Applied Eugenics

Name: Applied Eugenics
Author: Popenoe, Paul; Johnson, Roswell H.

by Popenoe, Paul; Johnson, Roswell H.

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Language: en1,749 downloads on Project Gutenberg

Subjects

Eugenics

In: Sociology·Racism·Science - Biology

Public-domain ebook sourced from Project Gutenberg #19560.

About this book

Applied Eugenics is a scholarly treatise that seeks to merge biological theory with social policy. The authors open with a sweeping statement that the science of eugenics rests on a “foundation of biology and a superstructure of sociology,” then proceed to outline a program aimed at encouraging the reproduction of those they deem superior while limiting that of the inferior. The introductory passages lay out a series of concrete goals, greater birth rates for the “superior,” reduced or eliminated offspring for the “most inferior,” and a series of legal, economic, and social adjustments to achieve those ends. The book is organized into a detailed table of contents that ranges from technical discussions of inheritance and natural selection to chapters on immigration, taxation, and even the “eugenic aspect of specific reforms” such as housing and education, reflecting the authors’ ambition to apply genetic ideas to every facet of public life.

The work reflects the tone and style of early‑twentieth‑century scientific literature, with a formal, didactic voice that mixes statistical argumentation, references to contemporary researchers, and moral exhortation. Its language is dense and assumes familiarity with concepts of heredity, Mendelian genetics, and the sociopolitical debates of the post‑World‑I era. Readers interested in the historical development of eugenic thought, scholars of the history of science or social policy, and those examining how scientific ideas were mobilized for reformist agendas will find this volume a valuable primary source. It is less suited to casual readers, but it offers a comprehensive snapshot of a now‑discredited movement as it was articulated by its proponents in 1918.

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The science of eugenics consists of a foundation of biology and a superstructure of sociology. Galton, its founder, emphasized both parts in due proportion. Until recently, however, most sociologists have been either indifferent or hostile to eugenics, and the science has been left for the most part in the hands of biologists, who have naturally worked most on the foundations and neglected the superstructure. Although we are not disposed to minimize the importance of the biological part, we think it desirable that the means of applying the biological principles should be more carefully studied. The reader of this book will, consequently, find only a summary explanation of the mechanism of inheritance. Emphasis has rather been laid on the practical means by which society may encourage the reproduction of superior persons and discourage that of inferiors.

We assume that in general, a eugenically superior or desirable person has, to a greater degree than the average, the germinal basis for the following characteristics: to live past maturity, to reproduce adequately, to live happily and to make contributions to the productivity, happiness, and progress of society. It is desirable to discriminate as much as possible between the possession of the germinal basis and the observed achievement, since the latter consists of the former plus or minus environmental influence. But where the amount of modification is too obscure to be detected, it is advantageous to take the demonstrated achievement as a tentative measure of the germinal basis. The problem of eugenics is to make such legal, social and economic adjustments that (1) a larger proportion of superior persons will have children than at present, (2) that the average number of offspring of each superior person will be greater than at present, (3) that the most inferior persons will have no children, and finally that (4) other inferior persons will have fewer children than now. The science of eugenics is still young and much of its program must be tentative and subject to the test of actual experiment. It is more important that the student acquire the habit of looking at society from a biological as well as a sociological point of view, than that he put his faith in the efficacy of any particular mode of procedure.

The essential points of our eugenics program were laid down by Professor Johnson in an article entitled "Human Evolution and its Control" in the Popular Science Monthly for January, 1910. Considerable parts of the material in the present book have appeared in the Journal of Heredity. Helpful suggestions and criticism have been received from several friends, in particular Sewall Wright and O. E. Baker of the United States Department of Agriculture. PAUL POPENOE.