Eugenics

• What is it?

  • the practice or advocacy of improving the human race by selectively mating people with specific desired hereditary traits
  • coerced sterilization: sterilizing people with undesirable traits
  • includes immigrants, ethnic minorities, poor people, unmarried mothers, the disabled and the mentally ill
• Which theory informs the policy?

  • Lange and Christiansen: Twin Studies
  • Crowe: Adoption Studies
• Application

  • took place in 32 states in the 20th century
  • was federally funded
  • estimated at least 60,000 people were involuntarily sterilized
• Arguments for

  • biological determinisation: the belief that human behaviour is directly controlled by their genes
  • supports Lange and Christiansen's Twin Studies theory
  • supports Crowe's Adoption Studies theory
• Arguments Against

  • unlikely to be adopted due to association with Nazis and the human rights implications
  • no evidence that it caused a reduction in crime
• Does it Work?

  • no scientific evidence to prove that certain groups will give birth to criminal offspring
  • uses biological theories to enforce prejudice and racist views