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Very Short Introductions #495
Eugenics: A Very Short Introduction
In 1883, Francis Galton, a cousin of Charles Darwin, coined the word "eugenics" to express his dream of perfecting the human race by applying the laws of genetic heredity. Adapting Darwin's theory of evolution to human society, eugenics soon became a powerful, international movement, committed to using the principles of heredity and statistics to encourage healthy and discourage unhealthy reproduction. Early in the twentieth century and across the world, doctors, social reformers, and politicians turned to the new science of eugenics as a means to improve and strengthen their populations. Eugenics advocates claimed their methods would result in healthier, fitter babies and would dramatically limit human suffering.
The reality was a different story. In the name of scientific progress and of human improvement, eugenicists targeted the weak and the sick, triggering coercive legislation on issues as disparate as race, gender, immigration, euthanasia, abortion, sterilization, intelligence, mental illness, and disease control. Nationalists eagerly embraced eugenics as a means to legitimize their countries' superiority and racialized assumptions, and the Nazis notoriously used eugenics to shape their "final solution."
In this lucid volume, Philippa Levine tackles the intricate and controversial history of eugenics, masterfully synthesizing the enormous range of policies and experiments carried out in the name of eugenics around the world throughout the twentieth century. She questions the widespread belief that eugenics disappeared after World War II and evaluates the impact of eugenics on current reproductive and genetic sciences. Charting the development of such controversial practices as artificial insemination, sperm donation, and population control, this book offers a powerful, extraordinarily timely reflection on the frequent interplay between genetics and ethics. Eugenics may no longer be a household word, but we feel its effects even today.
The reality was a different story. In the name of scientific progress and of human improvement, eugenicists targeted the weak and the sick, triggering coercive legislation on issues as disparate as race, gender, immigration, euthanasia, abortion, sterilization, intelligence, mental illness, and disease control. Nationalists eagerly embraced eugenics as a means to legitimize their countries' superiority and racialized assumptions, and the Nazis notoriously used eugenics to shape their "final solution."
In this lucid volume, Philippa Levine tackles the intricate and controversial history of eugenics, masterfully synthesizing the enormous range of policies and experiments carried out in the name of eugenics around the world throughout the twentieth century. She questions the widespread belief that eugenics disappeared after World War II and evaluates the impact of eugenics on current reproductive and genetic sciences. Charting the development of such controversial practices as artificial insemination, sperm donation, and population control, this book offers a powerful, extraordinarily timely reflection on the frequent interplay between genetics and ethics. Eugenics may no longer be a household word, but we feel its effects even today.
168 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2016
37 people are currently reading
454 people want to read
About the author
Philippa Levine
24 books16 followersPhilippa Levine is the Mary Helen Thompson Centennial Professor in the Humanities and the Co-Director of the Program in British Studies at the University of Texas at Austin.
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
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January 27, 2023This would have been more interesting if I hadn't been forced to speed read it for school, as I am fascinated by the frustration history causes me, but of course I had to read this in time for class at 3pm today so I did not take everything in
December 30, 2019
This book was truly exactly what I needed to draw connections between the things I've learned about the history of birth control, family planning, racist policies, the forced sterilization of people with disabilities, etc. This should be required reading for everyone. If I had to take away one thing it's that America was obsessed with standardized testing and IQ testing in order to 'weed out the less intelligent', but these tests were targeted towards POC, low income people, people with disabilities, etc. Then, when these populations overwhelmingly couldn't test highly on these rigged tests, the results were used as excuses to forcibly sterilize and wipe out populations. It's all been set up from the beginning.
My one critique is that I wanted more depth into the history of America specifically, but I am certain that I can find that on my own. I will absolutely be seeking other volumes from this 'Very Short Introduction' series from Oxford. Very useful reading. Below are a few notes that I took during my time with this enlightening book.
-In Nazi Germany, several women carrying 'racially pure' (according to Nazi's definition) children were offered discreet confinement in return for handing the child over to the state after birth; more than half the women who participated were unmarried. This undoubtedly was how several heads of state and other men in power hid the results of affairs and assaults.
- Early IQ tests and other standardized tests that were designed to identify early onset intelligence or lack of intelligence were invented and tested firstly on white affluent children in the United States. (I knew this already) Which makes them inherently unlikely to pick up on the many kinds of brilliance that children from all demographics display. What this book taught me that I was unaware of is the history around the army using these sames tests to measure a soldier's obedience and their vulnerability to follow orders.
- Eugenics were used to justify a lot of policies that white feminists pushed for during the Suffragette movement, including access to birth control. Eugenic ideas were also used to justify better prenatal care for women who were low income, because the thinking was that if they had access to birth control and better prenatal care then disabilities would be less prevalent. The problem with this thinking was that the justification was that lower income people shouldn't be making more children due to prejudicial eugenic thinking. In other words, eugenics asserted that poor women shouldn't have lots of children because those children won't be racially or intellectually pure.
