Changes

During the 20th century, researchers became interested in the idea that mental illness could run in families and conducted a number of studies to document the heritability of such illnesses as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and depression.  Their findings were used by the eugenics movement as proof for its cause.  State laws were written in the late 1800s and early 1900s to prohibit marriage and force sterilization of the mentally ill in order to prevent the "passing on" of mental illness to the next generation.  These laws were upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1927 and were not abolished until the mid-20th century.  By 1945 over 45,000 mentally ill individuals in the United States had been forcibly sterilized.

During the 20th century, researchers became interested in the idea that mental illness could run in families and conducted a number of studies to document the heritability of such illnesses as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and depression.  Their findings were used by the eugenics movement as proof for its cause.  State laws were written in the late 1800s and early 1900s to prohibit marriage and force sterilization of the mentally ill in order to prevent the "passing on" of mental illness to the next generation.  These laws were upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1927 and were not abolished until the mid-20th century.  By 1945 over 45,000 mentally ill individuals in the United States had been forcibly sterilized.

In years to come, the ERO collected a mass of family pedigrees and concluded that those who were unfit came from economically and socially poor backgrounds. Eugenicists such as Davenport, the [[psychology|psychologist]] [[Henry H. Goddard]] and the conservationist [[Madison Grant]] (all well respected in their time) began to lobby for various solutions to the problem of the "unfit". (Davenport favored immigration restriction and sterilization as primary methods; Goddard favored segregation in his ''[[The Kallikak Family]]''; Grant favored all of the above and more, even entertaining the idea of extermination.)<ref>See Kevles, ''In the name of eugenics.''</ref> Though their methodology and research methods are now understood as highly flawed, at the time this was seen as legitimate scientific research.<ref>See Pg. 23 " 'Human Progress’ through Eugenics" from Psychology of Mental Fossils, toward an Archeo-psychology by Douglas Keith Candland at [http://www.douglascandland.com/images/chapter7.pdf] </ref> It did, however, have scientific detractors (notably, [[Thomas Hunt Morgan]], one of the few [[Mendel]]ians to explicitly criticize eugenics), though most of these focused more on what they considered the crude methodology of eugenicists, and the characterization of almost every human characteristic as being hereditary, rather than the idea of eugenics itself.<ref>Hamilton Cravens, ''The triumph of evolution: American scientists and the heredity-environment controversy, 1900-1941'' (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1978): 179.</ref>

In years to come, the ERO collected a mass of family pedigrees and concluded that those who were unfit came from economically and socially poor backgrounds. Eugenicists such as Davenport, the [[psychology|psychologist]] [[Henry H. Goddard]] and the conservationist [[Madison Grant]] (all well respected in their time) began to lobby for various solutions to the problem of the "unfit". (Davenport favored immigration restriction and sterilization as primary methods; Goddard favored segregation in his ''[[The Kallikak Family]]''; Grant favored all of the above and more, even entertaining the idea of extermination.)<ref>See Kevles, ''In the Name of Eugenics.''</ref> Though their methodology and research methods are now understood as highly flawed, at the time this was seen as legitimate scientific research.<ref>See Pg. 23 " 'Human Progress’ through Eugenics" from Psychology of Mental Fossils, toward an Archeo-psychology by Douglas Keith Candland at [http://www.douglascandland.com/images/chapter7.pdf] </ref> It did, however, have scientific detractors (notably, [[Thomas Hunt Morgan]], one of the few [[Mendel]]ians to explicitly criticize eugenics), though most of these focused more on what they considered the crude methodology of eugenicists, and the characterization of almost every human characteristic as being hereditary, rather than the idea of eugenics itself.<ref>Hamilton Cravens, ''The triumph of evolution: American scientists and the heredity-environment controversy, 1900-1941'' (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1978): 179.</ref>

The idea of "genius" and "talent" is also considered by William Graham Sumner, a founder of the American Sociological Society (now called the American Sociological Association).  He maintained that if the government did not meddle with the social policy of ''laissez-faire'', a class of genius would rise to the top of the system of social stratification, followed by a class of talent.  Most of the rest of society would fit into the class of mediocrity.  Those who were considered to be defective (mentally retarded, handicapped, etc.) had a negative effect on social progress by draining off necessary resources.  They should be left on their own to sink or swim.  But those in the class of delinquent (criminals, deviants, etc.) should be eliminated from society ("Folkways", 1907).

The idea of "genius" and "talent" is also considered by William Graham Sumner, a founder of the American Sociological Society (now called the American Sociological Association).  He maintained that if the government did not meddle with the social policy of ''laissez-faire'', a class of genius would rise to the top of the system of social stratification, followed by a class of talent.  Most of the rest of society would fit into the class of mediocrity.  Those who were considered to be defective (mentally retarded, handicapped, etc.) had a negative effect on social progress by draining off necessary resources.  They should be left on their own to sink or swim.  But those in the class of delinquent (criminals, deviants, etc.) should be eliminated from society ("Folkways", 1907).