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Eugenics Movement

Definition

The Eugenics Movement was an early 20th-century campaign that sought to improve human populations through selective breeding. It often targeted specific racial or social groups for sterilization or other forms of reproductive control.

Analogy

Imagine if someone tried to create the perfect basketball team by only allowing tall people to have children. That's essentially what eugenics tried to do on a societal level – but instead of height for basketball, it focused on traits like intelligence or morality based on flawed science and prejudice.

Related terms

Social Darwinism: A theory applying concepts from biological evolution (like survival of the fittest) to human societies.

Sterilization Laws: Legal measures taken in some states during the eugenics movement that allowed for forced sterilizations of certain individuals deemed unfit for reproduction.

Immigration Restriction Act 1924: A U.S. federal law that limited the number of immigrants who could be admitted from any country, reflecting eugenicist beliefs about racial superiority and inferiority.