Although society has grown to accept individuals with mental disabilities it wasn’t always so. This paper will speak about significant contributions and theories of psychologists and the development of selective breeding. In the 19th century, a social movement claiming to improve the genetic qualities of human populations was developed. The process of improving the human race through the production of superior offspring was known as Eugenics (Boring, 2010). The idea that created eugenics started with scientific attempts to create genetically perfect plants. This then converted into laws that prohibited the marriage and mating of individuals of different social statuses (Black, 2003). One of the most productive scholars in the history of
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Lastly, Francis Galton wanted state organizations to take action against “feeble-minded, habitual criminals and the insane” whom he wanted to be isolated and constrained from having children (Galton and Galton, 1989). An official order was issued requiring all physicians, nurses and midwives to report newborn infants and children under the age of three who showed signs of severe mental or physical disability. By the year 1931, sterilization laws were passed in 27 states in the United States. Those who were classified as insane or feeble-minded were supposed to be sterilized (Galton & Galton, 1998). Before Adolf Hitler came to power, German societies had added eugenics to their systems in 1931. Though Hitler did not justify his social rules on eugenics, German biologists and anthropologists raise eugenic principles to validate the Nazi social policies. By 1935, on the base of eugenic principles, 9,931 people were sterilized in California (Galton &Galton, …show more content…
First, the social movement strived for “better people” rather than “made people better.” In all reality eugenics actually makes no human better. No diseases were cured and no individual’s intelligence was raised (Wikler, 1999). Instead, the movement had the world populated by beings that have these advantages from their beginnings. Eugenics favored healthy people over the unhealthy and clever people over the unwise. There was no desire for fellow individuals but rather a preference for the type of fellow humans we require (Wikler, 1999). Today, parents who seek the “perfect child” are engaging in eugenics. Nowadays a eugenic standard might request for potential parents to screen pregnancies so that the children they bring to the world have the greatest achievable genetic benefits (Wikler, 1999). This sends a message that is biased to people with disabilities and the subject is morally crucial. Moral independence is inquired whether eugenics can be done fairly and justly (Wikler,
Lastly, Francis Galton wanted state organizations to take action against “feeble-minded, habitual criminals and the insane” whom he wanted to be isolated and constrained from having children (Galton and Galton, 1989). An official order was issued requiring all physicians, nurses and midwives to report newborn infants and children under the age of three who showed signs of severe mental or physical disability. By the year 1931, sterilization laws were passed in 27 states in the United States. Those who were classified as insane or feeble-minded were supposed to be sterilized (Galton & Galton, 1998). Before Adolf Hitler came to power, German societies had added eugenics to their systems in 1931. Though Hitler did not justify his social rules on eugenics, German biologists and anthropologists raise eugenic principles to validate the Nazi social policies. By 1935, on the base of eugenic principles, 9,931 people were sterilized in California (Galton &Galton, …show more content…
First, the social movement strived for “better people” rather than “made people better.” In all reality eugenics actually makes no human better. No diseases were cured and no individual’s intelligence was raised (Wikler, 1999). Instead, the movement had the world populated by beings that have these advantages from their beginnings. Eugenics favored healthy people over the unhealthy and clever people over the unwise. There was no desire for fellow individuals but rather a preference for the type of fellow humans we require (Wikler, 1999). Today, parents who seek the “perfect child” are engaging in eugenics. Nowadays a eugenic standard might request for potential parents to screen pregnancies so that the children they bring to the world have the greatest achievable genetic benefits (Wikler, 1999). This sends a message that is biased to people with disabilities and the subject is morally crucial. Moral independence is inquired whether eugenics can be done fairly and justly (Wikler,