Social Darwinism Vs Eugenics

After the fall of the Nazis in the 1940s, eugenics continued to impact the lives of those in the United States negatively up until the 1970s. It was not due to the need to be “superior”, but to be able to control reproduction by increasing the top members and decreasing the lower members. The movement took place mainly in the East Coast during the Progressive Era, reaching its climax in the 1920s and 1930s with immigration control, marriage laws, and sterilization of those who were considered dangerous to the society. Due to the Nazis, their rise to power, and the horrifying Holocaust, it had formed the movements in the United States.

Courtney Lachney The Progressive Era Critical Thinking Activity Essay Rubric History shows how humans grew. It shows where we all originated from and how we made up our laws and such. History has brought about a lot of change. There are so many different ideals and beliefs that originated in the past. There were so many wars and killing sover things that were sometimes for the worst.

It is a term coined in the late 19th century to describe the idea that humans, animals and plants, compete in a struggle for existence in which natural selection results in "survival of the fittest. The term social Darwinist is applied to anyone who interprets human society primarily in terms of biology, struggle, competition, or natural law. American Social Darwinism was popularized in the United

Darwinists in turn, believed biology to be destiny and that if one's ancestors were unfit their children would be as well. Much like in evolution, Spencer assumed that the unfit populations would decline overtime due to their failure to compete, however paranoia led some Americans to speed up this process, introducing eugenics. Eugenics were supposed to improve men, ridding the undesirable traits of the unfit and changing genetic structure to create more fit individuals. The Eugenics movement in America took people of color, the mentally ill or disabled, LGBTQ individuals, and other members of society deemed unfit, and conducted experimentation ranging from forced breeding, involuntary sterilization, or institutionalization on them. Although the movement was eventually stomped out, it violated thousands of

Throughout the 1920s, America changed politically, socially, and economically. First, the Emergency Quota Act of 1921 politically altered America. With the influx of immigrants from 1919-1921, Congress established the Emergency Quota Act of 1921, which established the maximum people allowed to enter the United States from each foreign country. The Act targeted mainly Eastern and Southern Europeans as well as Asians. This demonstrates that America changed politically because Congress was now institutionalizing racism by taking measures, such as the Quota Act, to change the population of America.

The supreme court was approaching the subject by looking out for the population as a whole, rather than as individuals. The intentions of the movement were to eliminate the passing of specific traits that socially unfit person’s possessed and to isolate traits that were considered socially superior. The social incentives were based off of a utilitarian point of view, in that it may have hurt individuals, but it will ultimately better society. The values of this time period can be seen as continuing segregation, not just with race, but with disability and mental illnesses. The reasoning behind the eugenics movement, as stated by the supreme court, was “instead of waiting to execute degenerative offspring for crime… society can prevent those who are manifestly unfit from continuing their kind”.

Research Paper Rough Draft- Eugenics The amazing thing about the world today is the rapidly changing society, and the contemporary technology. Something that scientist have been working to perfect for many years is the modernization of eugenics. It is changing the way people are born by selecting specific traits for an individual to be smarter, stronger, more attractive and many other traits. Many parents of the new generation are willing to try the science of eugenics for their child to be customized to them.

Throughout the 1920 to 1970s, there were shifts in immigration policies that reflect the changes of American ideology; however, there were some aspects that fundamentally remain the same. Main factors that shifted American ideology, which then shifts immigration policies, was the rise of nativism and the aftermath of WWII, yet the classification of wanted and unwanted immigrants was still present. In the 1920s there was an increasing number of immigrants entering the U.S which unsettled most old-stock Americans and led to the rise of anti-immigrant sentiment. Congress acted and passed the National Origins Act in 1924. The purpose of the national origins act was to reduce the number of immigrants specifically immigrants coming from southern

During the 1920s Acts were passed in order to limit the number of immigrants entering the country. In the Immigration Act of 1924 quotas for foreigners were cut from three percent to two percent. Restrictions were placed due to concerns over recent years of immigrants contributing to the growing crime and urban problems in the country. Also, immigrants were taking American jobs in the cities because they would work for cheaper which also gave another reason for American to try to limit the number of immigrants coming into the country.

Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution i.e. “survival of the fittest” and the “process of natural selection“, was written in 1859 and was a theory based on the behaviour of animals. This theory was adapted by Herbert Spencer and resulted in the ideology that is known today as Social Darwinism. The latter is based on Darwin’s theory but instead of being based on animal behaviour it is applied to humans. It implied that certain races were superior to others because of their technological advancements. This lead people to believe that certain races, such as white/European people, were the “fittest” of all the races.

But no theories where as popular with the Nazis as Hebert Spencer’s Social Darwinism theory and Sir Francis Galton’s Eugenics theory. Social Darwinism is defined as “..study of human society, specifically a theory in sociology that

A Rhetorical Analysis of William Graham Sumner William Graham Sumner had a great influence on Social Darwinism in the nineteenth century. Sumner was a Sociology professor at Yale University, who adopted the idea of Social Darwinism because of his belief in the survival of the fittest. Even though he did not fully commit to Social Darwinism, he did promote the idea of the constant struggle against nature. He explains that in order for survival, one needs to struggle and compete with nature to provide our basic human needs of food and water. During the Gilded Age, businessmen and the middle class men supported the theory of Social Darwinism which was first introduced by the pioneers of Charles Darwin and Herbert Spencer.

Eugenics is the science of using artificial selection to improve genetic features of the population. It is thought that improvement of the human race can be seen through sterilization of people who exhibit undesirable traits and selective breeding. Often called Social Darwinism, the concept was widely accepted during the time of World War I. It quickly became a taboo after World War II when Nazi Germany used it as an excuse for genocide. The thought of improving the human race by manipulating who is allowed to breed can either be appalling or compelling.

Social Darwinism is the result of applying Charles Darwin’s theories of evolution to human society, and one of the forefront Social Darwinists was none other than William Graham Sumner. In general, the concept of Social Darwinism has many pros such as “breeding” out weakness and disease, supporting the strong, and encouraging the development of a more advanced society. It also as many disadvantages, however, such as a smaller gene pool, hindering the weak, and controlling who gets to have children. Using the writings of both Darwin and Sumner, these pros and cons will be explored to prove that the negatives of Social Darwinism outweigh the positives. To begin, the first pro of Social Darwinism is the elimination of weakness and disease.

Eugenics The term eugenics was coined in 1883 by Francis Galton. He defined it as the study of “the conditions under which men of a high type are produced” and also as “the science which deals with all influences that improve the inborn qualities of a race”. However, it is not just a field of study and, could be taken as a social movement or policy as well. “Eugenics” may refer to the theory that infers hereditable intelligence and fortune which are possessed by the wealthy, successful and intelligent were made as a result of their good selective breeding, and that the lower classes would remain so because they continued to breed with other poor people from lower social classes or casts. Eugenics could be popular amongst people with a vested