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OverviewThe Unfit, by Elof Carlson, explores the sources of a movement - negative eugenics - that was used to justify the Holocaust, which claimed millions of innocent lives in World War II. Full Product DetailsAuthor: Elof Axel CarlsonPublisher: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press,U.S. Imprint: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press,U.S. Dimensions: Width: 16.40cm , Height: 2.80cm , Length: 23.00cm Weight: 0.936kg ISBN: 9780879695873ISBN 10: 0879695870 Pages: 451 Publication Date: 02 August 2001 Audience: College/higher education , Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate , Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly Format: Paperback Publisher's Status: Active Availability: In Print  This item will be ordered in for you from one of our suppliers. Upon receipt, we will promptly dispatch it out to you. For in store availability, please contact us. Table of ContentsIntroduction Part 1: Before Darwin Chapter 1. Who Are the Unfit? Chapter 2. The Unfit in Biblical Times Chapter 3. Self-pollution and Declining Health Chapter 4. Degeneracy Theory: Identifying the Innately Depraved and the Victims of Vicious Upbringing Chapter 5. Dangerous Classes and Social Degeneracy Chapter 6. Poor Laws, and the Descent to Degeneracy Chapter 7. The Perfectibility of Man Confronts Vice and Misery Chapter 8. Evolutionary Ethics before Darwin Chapter 9. Hereditary Units and the Pessimism of the Germ Plasm Part 2: Eugenics Takes the Spotlight Chapter 10. The Jukes and the Tribe of Ishmael Chapter 11. A Minor Prophet of Democracy Chapter 12. Isolating the Unfit through Compulsory Sterilization Chapter 13. The Emergence of Two Wings of the Eugenics Movement Chapter 14. Europe's Undesirables Replace the Domestic Unfit Chapter 15. Eugenics Becomes an International Movement Part 3: Racism, the Holocaust, and Beyond Chapter 16. Racism and Human Inequality Chapter 17. Jews as People, Race, Culture, Religion, and Victims Chapter 18. The Smoke of Auschwitz Chapter 19. The Abandonment of Eugenics by Genetics Chapter 20. The Future of Eugenics Chapter 21. Dealing with Life's Imperfections Appendices Appendix 1: Flow Diagrams and the History of Ideas Appendix 2: Useful Books on the History of Eugenics Appendix 3: Bibliography IndexReviewsThe Unfit: A History of a Bad Idea is a valuable contribution to historical scholarship relating to the eugenics movements of the 19th and 20th centuries... Carlson shows that long before Francis Galton coined the term 'eugenics,' scientists, physicians, philosophers, social reformers, and theologians had discussed the idea of an unfit class of people and had proposed solutions to deal with people they regarded as unfit. He also points out that many of those associated with the movement were 'people of good will, many with outstanding credentials as social reformers.' Carlson further reminds readers that even if societies do not enact eugenics laws, couples planning to have children will still face difficult moral decisions created by the availability of genetic counseling, prenatal genetic testing, and elective abortion. Although many may regard the eugenics movement as little more than an unfortunate chapter in human history, Carlson's book reminds us that the idea of an unfit group of people is not likely to fade into history, since it is a common strategy for explaining and responding to humanity's moral, physiological, and psychological imperfections. As we learn more about the genetic basis of disease and gain more control over human health and reproduction, we must also learn to deal with human imperfections without stigmatizing classes or races of people as unfit. New England Journal of Medicine Carlson's thoroughly readable, at times wryly entertaining, account of the history of the old eugenics shows that it was not invented by monsters, and that while some of its proponents were people one would not invite to lunch, many were progressive, decent radicals and doctors with a passion for constructive social reform. There are strange and unexpected precursors; sterilization started as what was thought to be the much-needed cure for habitual masturbation. Many of the measures, including mandatory sterilization of the unfit , were deemed in their day to be humane and progressive social policies. The fashionable commination of eugenics has obscured both the unpleasant physical realities about our genes and the wider truths about the two deep currents of human culture on which eugenics floated-beating up the neighbours, and ensuring the quality of our own posterity... Carlson maintains an exemplary detachment: he does not demonize or mock, and extracts only limited morals. A biologist by trade, unlike some other biologists who have written much on this subject, he stands as a historian rather than a man with a big agenda. He attributes the change, around the end of the nineteenth century, from social reform to the application of newly available genetic ideas, to a mounting frustration at the sheer lack of progress that had been made in fifty years of sincere assaults on social problems by environmental means. Although much intellectual racism owed nothing to eugenics, it is sadly true that systematized bigotry, racism and genocide, for a brief period only, were able to use a primitive and substantially flawed understanding of human genetics as a rationalization for what they would have done anyway. As such, genetics is a minor episode in this aspect of human history. Times Literary Supplement The book is extremely well documented and draws from a wide variety of scientific, religious, philosophical, and historical sources. Carlson makes sense of a broad collection of related themes, claims, and activities, and he constructs a cohesive narrative that explains the intellectual and historical backgrounds to eugenics, the impacts of eugenics on Western societies, and the ongoing concerns about modern genetics. It should be especially useful to students and instructors dealing with the scientific racism and eugenics and those interested in the historical background to current concerns about genetics. Journal of the History of Biology Author InformationTab Content 6Author Website:Countries AvailableAll regions |
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