Eugenics
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 7076907 |
|---|---|
| Authors | A E Raz (0000-0001-6268-0409, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2021 |
| Pages | 1-4 |
| Publication date | 2021-04-23 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | OTHER |
| Venue | The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology (JOURNAL) |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1002/9781405165518.wbeose073.pub2 |
| OpenAlex | W4317766799 |
| ISBN | 9781405165518 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 6 |
Eugenics” is the idea of improving the gene pool of a population. This could be done through selective breeding or genetic enhancement (“positive” eugenics) and/or by preventing the birth of undesirable offspring or preventing them from reproducing (“negative” eugenics). A word with horrific connotations but an indeterminate meaning, eugenics has seen a remarkable pendulum shift between its utopian and dystopian images since the late nineteenth century. While the “old eugenics” is seen as authoritarian (and hence dystopian, following the lessons of history), the “new eugenics” is regarded from this viewpoint as voluntary, liberal, and even liberating, and hence constructive and desired. The debate about eugenics played an important role in the development of the profession of genetic counseling, which regained social legitimacy by building itself, from the 1960s, on an ethos of “non‐directiveness.” Human (medical) genetics is different from eugenics because it is premised on reducing human suffering and increasing the reproductive choices of individuals genetically at risk. Socioanthropological research on the uptake of and attitudes toward prenatal genetic testing critically suggests the possibility of new, more implicit regimes of eugenics
Dystopia · Environmental ethics · Ethos · Eugenics · Legitimacy · Political science · Politics · Population · Sociology · Demography · Law · Medical History and Research · Philosophy · Race, Genetics, and Society · Reproductive Health and Technologies
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |