Pro Eugenics Research Paper

Improved Essays
Society has been, and always will be determined to be greater and better than what it was in the past. Unfortunately with Eugenics, and its implementation, it sought to better society in a non-humanitarian way, to almost the points of de-humanizing the people who fell into a certain category. For the American Eugenics Society to clearly and outright state that “Some people are born to be a burden on the rest” is a very uneasy and not well thought out statement against people who are essentially different then the norm. Looking through this exhibit and seeing the time and energy that went into something so negative and demeaning, to the point where they had university courses offered at such intellectual universities (Harvard, Columbia, Cornell, and Brown,) where they should be focusing on factual information, backed up by science and the scientific method, but instead focused on ego boosting material.

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    The actual scientists who are making these scientific breakthroughs have biased opinions and thoughts that are bound to affect their work. Duster’s thesis states that there are not any announcements or publication on these breakthroughs occurring in eugenics to the public and society. All of these issues are happening very subtly. In the past, eugenics has creeped through the backdoor for the lower class. Tesh says, “because epidemics took a greater toll on the poor than the rich, the healthier rich could employ the supernatural theory as justification for berating the poor for sinful behavior…”…

    • 661 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Ross L. Jones’s article investigates a society that practiced eugenics during the last two centuries. Eugenics was a major school of thought based on science and accepted as true by upper-class people (165). Eugenics played an enormous role in Australian society by denouncing those who had “inferior genes”, which was approved by the medical community and the politicians of that era. The main motivator for eugenics was the educated class and politicians. Pro-eugenicists sought the “maximising of an individual’s potential” as long as the individual represented people they believed were like themselves and stripped those who were seen as “inferior” of their rights as human beings and citizens (166).…

    • 395 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Rather than outright recognizing that this movement did exist, even in such a prestigious institution as CSHL, the website is taking the stance that eugenics never happened, and completely ignoring the movement and research done even though the ERO’s life spans almost the entire history of eugenics in the United States. The reason for doing so is understandable: the CSHL does not want to be connected to a negative part of its past and only highlight the positive aspects of its existence, but minimizing the history of the eugenics movement does not help anyone. It is important to recognize different changes and viewpoints of the scientific community and recognize the movements that have helped us advance to where we are. The CSHL website does contain information and resources on its role in the eugenics movement, but they should provide either a description of the CSHL’s role in the movement on the History website or a direct link to another page that contains more information on it, so readers can still have readily available…

    • 1400 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Prospectus: Eugenics and the First Wave Feminist Movement The eugenics movement gained popularity throughout the world in the late 19th century and early 20th century by combining science with nationalism, and a fair bit of elitism. Countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada became concerned about the “degradation” of their citizens through the frequent birth of “unfit” children through genetically inferior parents. This concern, which was often founded and funded by rich caucasian males, became a matter of legislature through the passing of immigration restriction, marriage and sterilization laws. Reaching it’s peak of influence during the decade following 1910, eugenics became “unfashionable” following the publication of the negative eugenics employed by the Nazi party through the sterilization of 300,000-400,000 Jews and the horrors of concentration camps.…

    • 766 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Throughout my Education years, I’ve always wondered if the schools that I attended, will I really learn everything about America history? I feel like the school system has been hiding so much that they think we as students should not know about. I even noticed that some teachers or even most teachers do not like to teach the curriculum that was given. I remember reading my history textbook about the Holocaust and my teacher would get mad at the text because not all the information that happened in the past were not given. My teacher even suggested that there is more things that were left untold by the government.…

    • 761 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    The eugenics movement swept the world as countries adopted eugenic policies meant to improve the gene pool, but then became negatively associated with the Holocaust and was gradually abandoned. However, recent reproductive technology is causing ethical controversy and a fear that a eugenic movement will be revived.…

    • 105 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Great Essays

    Eugenics In America In 1993, A March of Dimes poll found that 11% of parents in America said they would abort a fetus who was predisposed to obesity. 4 out of 5 said they would abort a fetus who would have a disability, and 43% said they would use genetic modification if available to them for appearance enhancement (Laney). From the 1900’s to even today, the Eugenics movement was one of the most controversial movements in the United States. Eugenics is the study of or belief that by selective breeding would create a better, longer lasting, enhanced society consumed with socially fit people.…

