contests and Fetter Family competitions at state fairs” (Cullen 165). From there eugenics emerged into society as a science and rapidly gained support from active progressives. In addition to expounding the economics of eugenics, Cullen includes its political and ideological connections. In his conclusion he says,“the eugenics movement is explained more by economic, political, and ideological motivations than by objective scientific inquiry” (Cullen 174). With this, Cullen argues that while economic motivations existed, they may not have been as prevalent as ideological or political- in addition to economic. Contrary, to the other sources, an advertisement released by “The Health Doctor”, titled “The finest thing in the world a happy healthy family” encourages eugenics through
The eugenics movement started in the early 1900s and was adopted by doctors and the general public during the 1920s. The movement aimed to create a better society through the monitoring of genetic traits through selective heredity. Over time, eugenics took on two different views. Supporters of positive eugenics believed in promoting childbearing by a class who was “genetically superior.” On the contrary, proponents of negative eugenics tried to monitor society’s flaws through the sterilization of the “inferior.”
The American Eugenics Movement was led by Charles Davenport and was a social agenda to breed out undesirable traits with an aim of racial purification. Eugenics was a used to breed out the worst and weakest to improve the genetic composition of the human race, and advocated for selective breeding to achieve this. The science of eugenics rested on simple mendelian genetics, which was a mistake because they were assuming complex behaviors could be reduced to simple mendelian genes. After Nazi Germany adopted the ideas behind the American eugenics movement to promote the Aryan race, the eugenics movement was completely discredited.
Galton, David J., and Clare J. Galton. "Francis Galton: And Eugenics Today." Journal of Medical Ethics, 24.2 (1998): 99-101. JSTOR. Web. 8 Mar. 2010.
To choose for their children, the world’s wealthy class will soon have options such as tall, pretty, athletic, intelligent, blue eyes, and blonde hair. Occasionally referred to as similar to “the eugenics of Hitler’s Third Reich” (“Designer Babies” n.p.), the new genetics technology is causing differences in people’s opinions, despite altering DNA before implantation is “just around the corner.” (Thadani n.p.). A recent advance in genetically altering embryos coined “designer babies” produces controversy about the morality of this process.
The practice of eugenics was instituted in the late nineteenth century. Its objective was to apply the rearing practices and procedures utilized as a part of plants and creatures to human procreation. Francis Galton expressed in his Essays in Eugenics that he wished to impact "the useful classes" in the public arena to put a greater amount of their DNA in the gene pool. The objective was to gather records of families who were effective by virtue of having three or more grown-up male kids who had better positions than their associates. His perspective on eugenics can best be expressed by the accompanying section:
Eugenics was a proposed way to improve the human species by encouraging or permitting reproduction of people with desirable genetic characteristics. Higham says, "The dazzling development of modern genetics around 1900 revealed principles of heredity that seemed entirely independent of environmental influences." (Doc 4) In Grant's "Passing of the Great Race", he claims bad gene mixture based upon differences in skin, eye color, and lack of working abilities.
The eugenics movement was a period of time when it was believe that the genes of your father and mother gave rise to any and all traits, whether it be physical, mental, emotional, behavioral, and moral. Essentially, eugenics established that all of a persons appearance, skill, and potential was rooted in your genes.
The modern day eugenics movement all started with Francis Galton who, in 1869, proposed that procreation between the upper class men and the wealthy women could lead to a superior race. This led to the American Eugenics Society being founded in 1926, a society that wanted restricted access for immigrants of inferior genetic makeup into America as well as the right to sterilize the insane, retarded and epileptic within the country. This was with a view of furthering humanity and improving the gene pool by preventing the poorly endowed (genetically speaking) from continuing their blight on the world.
Rifkin, Jeremy. "The Ultimate Therapy: Commercial Eugenics on the Eve of the Biotech Century." Writing and Reading Across the Curriculum. 7th ed. Ed.
