The Little Known History of Eugenics

The term “Eugenics”, meaning “wellborn”, was coined by British statistician Sir Francis Galton to describe his theory that intelligence and other capabilities were inherited and people with desirable traits should, therefore, have more children. It was his opinion that this would increase the presence of these traits and lead to desirable outcomes for the human species.

Galton’s Impact

Galton’s theory reached the United States in the 20th century and resulted in the spread of negative eugenics. A series of efforts were made to ensure that people with undesirable traits were prevented from reproducing. This was in order to keep “bad” genes and, as a result, the traits that they influenced out of the population. Court cases like that of Buck v. Bell, in which The U.S. Supreme Court allowed for the sterilization of an apparently “promiscuous” and “feeble-minded” Virginian woman, upheld the idea that those viewed as unfit for society should not be allowed to have children and spread their “undesirable” characteristics through human society

The Truth About Eugenics

We now know that the ideas that the eugenics movement was founded on were inherently flawed. Many early geneticists performed studies in which they claimed to find strong evidence that undesirable characteristics were heritable and could be avoided by preventing those with specific genes from entering the societal gene pool. However, these studies did not take environmental factors into account nor did they account for the fact that many traits are governed by multiple genes. The possible effects of several genes on one trait are not binary and can produce a range of characteristics. It typically can not be said that one gene causes one trait. Even the traits themselves are not easily definable, as words like “promiscuous” take on different meanings between cultures and time periods.

There is no set genome that will lead to the improvement of society, as our genes are not and will never be marching toward perfection. They are simply changing and evolving with time. Whether a gene or set of genes is advantageous or not can also change with the passage of time. This is why genetic diversity is so vital to our survival as human beings as well as why eugenics remains an unsound and detrimental theory.