Category: Scientific Prominence

Eugenic theory was based on the scientific belief in the genetic inheritance of social traits. Eugenicists believed that the solution to social problems in society was to regulate what genes were passed on to further generations. This scientific justification of already present social prejudice promoted the ideology of eugenics in American society.

Scientists’ Role in Eugenics Policy

There were three major efforts by the 1920’s that “pushed the eugenic agenda in the United States and subsequently throughout Europe: (1) The Eugenics Research Association in affiliation with the American Association of the Advancement of Science (AAAS). (2) The American Eugenics Society with the purpose of promoting the eugenics movement at both the scientific and popular level. (3) The Eugenics Records Office with the express purpose of providing the scientific data to support the eugenics movement” (Farber). With prominent scientists heading these operations, eugenics was soon brought to national and international attention, and the policies regarding eugenic genetic control began to flourish.

The Eugenics Record Office was headed by scientists Charles B. Davenport and Harry Hamilton Laughlin, and Harry “was appointed the Eugenics Expert Witness to the House Committee on Immigration and Naturalization in 1921” where he testified three times arguing that “the ‘new’ immigrants from non-Anglo-Saxon countries such as Poland, Hungary, the Balkans, Turkey, Italy, and Russia were genetically inferior to the old native American stock and were, by continual assimilation and intermarriage ‘polluting’ the blood stream of America” (Allen). The eugenic-based arguments provided by Laughlin allowed American views of nationalism, prejudice, racism, and nativism to be supported scientifically and allowed eugenic ideology to thrive in all facets of society.

Eugenicists were also influential in the passage of compulsory sterilization laws as a means of preventing the inheritance of socially inferior genes to the population. Laughlin and others “lobbied in a number of state legislatures on behalf of compulsory sterilization laws for institutionalized individuals deemed to be ‘genetically inferior’” and in almost all of the cases “it was claimed that sterilization of genetic defectives now would save millions of dollars in the future” (Allen). The argument in favor of eugenics was largely one of efficiency: those deemed genetically inferior expend an inefficient amount of the government’s time, energy, and money, so lessening the amount of these individuals is beneficial to society and the state.

Genetic Determinism and Eugenic Theory

Genetic determinism, the belief that human behavior is determined by an individual’s genes, accompanied with the then-new science of Mendelian genetics gave rise to eugenic theory in the beginning of the 19th century. Human behavior genetics became the primary focus of eugenic ideology, with eugenicists promoting the belief that certain social traits such as intelligence, race, insanity, criminality, homosexuality, etc. are inherited. Eugenicists around the world believed that gene therapy, sterilization, and euthanasia were the solutions to limit these unfavorable traits from existence, and governing bodies agreed.

In reality, there was little scientific evidence to prove these claims, but most members of the scientific community did not speak up publicly about the tenuous and often-exaggerated claims of eugenicists. Many thought it was largely a political movement and that it did not behoove professional geneticists to get involved in political debates, however, what resulted was the general public receiving the impression that eugenics was an accepted belief due to limited challenge of it (Allen).

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