Heredity is usually defined as the genetic transmission of characteristics from parent to offspri... more Heredity is usually defined as the genetic transmission of characteristics from parent to offspring. This, however, is an oversimplification. The child does not inherit characteristics or traits from its parents. Children do not inherit musical ability, criminal tendencies, or IQ. Neither do they inherit physical characteristics such as skin or hair color. The child inherits one set of allele's from each parent. Together they form the child's genotype. The child also inherits mitochondria which are outside the nucleus of the cell. Genes code for the production of proteins which in turn interact with the environment to produce a phenotype. What we refer to as traits or characteristics are the phenotypes. The human being in all his or her complexity is the result of this interaction of a unique genotype with a unique environment. The modern study of heredity began with the rediscovery in 1900 of the work of Gregor Mendel (1822-1884) by Hugo De Vries, Karl Correns, and Erich ...
This book is part of the "Science and Society" series, edited by Mark A. Largent. While history o... more This book is part of the "Science and Society" series, edited by Mark A. Largent. While history of science as a field has flourished, Largent points out that "historians of science have not been particularly successful in getting their work… into history textbooks." His point is well taken. As one who has taught both the history of science and U.S. history survey courses for over two decades, it still amazes me how poorly topics such as eugenics and the relationship between science, race and racism are dealt with. Thus, the series was conceived as a way to make the work of historians of science more adaptable to classroom use, as an aid to professors and to textbook authors.
A new wave of racism has emerged in academic circles. It is being legitimized by an alarming chan... more A new wave of racism has emerged in academic circles. It is being legitimized by an alarming change in American politics. In the past few years, particularly since the rise of the New Right and the election of Ronald Reagan, we have witnessed the growth of a kind of authoritarianism which has hitherto been confined to the fringes of American politics. The philosophy of the John Birch Society, once considered outside the mainstream of American politics, is now the ruling ideology of the Reagan administration.
A new wave of racism has emerged in academic circles. It is being legitimized by an alarming chan... more A new wave of racism has emerged in academic circles. It is being legitimized by an alarming change in American politics. In the past few years, particularly since the rise of the New Right and the election of Ronald Reagan, we have witnessed the growth of a kind of authoritarianism which has hitherto been confined to the fringes of American politics. The philosophy of the John Birch Society, once considered outside the mainstream of American politics, is now the ruling ideology of the Reagan administration.
A significant confusion has arisen out of the mass of work done on the history of eugenics in the... more A significant confusion has arisen out of the mass of work done on the history of eugenics in the last two decades. Early scholars of the subject treated eugenics as a marginalized or obsolete movement of the radical right. Subsequent research has shown that eugenic ideas were adopted in diverse national settings by very different groups, including--among others--liberals, communists and Catholics, as well as radical rightists. This complexity is sometimes taken to mean that eugenic has no special ideological associations, that it is historically and potentially a beast of a thousand heads. It is not. Although people of varied ideological commitments have been attracted to eugenics, ideologues of the radical right, and above all interwar fascists, have been uniquely and centrally involved in its development. Fascism and the radical right are also complex entities, but for all the heterogeneity of both eugenics and fascism, the special historical relationship between the two cannot be ignored. This relationship is exemplified in the work of the influential psychologist, Raymond B. Cattell. Cattell was an early supporter of German national socialism and his work should be understood in the context of interwar fascism. The new religious movement that he founded, 'Beyondism', is a neo-fascist contrivance. Cattell now promulgates ideas that he formulated within a demimonde of radical eugenists and neo-fascists that includes such as associates as Revilo Oliver, Roger Pearson, Wilmot Robertson and Robert K. Graham. These ideas and Cattell's role in the history of eugenics deserve deeper analysis than they have hitherto received. Far from being of merely antiquarian interest, his work currently encourages the propagation of radical eugenist ideology. It is unconscionable for scholars to permit these ideas to go unchallenged, and indeed honored and emulated by a new generation of ideologues and academicians whose work helps to dignify the most destructive political ideas of the twentieth century.
A revisionist examination of the "new eugenics," which had been described by hi... more A revisionist examination of the "new eugenics," which had been described by historians as more scientific and liberal. This paper examines the efforts of Pioneer Fund scholars to re-assert the claim that there are racial differences in intelligence and that there was a dysgenic trend which needed to countered with social policies that included sterilization of the unfit.
This book is the first comprehensive analysis of eugenics in North America focused on the second ... more This book is the first comprehensive analysis of eugenics in North America focused on the second half of the twentieth century. Based on new research, Randall Hansen and Desmond King show why eugenic sterilization policies persisted after the 1940s in the United States and Canada. Through extensive archival research, King and Hansen show how both superintendents at homes for the "feebleminded" and prosterilization advocates repositioned themselves after 1945 to avoid the taint of Nazi eugenics. Drawing on interviews with victims of sterilization and primary documents, this book traces the post-1940s development of eugenic policy and shows that both eugenic arguments and committed eugenicists informed population, welfare, and birth control policy in postwar America. In providing revisionist histories of the choice movement, the anti-population growth movement, and the Great Society programs, this book contributes to public policy and political and intellectual history.
Heredity is usually defined as the genetic transmission of characteristics from parent to offspri... more Heredity is usually defined as the genetic transmission of characteristics from parent to offspring. This, however, is an oversimplification. The child does not inherit characteristics or traits from its parents. Children do not inherit musical ability, criminal tendencies, or IQ. Neither do they inherit physical characteristics such as skin or hair color. The child inherits one set of allele's from each parent. Together they form the child's genotype. The child also inherits mitochondria which are outside the nucleus of the cell. Genes code for the production of proteins which in turn interact with the environment to produce a phenotype. What we refer to as traits or characteristics are the phenotypes. The human being in all his or her complexity is the result of this interaction of a unique genotype with a unique environment. The modern study of heredity began with the rediscovery in 1900 of the work of Gregor Mendel (1822-1884) by Hugo De Vries, Karl Correns, and Erich ...
This book is part of the "Science and Society" series, edited by Mark A. Largent. While history o... more This book is part of the "Science and Society" series, edited by Mark A. Largent. While history of science as a field has flourished, Largent points out that "historians of science have not been particularly successful in getting their work… into history textbooks." His point is well taken. As one who has taught both the history of science and U.S. history survey courses for over two decades, it still amazes me how poorly topics such as eugenics and the relationship between science, race and racism are dealt with. Thus, the series was conceived as a way to make the work of historians of science more adaptable to classroom use, as an aid to professors and to textbook authors.
A new wave of racism has emerged in academic circles. It is being legitimized by an alarming chan... more A new wave of racism has emerged in academic circles. It is being legitimized by an alarming change in American politics. In the past few years, particularly since the rise of the New Right and the election of Ronald Reagan, we have witnessed the growth of a kind of authoritarianism which has hitherto been confined to the fringes of American politics. The philosophy of the John Birch Society, once considered outside the mainstream of American politics, is now the ruling ideology of the Reagan administration.
A new wave of racism has emerged in academic circles. It is being legitimized by an alarming chan... more A new wave of racism has emerged in academic circles. It is being legitimized by an alarming change in American politics. In the past few years, particularly since the rise of the New Right and the election of Ronald Reagan, we have witnessed the growth of a kind of authoritarianism which has hitherto been confined to the fringes of American politics. The philosophy of the John Birch Society, once considered outside the mainstream of American politics, is now the ruling ideology of the Reagan administration.
A significant confusion has arisen out of the mass of work done on the history of eugenics in the... more A significant confusion has arisen out of the mass of work done on the history of eugenics in the last two decades. Early scholars of the subject treated eugenics as a marginalized or obsolete movement of the radical right. Subsequent research has shown that eugenic ideas were adopted in diverse national settings by very different groups, including--among others--liberals, communists and Catholics, as well as radical rightists. This complexity is sometimes taken to mean that eugenic has no special ideological associations, that it is historically and potentially a beast of a thousand heads. It is not. Although people of varied ideological commitments have been attracted to eugenics, ideologues of the radical right, and above all interwar fascists, have been uniquely and centrally involved in its development. Fascism and the radical right are also complex entities, but for all the heterogeneity of both eugenics and fascism, the special historical relationship between the two cannot be ignored. This relationship is exemplified in the work of the influential psychologist, Raymond B. Cattell. Cattell was an early supporter of German national socialism and his work should be understood in the context of interwar fascism. The new religious movement that he founded, 'Beyondism', is a neo-fascist contrivance. Cattell now promulgates ideas that he formulated within a demimonde of radical eugenists and neo-fascists that includes such as associates as Revilo Oliver, Roger Pearson, Wilmot Robertson and Robert K. Graham. These ideas and Cattell's role in the history of eugenics deserve deeper analysis than they have hitherto received. Far from being of merely antiquarian interest, his work currently encourages the propagation of radical eugenist ideology. It is unconscionable for scholars to permit these ideas to go unchallenged, and indeed honored and emulated by a new generation of ideologues and academicians whose work helps to dignify the most destructive political ideas of the twentieth century.
A revisionist examination of the "new eugenics," which had been described by hi... more A revisionist examination of the "new eugenics," which had been described by historians as more scientific and liberal. This paper examines the efforts of Pioneer Fund scholars to re-assert the claim that there are racial differences in intelligence and that there was a dysgenic trend which needed to countered with social policies that included sterilization of the unfit.
This book is the first comprehensive analysis of eugenics in North America focused on the second ... more This book is the first comprehensive analysis of eugenics in North America focused on the second half of the twentieth century. Based on new research, Randall Hansen and Desmond King show why eugenic sterilization policies persisted after the 1940s in the United States and Canada. Through extensive archival research, King and Hansen show how both superintendents at homes for the "feebleminded" and prosterilization advocates repositioned themselves after 1945 to avoid the taint of Nazi eugenics. Drawing on interviews with victims of sterilization and primary documents, this book traces the post-1940s development of eugenic policy and shows that both eugenic arguments and committed eugenicists informed population, welfare, and birth control policy in postwar America. In providing revisionist histories of the choice movement, the anti-population growth movement, and the Great Society programs, this book contributes to public policy and political and intellectual history.
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