In What Ways Are the Ideas of Socio-Biology Linked with Eugenics: What's Wrong with Trying to Engineer a Better Society Anyway?

Eugenics is concerned with the current direction of human evolution. Troy Duster (1990) in his book “Backdoor to Eugenics” defines eugenics as "the organic betterment of the race through wise application of the laws of heredity." The word Eugenics was first put to use in 1883 by Francis Galton in his “Inquiries into Human Faculty and Its Development”. The word originates from the Greek word eugenes meaning "...good in stock, hereditarily endowed with noble qualities". The first edition of the Encyclopedia of Bioethics' entry for eugenics states that the meaning of the term Eugenics has differed over time: "...a science that investigates methods to ameliorate the genetic composition of the human race, a program to foster such betterment; a social movement; and in its perverted form, a pseudo-scientific retreat for bigots and racists" (Ludmerer 1978, p. 457). Highlighting its disintegration, Kelves says that by 1935 "...eugenics had become 'hopelessly perverted' into a pseudoscientific facade for 'advocates of race and class prejudice, defenders of vested interests of church and state, Fascists, Hitlerites, and reactionaries generally'" (Kevles 1985, p. 164). Eugenics has been practiced since ancient times; for example, in the 20th century Sweden had a eugenics program that lasted for 40 years (Broberg and Roll- Hansen, 1996). In fact, a total of 28 countries practiced eugenics in the 20th century, and one country, Germany, committed genocide. To explain the origins and ideas behind the practice of eugenics, I will draw on works from a fine selection of the first