Eugenics Aims

“Eugenics is the science which deals with all influences that improve the inborn qualities of a race; also with those that develop them to the utmost advantage.”, has been the definition given by Sir Galton in the article “Eugenics: Its Definition, Scope and Aims” in 1904. Eugenics has been widely discussed since Plato’s intention of having a stronger guardian class in his Republic. However, it was Sir Francis Galton, the cousin of Charles Darwin who developed a modern version of it.() Eugenics, alternatively known as “well-born”, was believed to help the humanity have better traits. Galton supported this idea by studying the elite in Britain. According to him, elite is apparently related to a good genetic construction.() Eugenicists main

This, makes one identify that there has been a profound presence of racism as well. For instance, Eugenicists in North-America were not very fond of immigrants from Eastern and Southern Europe who had come since the late 19th century. They even saw them as inferior because the problematic groups of society such as: prostitutes, criminals etc. belonged to these immigrants. By excluding them, then eventually the American society would preserve its quality (Kevles 327). Following these, more than 60000 disabled people were sterilized in over 30 states. Thus, Eugenics seemed to be against marginalized social categories. This was just the iceberg’s tip, as these laws and practices kept going by forcing the sterilization widely. National Socialist program aimed it and therefore between 1934-1945 more than 350000 sterilizations were made (uvm). This is closely to a holocaust program. The distribution of sterilization until January 1933 had collected a number around 16066 of sterilized individuals, where California has reached its peak with exactly 8504 sterilizitations.(belgeyi göster) In this study of Human Betterment Foundations, it is clearly noticed that more females than males were sterilized, accordingly 9067 females and 6999 males. Not to mention what happened during the Nazi period, Hitler’s infamous propaganda against Jewish shocked everyone. Briefly, several German scientist visited America, took experience and applied similar methods to people considered as “lives unworthy of life”, in order to obtain a society with only Aryan features. Disabled people, Jewish, gypsies and more were isolated in concentration camps or sterilized. Apart from the tortures, Nazis eugenic program intensified to death camps, resulting to more than 6000000 Jewish killed. After WWII, “eugenic” was primarily related to hostility and subsequently eugenics societies