- Especially in Cuba, the United States, and Mexico eugenic supporters pushed to have sexual education in public schools. The rationale behind this thinking was that if children were taught early on about their responsibilities to breed 'healthy' (eugenics defined this as white, able bodied, etc.) new generations then they would take it more seriously.
- I knew Margaret Sanger was a eugenics supporter but damn. Her 1921 quote "the most urgent problem today is how to limit and discourage the over-fertility of the mentally and physically defective."
-Lithuania and Estonia slowly starved several psychiatric patients in order to kill them, and they were widely considered not deserving of the bread it would take to feed them as they did 'nothing to earn it'
- Incarcerated people were often the target of eugenic experiments, especially as crime was considered hereditary from the late 1800s well into present day. In 1899 Harry Sharp began using vasectomies to manage masturbation in incarcerated people. Because those were the people that eugenics supporters didn't want reproducing.
- Eugenicists developed tests to try and locate queer identities in children early on, including the M-F test in 1936 which tested young boys and girls knowledge on their gendered knowledge such as where to seat a guest of honor or how many players were on a baseball team. Children who didn't fall into the 'appropriate' category of their gender risked being labeled sexually deviant, and some faced forced sterilization in their teenage years.
- In the 1930s women being sexually forward could be seen as a sign of 'feeble-mindedness' which may also result in forced sterilization, lest their perceived disability be passed onto the next generation.
- In the 1920s the United States used IQ tests on immigrants applying for visas in order to weed out 'less worthy' immigrants. These tests, as I've mentioned previously, were built on the skills of affluent white children, and were nearly impossible to test well on if you didn't speak English.
- In 1968 the Federal Government petitioned a family planning video from Disney that starred Donald Duck. I have to find this video.
- Unsurprisingly, women of color were disproportionately targeted by forced sterilization with several Black women being sterilized when they were told they were receiving birth control, and several Native American women experiencing sterilization after giving birth without their consent.
My one critique is that I wanted more depth into the history of America specifically, but I am certain that I can find that on my own. I will absolutely be seeking other volumes from this 'Very Short Introduction' series from Oxford. Very useful reading. Below are a few notes that I took during my time with this enlightening book.
-In Nazi Germany, several women carrying 'racially pure' (according to Nazi's definition) children were offered discreet confinement in return for handing the child over to the state after birth; more than half the women who participated were unmarried. This undoubtedly was how several heads of state and other men in power hid the results of affairs and assaults.
- Early IQ tests and other standardized tests that were designed to identify early onset intelligence or lack of intelligence were invented and tested firstly on white affluent children in the United States. (I knew this already) Which makes them inherently unlikely to pick up on the many kinds of brilliance that children from all demographics display. What this book taught me that I was unaware of is the history around the army using these sames tests to measure a soldier's obedience and their vulnerability to follow orders.
- Eugenics were used to justify a lot of policies that white feminists pushed for during the Suffragette movement, including access to birth control. Eugenic ideas were also used to justify better prenatal care for women who were low income, because the thinking was that if they had access to birth control and better prenatal care then disabilities would be less prevalent. The problem with this thinking was that the justification was that lower income people shouldn't be making more children due to prejudicial eugenic thinking. In other words, eugenics asserted that poor women shouldn't have lots of children because those children won't be racially or intellectually pure.
- Especially in Cuba, the United States, and Mexico eugenic supporters pushed to have sexual education in public schools. The rationale behind this thinking was that if children were taught early on about their responsibilities to breed 'healthy' (eugenics defined this as white, able bodied, etc.) new generations then they would take it more seriously.
- I knew Margaret Sanger was a eugenics supporter but damn. Her 1921 quote "the most urgent problem today is how to limit and discourage the over-fertility of the mentally and physically defective."
-Lithuania and Estonia slowly starved several psychiatric patients in order to kill them, and they were widely considered not deserving of the bread it would take to feed them as they did 'nothing to earn it'
- Incarcerated people were often the target of eugenic experiments, especially as crime was considered hereditary from the late 1800s well into present day. In 1899 Harry Sharp began using vasectomies to manage masturbation in incarcerated people. Because those were the people that eugenics supporters didn't want reproducing.
- Eugenicists developed tests to try and locate queer identities in children early on, including the M-F test in 1936 which tested young boys and girls knowledge on their gendered knowledge such as where to seat a guest of honor or how many players were on a baseball team. Children who didn't fall into the 'appropriate' category of their gender risked being labeled sexually deviant, and some faced forced sterilization in their teenage years.
- In the 1930s women being sexually forward could be seen as a sign of 'feeble-mindedness' which may also result in forced sterilization, lest their perceived disability be passed onto the next generation.
- In the 1920s the United States used IQ tests on immigrants applying for visas in order to weed out 'less worthy' immigrants. These tests, as I've mentioned previously, were built on the skills of affluent white children, and were nearly impossible to test well on if you didn't speak English.
