Eugenics Essay

931 Words2 Pages

Since the conception of eugenics, scientist and scholars looked for many ways to improve or wipe out human characteristics that prevent the progression of evolution in the human race. Originally, eugenics was the study of improving the human race by exterminating people who don’t fit the stereotypical white purity ideology. Its this kind of ideology that influenced Nazi Germany to carry on their heinous atrocities known as the holocaust. Some of the ideas behind eugenics also influenced legislation, which created segregation laws, marriage restrictions and forced sterilization here in the United States before World War II. Scientist saw eugenics as a solution to alleviate many underlying social problems in society like alcoholism, crime and poverty. This idea first came about in California, in the early 1900s, which was leading the American eugenics movement at the time. Behind this movement where some of the nations most respected scientist with prestigious academic back rounds (such as Stanford and Harvard) and race scientist who adapted race theories with invalid data to push their racist eugenic agenda. If it weren’t for rich upcoming entrepreneurs at the time, there would be no funding for the research behind eugenics. Rich corporations like the Carnegie Institution, Rockefeller Foundation and the Harriman railroad fortune all helped finance the research on eugenics. Each of these rich contributors took part in engaging the eugenic movement in many ways. For example, the Carnegie institution set up a laboratory in Long Island, New York that stored millions of index cards with information of Americans, so researchers can start to plot the separations of families and people as a whole. They also manipulated legislature and soci...

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...ed in America. Methods used in America like segregation, sterilization and incarceration could not compare to Gas chambers, firing squads and the use of concentration camps in Nazi Germany. After WWII, many test and experiments from scientist studying eugenics, scientist started slowly realizing that their eugenic conclusions are invalid. Not only did science prove that theories of eugenics where false but, changes in the conscience of society and politics changed. After the abuses in failed experimentation during ww2 scientist and others started to question the theory of eugenics after results proved that most social problems aren’t heredetiarty but are influenced by the enviorment around us. As soon as scientist begin to question the theories and abandon them everyone else followed and the study of eugenics are now considered as inhumane and abuse human rights.

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