Social Origins of Eugenics

A detailed Summary of Social Origins of Eugenics


What are the origins and social implications of eugenisicm?

Francis Galton, cousin of Charles Darwin, first used the term 'Eugenics' in his book Inquiries into Human Faculty and Development published in 1883.The word Eugenics is described as 'the science of improving the population by controlled breeding for desirable inherited characteristics' and comes from the Greek for 'good breeding' or 'good life'. Although Galton initially studied medicine, he later chose to study mathematics and he also became a fervent advocate of social policies which encouraged supposedly superior beings to have children and discouraged 'lesser' people from doing so.

Galton first became interested in Eugenics after reading Darwin's The Origin of Species. In the book, successful breeding is judged by the


Galton wasn't just merely interested in the subject though. He wholeheartedly believed that there should be a system put in place to iradicate, what was is his mind, the inferior race. He proposed that a register of suitable families should be made so that the 'superior' offspring could marry and reproduce and even went as far to suggest a financial incentive should be offered to help create a worthier race.

Because the Eugenicists believed that the residuum were a hereditary group they argued that controlling them through scientific methods was a more modernised version of natural selection and they thought they would be making a breakthrough by using artificial selection. Surprisingly, the Governments were not totally adverse to this. For example, in 1913 the Mental Deficiency Act al

Some common words found in the essay are:
Natural Inheritance, Faculty Development, Eugenic Society, Origin Species, Deficiency Act, Surprisingly Governments, , Charles Darwin, Galton Eugenics, Francis Galton,

Approximate Word count = 534
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Category: Science

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