    • 1279 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Superior Essays

    In the time period that Brave New World was written, Britain was undergoing an economic crisis. Amidst desperation, many revered eugenics as means of escape from the challenges society was facing. Many intellectuals, scientists, medical practitioners, and political figures agreed with the belief system of the eugenics movement. Of these people, Aldous Huxley was one who believed firmly but skeptically in eugenics. His brother, Julius Huxley, and many of his companions were also heavily involved in this movement.…

    • 962 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Eugenics Movement Essay

    • 522 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The Eugenics Movement was integral to eliminate the part of the population that was ‘unfit’ and the negative traits. According to the Merriam Webster dictionary, eugenics is best defined as “a science that deals with the improvement of hereditary qualities of a race or breed”. It is not only the purview of academics, but a social movement that peaked in the 1920s and 30s. During the Eugenics period, the American Eugenic Society was founded, and its members were competent in “fitter family” and “better baby” competitions (PBS; Remsburg). There is such thing known as the English eugenics movement in which it promoted selective breeding for positive traits, but the United States eugenics movement focused on eliminating negative traits such as the poor, the uneducated, and the minority populations.…

    • 522 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Eugenics Ethical Issues

    • 1385 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Francis Galton was even there and went into detail on eugenics and they all needed to do something. All these people got together and met in order to talk and plan on how to make provisions on improving the human race. The image above is known was the “Eugenics Tree” and it represents the different fields of human endeavor and how traces of eugenics are present in the other fields. Those who were for eugenics thought that eugenics was a new science and was seen as the frame or foundation of a new evolutionary era. According to History News Network, “eugenics practitioners coercively sterilized some 60,000 Americans, barred the marriage of thousands, forcibly segregated thousands in "colonies," and persecuted untold numbers in ways we are just learning” (History News Network).…

    • 1385 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The term “eugenics” which means “good birth” was coined by English scientist Sir Francis Galton, and referred to the science of genetic and heredity with the main goal of creating superior human race, one without the problems caused by inferior people (Grinspoon, 2013). Eugenicist focus on encouraging healthy and fit people to procreate and prevent those that are deem unfit for society. The forefront of the Eugenic movement focused on inherited mental degeneration that is passed down from generation in the 1920. Researchers during that time believe that genetic makeup of criminality or “bad gene” are passed down and was the root of criminal tendencies in society. The federal Eugenics Record Office funded studies of bad gene and develop policies that called for sterilization of mentally handicapped women to prevent…

    • 634 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Eugenics is a subject most people have never heard of. And those who do know don’t believe it is still practiced. Eugenics isn’t something new. This practice has been around for thousands of years. Everywhere from Greece, Germany, Scotland, and even the United States.…

    • 823 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Eugenics Research Papers

    • 508 Words
    • 3 Pages

    As our nation continues to divide in drastic ways the need to remind our country of the once known unhealthy eugenicist thoughts and beliefs is overpowering. Eugenic science touches close to my own home as I am raising two children who would have been deemed inferior or imbeciles in the 1900’s. If Nathan was born during the rise of eugenics the life saving measures needed to save him wouldn’t have been performed allowing him to slowly deteriorate. Infants were often deemed negative eugenics based only on heredity without administering further testing. In order to fully explain the importance of eugenics on the past and present I will be reviewing the source Biology and Culture: Science and Society in the Eugenic Thought of H.J Muller.…

    • 508 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Grass Roots Abortion Abortion has been involved in multiple accounts of controversial arguments. It is defined in which the developing fetus is killed by the choice of the mother bearing the child. Women of the fetuses have reasons to why their decision of removing the fetus from their belly, such as the protection of Women 's Rights, the medical risk of the mother 's life, and to prevent severe disorders of the child 's life . Women 's Rights correlates to every individuals, including males. Women have the moral right to decide what to do with their own bodies, whether it is customization of any surgical procedures that involves cosmetics, or outside situations that causes the woman to be impregnated with an unwanted partner.…

    • 839 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Should Abortion Be Illegal? Abortion is a serious topic that people have debated for many years. Everywhere you look the topic abortion appears on television or in newspapers. It already has, and will continue to cause, controversy for years to come. The right to life is the most simple, yet important right that we have.…

    • 707 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays