Eugenics then and now / edited by Carl Jay Bajema.

Date:
[1976]
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

Credit: Eugenics then and now / edited by Carl Jay Bajema. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    11/406 page IX
    PREFACE Each generation of mankind makes decisions that affect the quantity and quality (both genetic and cultural) of future generations. The papers reprinted in this Benchmark volume discuss how human societies can and are affecting the genetic quality of future generations. Papers were considered for inclusion in this volume if they related to one of the following major trends in the history of eugenic thought; the Galtonian perspective; the neo-Malthusian perspective; the eugenic implications of sterilization; the eugenic potential of artificial insemination; the eugenic environment as a prerequisite for eugenic selection; the eugenic hypothesis; voluntarist eugenics; the eugenic implications of population control policies and practices; or the new eugenics— genetic counseling, prenatal diagnosis, and selective induced abortion. Some of the papers reprinted in this volume are strictly of historical interest in that they provide the reader with insight as to how an earlier generation perceived eugenic questions. Some of the papers give the views of persons who were ahead of their time with respect to eugenics. Other papers provide meaningful analyses that the reader can use when he or she participates in decisions that will affect the genetic future of mankind. Several recent papers are reprinted in this volume because they can help the reader better understand past eugenic thought or gain insight into the current status of eugenic thought. The editor's introductions to the nine groups of papers, each of which relates to one of the major historical trends in eugenic thought mentioned above, provide the reader with a brief historical perspective so that the reprinted papers can be better appreciated and to acquaint the reader with some of the recent literature on that topic. Because eugenics can be more easily understood in the light of natural selection, I have written a brief introductory essay on eugenics and natural selec¬ tion. A brief essay on the historical confusion over the meaning of eugenics is included in this volume to acquaint the reader with the three ways in which eugenics has been defined in the past. CARL JAY BAJEMA /X
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