The slipperiness and indeterminacy of eugenics

Abstract

From its inception in the late nineteenth century, eugenics aimed to “improve” human beings. During its long, tortuous history, the movement spawned many different incarnations and had differing impacts on politics and policies. It was from the start a heterogeneous cultural force, manifested through local, national, regional, transnational and global initiatives, institutions, and individuals. Despite, or, perhaps, partly because of its slipperiness and indeterminacy, eugenics has managed to survive and thrive to this day. The longevity of the eugenic mindset is all the more striking, given its intimate association with the collapse of humanistic values and liberal democratic regimes in the early decades of the twentieth century.