The Eugenics Movement

Posted: February 21st, 2020

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The Eugenics Movement

Eugenics was one of the major social movements that defined the 20^th century specifically in the United States. The popularity of the ideology was centered on the controversy that it exhibited in relation to the concept of sterilization. Simply, the eugenics movement came up with the assumption that the genetic traits of human populaces could undergo improvement via sterilization and selective breeding. Apparently, progenitors of the movement believed that it was possible to distinguish between inferior and superior aspects of the society. As an outcome, the movement targeted certain groups of people based on absurd characteristics for the aim of compulsory sterilization. For instance, individuals who exhibited traits such as bipolar disorder, criminality, epilepsy, alcohol abuse, and ‘feeblemindedness’ were deemed as qualified for elimination within the fitter human population (Image Archive on the American Eugenics Movement). Despite its popularity, the eugenics movement was incapable of continuance due to the irrationality associated with its presumptions, particularly in respect to insignificance genetic basis and the traits that determined eradication.

Social Origins

Eugenics came about at a time in the United States when every individual experienced considerable tribulations because of the implications imposed by Civil War on the society and economy. After the occurrence of the armed struggle, a large number of Americans lacked education and as a result, struggled through sequences of economic depressions, which started in 1873. Additionally, the American society was subject to significant strife at the time. Families faced starvation and implemented desperate efforts in an attempt to find commercial obligations within a consistently unpredictable and shaky economy. The irregular supply of wealth in the United States also influenced the ascent of the eugenics movement by making the economy unstable. The issuance of extensive loans to America’s allies prior to and after the end of the First World War by the country further lowered the country’s economic stability due to the inability of the respective debtors to repay the loans. The final impacts on the economy arose at the occurrence of the Great Depression thereby providing an effective platform for the eugenics movement to ‘rectify’ the country’s deteriorating economic and social state (Image Archive on the American Eugenics Movement).

Scientific Origins

The scientific origins of eugenics took place as an outcome of the ideas presented by Francis Galton in 1883. For Galton, it was possible to augment the human population by endorsing the healthiest and ablest individuals to bear more children. On one hand, Galton’s ideals were deemed as positive eugenics since they focused on childbearing. On the other hand, negative eugenics advocated for the sterilization or ‘elimination’ of the least capable breeding population in order to preserve the population’s mental and physical fitness. Foremost, the eugenics movement endorsed the concept of segregating individuals deemed ‘manifestly unfit’. Similar premises were present in premises such as the Degeneracy theory, which first set aside masturbation as a causative factor of degeneracy. The influential nature of the conjecture facilitated the mandatory sterilization of persons viewed as ‘degenerates’ in the United States via law. The respective eugenic sterilization rule facilitated deeper interests such as theories that linked ‘bad environments’ to degenerate heredity as illustrated by Richard Duggale and August Weissman (Image Archive on the American Eugenics Movement).

Research Methods

The eugenics movement sought to assert study measures that create results based on Mendel’s laws in relation to the inheritance of human-based qualities. Foremost, eugenics researchers applied geneaology in order to trace the passing of a certain trait via a pedigree or a family tree. The objective of this involved identifying the basic outline of inheritance presented by Mendel on peas. Examination of family pedigrees allowed eugenics researchers to discern the patterns of Mendel’s approaches of inheritance, which comprised the dominant, recessive, and sex-based genes. Nonetheless, tracing inheritance traits was a complicated issue specifically in attempts aimed at measuring mental disorders such as manic depression or schizophrenia. As a result, eugenicists exuded laxity in developing the prerequisites needed for enumerating the ‘traits’ researched. Data collection was facilitated by eugenicists via questionnaires such as the Eugenics Record Office’s ‘Family Tree Folder’ and ‘Record of Family Traits’. In other situations, eugenics utilized data arising from prisons, insane asylums, orphanages, and institutions for the visually impaired. Surveys were utilized in order to compute the ethnic constitution of communal ‘dependents’ as well as the expenses gained in the maintenance within public organizations (Image Archive on the American Eugenics Movement).