- In 1968 the Federal Government petitioned a family planning video from Disney that starred Donald Duck. I have to find this video.
- Unsurprisingly, women of color were disproportionately targeted by forced sterilization with several Black women being sterilized when they were told they were receiving birth control, and several Native American women experiencing sterilization after giving birth without their consent.
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January 22, 2024Starting off with the basics. This was for class, it’s against eugenics, and it was over 100 pages so I’m counting it for my Goodreads.
A very interesting read! Learned a lot about a topic I thought I knew a decent amount about (I did not). It’s crazy realizing how widespread these ideas were (and in many ways, still are!). Let me learn, and reflect on some things. I definitely think I want to read more of these “Very Short Introductions”. No one was safe from the facts I would share from this book, and I hope to continue this with other topics.
A very interesting read! Learned a lot about a topic I thought I knew a decent amount about (I did not). It’s crazy realizing how widespread these ideas were (and in many ways, still are!). Let me learn, and reflect on some things. I definitely think I want to read more of these “Very Short Introductions”. No one was safe from the facts I would share from this book, and I hope to continue this with other topics.
October 19, 2022
Just to be clear this book has an anti-eugenics message.
December 24, 2019
A little dry, but this short book did broaden my understanding of the eugenic movement.
July 30, 2017
Very good read, a good breakdown on the origination of the creation of the human construct of Race, "Superior/inferior dialectic, racist ideology and practices and the invention of laws to lend legitimacy and validate atrocities against those deem "inferior". You see the creation of the "white race" the preservation of the "race" birthing ideals manifesting to the likes of hilter, mass forced sterilization across the world including US and Canada. You see the reasoned madness foreshadowing of what is here, the KKK, Arian nation, designer babies etc. Frighteningly enlightening.
June 16, 2017
Brilliant. Well researched and presented in a clear way. When a small group of people determine who is "best" to be fit to live, then create a pseudo-science backed by wealthy donors create a policy to make sure some are born and some are not. And it is not over ,now that we have genetic enhancements and amniocentesis. Recommended to anyone who likes history, feminism, racism, mass brainwashing , classism and science fiction writers and readers
January 3, 2024
Among many disturbing and thought provoking points on a dark topic this stuck out: “A common misconception confuses Nazism with eugenics, seeing in the actions of Hitler’s regime the ultimate expression of eugenics. While the Nazis certainly did seize on eugenics to further their aims, their wartime activities in particular moved well beyond its scope, and non-Nazi eugenicists anxiously distanced themselves. Moreover, interest in eugenics long predated Hitler’s rise to power.”
July 4, 2020
Very informative, but sometimes confusing
Anyone who is Interested in "race" needs to read this book, and others on eugenics. This book shows us how popular opinion can shape science, or I should say "mis-shape" science. It was well researched, but sometimes too many ideas are in one paragraph, and without a clear transition.
Anyone who is Interested in "race" needs to read this book, and others on eugenics. This book shows us how popular opinion can shape science, or I should say "mis-shape" science. It was well researched, but sometimes too many ideas are in one paragraph, and without a clear transition.
February 18, 2024
Like most of the books in this series, this book provides a good overview of its subject. It discusses the origins of the eugenics movement in both its “positive” and “negative” manifestations, how it was used/abused by the Nazis, and how it has changed but still continues in somewhat altered form post-1945. A good starting point for this topic.
January 23, 2020
This was a great introduction to Eugenics. It was nice to learn about the start of the movement and how the Nazi‘s took eugenics from the USA. I wish the author emphasized the ableist foundation of eugenics.
September 13, 2019
做入门书还是不错的
April 24, 2020
Excellent, well written overview of Eugenics. An important subject in relation to current views on the exegesis of prejudice.
December 20, 2022
A good primer to the world of eugenics. Loved it!
February 15, 2023
i don't think i'm going to reach my goal if i don't count the books i read for history class. i did not read this for pleasure.
September 25, 2023
Fascinating, very dark part of the worlds history
February 26, 2024
Very useful but did not adress ablism.
December 3, 2024
I’m not sure if this series is going to be like the pop culture and philosophy books, but some of these books feel like they just scratch the surface, leaving me wanting more.
January 27, 2025
Interesting but a tough read. Doesn't flow.
April 9, 2023
For a short introduction, this felt quite repetitive from time to time. Nonetheless, I learned a lot about eugenic agendas all around the world, from its beginning till almost today.
February 4, 2018
Very good brief description of eugenics. Main features covered, with attempts at describing influence of eugenics world-wide, not just in Europe and USA. Of course, due to the brevity of this text, some aspects and developments were rather sketchy. The narrative was mainly chronological, but diverged into more thematic discussion, which was occasionally confusing. Nevertheless, I would recommend this booklet.
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews