Imbeciles by James Cohen talks about the eugenics movement that swept the nation during the early 1900s. Cohen talks about court cases within the subject, more specifically Buck v. Bell. Eugenics is defined as the science or belief of bettering the human population by regulating breeding of those deemed “unfit” to improve the genetic quality of humans. Cohen leads with describing well known figures that were in support of it to help demonstrate the so called mania that occurred across the United States. Such figures included John D. Rockefeller, Alexander Graham Bell and even Theodore Roosevelt. The author also described the numerous scientific organizations formed as well as naming several political, elite and even religious groups that joined in. The eugenics movement also infiltrated the pop culture of the time, making its way into bestselling novels, magazines and even into Hollywood movies. Cohen also discussed how many prestigious universities actually taught eugenics to students including: Harvard, Cornell, Berkeley and Columbia.
James Cohen brought forth the idea that this movement might have been spurred by “the collective fears of the Anglo-Saxon upper and middle classes about a
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Bell case. He talks extensively of how this is most certainly a class issue and how it is yet another tale in American history where the powerful take advantage of those below them and make the wrong decision. The Buck v. Bell case was a tragic one. Carrie Buck had been sent to Virginia’s Colony of Epileptics and Feeble-Minded even though she wasn’t actually unstable. Nonetheless she was placed at the center of the eugenics movement because of her family history. A spotlight was shown on her past of having a child out of wedlock at seventeen, as well as having a mother and other relatives institutionalized. Even though her school performance showed that Carrie was actually at normal levels of intelligence, this was ignored in
It is almost impossible to think that there was a time in American history where eugenics was something that a large mass of the public thought was actually a great idea. But, when it comes time to face reality, one must realize that this was not just a fabled tale of time of the past and that it actually happened. When researching historical events or movements, nothing is more beneficial to find evidence than through popular literature of the specific time period. The novel that sums up what this entire movement is about the best would be Erskine Caldwell’s Tobacco Road.
Many people have heard of the case Buck versus Bell. This was a land mark supreme court case in 1927. This case basis is eugenics, which is the science of improving a human population by controlled breeding. Most people today would disagree with this on premise alone. In the case Buck versus Bell the decision being heard was can doctors sterilize patients that were feeble minded or have epilepsy. As Carrie’s story unfolds you will see not only is feeble minded a broad term She was wronged not only on the merits of the case, but in the process of justice.
Part Two covers the years 1900-1950. It describes the rise in popularity of eugenics, and the resurgence of physical therapies and remedies for mental disorders. Whitaker stated that the rise of eugenics caused a degradation in moral treatment of mentally ill patients, and eventually gave way to forced sterilization of patients deemed to be mentally incapacitated to prevent the spreading of the genetic disorder of insanity. The American public as a whole seemed to embrace forced sterilization by the 1920’s.
Many Eugenics organization lobbied for laws to be passed that promoted the sterilization of the deviants of society. In some cases the women who were sterilized tried to fight against the crime committed against them. In Buck v. Bell, 1927 the court ruled in favor of the sterilization of Carrie Buck. She was said to have came from a feeble minded mother and she was called feeble minded as well by Dr. Priddy of Virginia State Colony of Feeble Minded where she was a patient. Her mother was said to be immoral and was a prostitute. Carrie was adopted by another family and was raped by her cousin and was viewed as promiscuous, therefore sent to Dr. Priddy institution (Buck v. Bell). Promiscuous and immorality was viewed as a characteristic that
The Oxford University Press defines eugenics as “the science of improving a human population by controlled breeding to increase the occurrence of desirable heritable characteristics” with a further—and rather illuminating—explanation which states, “Developed largely by Francis Galton as a method of improving the human race, it fell into disfavor only after the perversion of its doctrines by the Nazis”.
History throughout the United States has multiple positive and negative attributions that reflect onto today’s society. One circumstance that has been partially neglected was the eugenics movement in America; the notion of eugenics occurring in the United States is infrequently brought up today. According to Dr. Laura Rivard, the average person most likely does not even know what eugenics is. An English intellectual named of Francis Galton is responsible for starting this movement. Eugenics can briefly be defined as exploiting the fundamentals of genetics and heredity for the benefit of superiorizing the human race.
In England, which gave birth to the eugenics movement, it is interesting to note that sterilization laws never took hold. Bertrand Russel, a British philosopher at the time published Marriage and Morals (1929) in which he wrote “I say only that our scientific knowledge at present is not adequate for this purpose, and that it is very dangerous when a community allows its moral reprobations to masquerade in the guise of science, as is undoubtedly happening
During the early twentieth century, the United States was enduring significant social and economic changes due to its transformation into a commercial and industrial world power. As the need for labor escalated within many urban areas, millions of Europeans emigrated from Southern and Eastern Europe with the hopes of capitalizing upon these employment opportunities and attaining a better life. Simultaneously, many African-Americans migrated from the rural South into major cities, bearing the same intentions as those of the European immigrants. The presence of these minority groups generated both racial and class fears within white middle and upper class Americans. The fervent ethnocentrism resulting from these fears,
Like many I was aware of the eugenics movement in the United States in the 1920’s. However, after reading the story of Carrie Buck and learning more about the nature of the procedurals involved in these sterilizations I have a new found understanding of the roles Power and Othering played in the unlawful tests conducted on Carrie buck and many members of her family. The way in which those elite of the 1920’s mimics the party and the thought police in George Orwell’s 1984, is incredibly interesting to ponder. There are even instances of power and othering having the exact effects among nations today as well. The similarities between these major themes that we have continuously
The eugenics movement was a very influential movement in America that was very prevalent during the early 1900’s. The premise of the eugenics movement was that society could be scientifically improved by classifying ranking members of society and trying to prevent those who were ranked low from reproducing. The eugenics movement was born out of the desire for the upper and middle classes of society to try and prove, scientifically, that they were superior to those who were in the lower classes. The people who typically made up the lower classes were usually immigrants and those who were of a different race. Eugenics was essentially the method that was used to try and exert control over the lower classes while validating the idea that those in the upper and middle classes were superior.
Progressivism responded to the changes of the time period by enacting a series of social changes such as prohibition and women’s suffrage. Martin Pernick, a history professor at the University of Michigan, key characteristic of the progressive movement was its belief that science would be able to address social problems (26). Pernick also relates progressivism with the “development of modern propaganda” in that propaganda presented information that would influence public opinion on an issue. Propaganda played a large part in popularizing eugenics among the public. Among other measures, exhibits were set up to present eugenic ideas to school groups and the general public, popular eugenics organizations were established to expose citizens to eugenic ideas, and articles were published for the average reader to present eugenics as logical and scientifically based (Allen, “The Misuse…” 115). This attitude produced an environment in which the public was more receptive to a movement like eugenics that masqueraded as a scientific solution for dealing with the degenerate portion of the
The idea of eugenics made it possible for involuntary sterilization. In order to improve the human race, it meant regulating reproduction. 1907 Indiana passed to sterilize the mentally insane and inmates. Their plan was to eliminate “defective” genes. By 1960 63,000 people were involuntary
Every once in a while when Carrie worked up enough courage to ask her mother about things like menstruation, she was accused of sinning for even thinking about those things. Carrie was alienated from society, and ended up using her psychic powers to hurt the people who made fun of her.
The eugenics movement began in the 20th century by a man named Francis Galton. As the cousin of Charles Darwin, Galton believed that eugenics was a moral philosophy to improve humanity by encouraging the ablest and healthiest people to have more children (Carlson). This Galtonian ideal of eugenics is often thought of as positive eugenics. Eugenics can be defined as the outgrowth of human heredity aimed at "improving" the quality of the human stock (Allen and Bird). At the other end of the spectrum is what can be classified as negative eugenics and is presently in disrepute. Negative eugenics entails selective breeding in which the least able from the population is taken out of the reproduction pool to preserve humanity's best traits.
There is much bias and confusion surrounding the topic of eugenics. Many times the reason for this is the lack of understanding of what the term means, where it states “In 1883, Sir Francis Galton, a respected British scholar, and cousin of Charles Darwin, first used the term eugenics, meaning ‘well-born.’ (Genetics Generation, 2015).” This term has evolved to encompass more than just “well-born” as can be seen in the encyclopedia. “The eleventh edition of The Encyclopedia Britannica defines eugenics as ‘the organic betterment of the race through wise application of the laws of heredity.’ (Court, 2004).” The meaning of the word eugenics, due to the way it has been used, confuses many people.