Eugenics
"Eugenics is the self-direction of human evol-
ution": Logo from the Second International
Eugenics Conference, 1921, depicting it as a
tree which unites a variety of different
fields.[1]
Eugenics is "the study of, or belief in, the
possibility of improving the qualities of the
human species or a human population by
such means as discouraging reproduction by
persons having genetic defects or presumed
to have inheritable undesirable traits (negat-
ive eugenics) or encouraging reproduction by
persons presumed to have inheritable desir-
able traits (positive eugenics)."[2] As a social
movement eugenics reached its height of
popularity in the early decades of the 20th
century. By the end of World War II eugenics
had been largely abandoned,[3] though cur-
rent trends in genetics have raised questions
amongst critical academics concerning paral-
lels between pre-war attitudes about eugen-
ics and current "utilitarian" and social dar-
winistic theories[4]. At its pre-war zenith, the
movement often pursued pseudoscientific no-
tions of racial supremacy and purity.[5]
Eugenics was practiced around the world
and was promoted by governments, and influ-
ential individuals and institutions. Its advoc-
ates regarded it as a social philosophy for the
improvement of human hereditary traits
through the promotion of higher reproduc-
tion of certain people and traits, and the re-
duction of reproduction of certain people and
traits.[6] Today it is widely regarded as a bru-
tal movement which inflicted massive human
rights violations on millions of people.[7] The
"interventions" advocated and practised by
eugenicists involved prominently the identi-
fication and classification of individuals and
their families, including the poor, mentally ill,
blind,
’promiscuous women’, homosexuals
and entire "racial" groups——such as the
Roma and Jews——as "degenerate" or "unfit";
the segregation or institutionalisation of such
individuals and groups, their sterilization,
their "euthanasia", and in the worst case of
Nazi Germany, their mass