As medical science has advanced at an increasingly rapid rate over the last two centuries, the morality of new practices and when to utilize them has often come into question. With their past pursuits of cutting-edge treatments, many doctors and professionals have disregarded the humanistic health care ideals set forth in the Hippocratic Oath, which famously requires all future doctors to swear to “never do harm.” In late 19th century Britain, this pursuit led to the formation of the eugenics movement, which applied Charles Darwin’s natural selection theory of evolution, also known as the “survival of the fittest”, to humans. Supporters of the movement firmly believed that the quality of the human population could be physically enhanced through measures such as sterilization and genetic screening. In the United States, eugenics played a major role in the Progressive Movement as many saw it as a potential response to increasing overpopulation, which was seen as one of the main causes of societal ills such as poverty and disease. After World War I had ended in 1918, support for the eugenics movement began to gather momentum in Europe, especially in Germany, where the war and subsequent reparation payments had taken a serious toll. There, the ideologies of eugenics met the pressing economic and population growth concerns of a reeling German society. In his 1925 autobiography, Mein Kampf, a then-little known political prisoner named Adolf Hitler wrote: "The demand that defective people be prevented from propagating equally defective offspring is a demand of clearest reason and, if systematically executed, represents the mos...
The idea of eugenics was first introduced by Sir Francis Galton, who believed that the breeding of two wealthy and successful members of society would produce a child superior to that of two members of the lower class. This assumption was based on the idea that genes for success or particular excellence were present in our DNA, which is passed from parent to child. Despite the blatant lack of research, two men, Georges Vacher de Lapouge and Jon Alfred Mjoen, played to the white supremacists’ desires and claimed that white genes were inherently superior to other races, and with this base formed the first eugenics society. The American Eugenics Movement attempted to unethically obliterate the rising tide of lower classes by immorally mandating organized sterilization and race based experimentation.
The concept of eugenics was not initially intended to prevent overcrowding, however, it would later be used as a form of population control. Eugenics is the idea of improving society by breeding fitter people. Francis Galton was the first person to originate this term and was a major proponent of the concept during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The practice of eugenics was originally performed through the use of selective breeding. Eugenics was a progressive idea, driven by social perceptions. In fact, "many of its most strident advocates were socialist, who saw eugenics as enlightened state planning of reproduction."2 Fearing the degradation of society, the elite desired to prevent further social decay of the world by eliminating individuals who were considered unfit physically, mentally, or socially.
The term eugenics was coined in the late 19th century. Its goal was to apply the breeding practices and techniques used in plants and animals to human reproduction. Francis Galton stated in his Essays in Eugenics that he wished to influence "the useful classes" in society to put more of their DNA in the gene pool. The goal was to collect records of families who were successful by virtue of having three or more adult male children who have gain superior positions to their peers. His view on eugenics can best be summarized by the following passage:
“It 's not easy as “I want to buy and egg,” states, the director of the Donor Egg Bank, Brigid Dowd. “Not everyone realizes what 's involved, and then when they hear the cost, many just pass out.” (CGS: Designing the $100,000 Baby,” par. 13) It is a fact that having certain traits are valuable, so this shows that the mere modification used on the designer baby, the more the cost. “If you are too rigid or become too obsessed with finding the perfect image you have in mind, the choice can become more difficult,” says Dowd. (“CGS: Designing the $100,000 Baby,”par. 16) The practice of human genetic modification will not be fair because only the wealthy will have enough money to spend on designing a baby. Therefore, the wealthy will have much more advantages such as longer, healthier, and successful lives. If only people of high class are able to afford designer babies, it will cause an even greater inequality between the rich and the poor (“The Ethics of Designer Babies”). It will also create a society based on “Social Darwinism”- The survival of the fittest. If creating designer babies will cause more inequalities and Social Darwinism, why should we allow this practice? (“The ethics of Designer Babies”)
When created in 1923, the American Eugenics Society exemplified an air of reform with a seemingly positive purpose, however this cannot be further from the truth. In reality, the society polluted the air with myths of weeding out imperfections with the Galtonian ideal, the breeding of the fittest (Carison). The founder of the society, Charles Davensport , preached that those who are imperfect should be eliminated(Marks). From the school desk to the pulpit, the fallacies of the eugenics movement were forced into society. Preachers often encouraged the best to marry the best while biology professors would encourage DNA testing to find out ones fate (Selden). A...