Research Flaws in Eugenics

The eugenics movement possessed various flaws associated with its studies. Foremost, it was difficult to define characteristics. Even though it was hard to define and enumerate qualities such as body stature, eye color, and blood group, eugenics researchers expressed considerable interest in behavioral and mental qualities. Hence, aside from the complexity associated with these dimensions, it is also notable that the traits were defined subjectively. Secondly, eugenics studies relied heavily on the notion of reification. Eugenicists normally treated an array of convoluted traits by asserting a single causative factor to them. Thirdly, eugenics depicted considerable use of insufficient statistical and survey measures. For instance, researchers rarely used appropriate data collection techniques such as focus interviews on family members. Furthermore, individuals such as Henry Laughlin utilized false statistics in order to exaggerate the claim that mental retardation was higher among eastern/southern Europeans in incarceration than the general population. Consequently, eugenicists engaged in false quantification based on their overdependence on subjective measures such as the Intelligence Quotient (IQ) (Image Archive on the American Eugenics Movement).

Eugenics Popularization

The notions presented by the eugenics movement were considerably eminent as illustrated in popular culture within the United States especially between the 1920s and the 1930s. For instance, films such as The Black Stork supported the idea of eugenic sterilization among high school attendees. The concept of human improvement via marriage was widely disseminated in church services. In other instances such as field trips to the state fair, students were encouraged to take part in evaluations in respect to exhibits based on eugenic ideas such as the ‘fitter families’ concept. Furthermore, education was characterized by emphasis on concepts such as compulsory sterilization, immigration restriction, and race segregation, which were definite elements of eugenics. Additionally, the ideas of Francis Galton especially on biological inheritance encouraged inspection concerns expressed by organizations such as the American Breeders Association in respect to selective breeding (Image Archive on the American Eugenics Movement).

Marriage Laws

Based on the support for race segregation by eugenicists, the respective movement heavily discarded intermarriages. Accordingly, regulations were established in order to prohibit marital unions between white persons and African-Americans. The reason for this was attributed to the idea of racial mixing as expressed in the 1900s by Madison Grant. At the time, eugenicists saw intermarriages as precursors of biological dangers associated with racial mixing. For influential writers such as Grant, supporting intermarriages would eventually create racial suicide and ultimately influence the disappearance of the white population. Additionally, eugenicists were conceived that marital associations between individuals with lower racial types with those possessing higher racial types would inevitably lead to decrease in the higher race as well as pollution of the famous ‘germ-plasm’ (Image Archive on the American Eugenics Movement).

Sterilization Laws

The eugenics movement supported mandatory sterilization as a way of eliminating individuals who were declared ‘manifestly unfit’. Numerous physicians carried out sterilization procedures prior to a surgery’s legal approval. States such as Indiana were among the first in permitting eugenic-based sterilization regulations. In 1914, Henry Laughlin proposed a model that authorized the sterilization of persons deemed ‘socially inadequate’. Despite the controversy of the law, several states had already passed sterilization laws. Over a decade from 1914, 3000 individuals had undergone involuntary sterilization in the United States. Additionally, states such as Virginia implemented laws based on Laughlin’s Model as a considerable element in cost-saving tactics by limiting the number of individuals supported by public institutions (Image Archive on the American Eugenics Movement).

Immigration Reform

Naturalization laws centered on the limitation of citizenship originated from Congress’ involvement in the process in 1790. Accordingly, the law passed by the Congress focused on restricting American citizenship to liberated white persons. Eventually, different laws were passed that encouraged immigration restrictions within the entire country. For example, the Act to Regulate Immigration of 1882 restricted the entrance of individuals incapable of personal care without the involvement of public support. As an outcome, the law exclusively restricted immigrants that were dependent on society such as the underprivileged, the mentally ill and incarcerated criminals. Regulations such as the Chinese Exclusion Act were among the first to restrict immigration on basis of ethnicity or race. However, with increase in the immigrant population especially in the 1900s, eugenicists proposed biological claims that were in support of immigration restriction. As an outcome, the 1924 Immigration Reform Law was established in order to stop the migration of Italians, western and eastern Europeans into the country (Image Archive on the American Eugenics Movement).

Work Cited

Image Archive on the American Eugenics Movement. Virtual Exhibits. n. d. Web. 10 Oct. 2015. <http://www.eugenicsarchive.org/eugenics/list3.pl/>