The Wellborn Science: Eugenics in Germany, France, Brazil, and Russia

by Mark B. Adams (Editor)

Overview

The four contributors to this volume examine the eugenics movements in Germany, France, Brazil, and the Soviet Union, and describe how geneticists and physicians participated in the development of policies concerning the improvement of hereditary qualities in humans. They examine the scientific components of those programs and discuss the involvement of social, religious, and political forces that significantly altered the original scientific goals. The book opens up new and comparative perspectives on the history of eugenics and the social uses of science in general.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780195363838
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	03/08/1990
Series:	Monographs on the History and Philosophy of Biology
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	425 KB

About the Author

University of Pennsylvania

Table of Contents

	Contributors	xi
1.	Eugenics in the History of Science	3
2.	The Race Hygiene Movement in Germany, 1904-1945	8
	The Origins of German Eugenics, 1890-1903	11
	The Wilhelmine Race Hygiene Movement, 1904-1918	21
	Eugenics in the Weimar Republic, 1918-1933	29
	Eugenics under the Swastika, 1933-1945	40
	Bibliography	50
3.	The Eugenics Movement in France, 1890-1940	69
	The French Setting	70
	The French Eugenics Society	73
	The Twenties	76
	Opposition to Eugenies	79
	The Thirties and the Population Question	84
	Sicard de Plauzoles	87
	Immigration and Sterilization	92
	Eugenics and the French Left	97
	Conclusion	103
	Bibliography	105
4.	Eugenics in Brazil, 1917-1940	110
	Structural and Social Origins	111
	The Eugenics Movement, 1917-1929	115
	Sanear e Eugenizar: To Sanitize Is to Eugenize	119
	Race and the Eugenics Movement in the 1920s	126
	Lamarck versus Mendel: A Scientific Divide	130
	Lamarck, Mendel, and Race: An Ideological Divide	134
	Eugenics in the Estado Novo	138
	Conclusion	144
	Bibliography	145
5.	Eugenics in Russia, 1900-1940	153
	The Origins of Russian Eugenics, 1900-1920	155
	The Structure of Russian Eugenics, 1920-1930	164
	Bolshevik Eugenics	171
	"Eugenics" and the Cultural Revolution, 1929-1932	182
	"Medical Genetics," Eugenics, and Lysenkoism, 1932-1940	188
	Conclusion	200
	Bibliography	201
6.	Towards a Comparative History of Eugenics	217
	Myths and Realities	217
	Issues and Agendas	221
	Prospects	225
	Bibliography	227
	Name Index	233
	Subject Index	239

Editorial Reviews

"This volume should be bought and read not only by historians of science but by all those interested in and involved in the Human Genome Project. To know what was thought and what happened in the twentieth century may be helpful for those who will be active in the twenty-first." —Nature

"[Adams] has produced a comparative history of the eugenics movement based largely on non-English sources. The result is an unusually coherent and provocative composite work which significantly broadens our understanding of this movement's worldwide impact. This volume fulfills the promise of comparative history by widening the scope of investigations, and by suggesting ways to reexamine old questions and to frame new ones."—Journal of the History of Behavioral Sciences

"Mark Adam's excellent analysis and account of the rise and fall of eugenics in Russia tells a tale of much importance and adds not a few previously unreported matters." —The Quarterly Review of Biology

From the Publisher