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Introduction

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 February 2020

Amir Teicher
Affiliation:
Tel-Aviv University
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Summary

The rediscovery of Gregor Mendel’s studies on plant hybridization at the beginning of the twentieth century marks the starting point of modern genetic research. Many acknowledge the fact that Mendelism informed early twentieth-century hereditarian and eugenic thinking in Germany and in the US. But the view of Mendelism itself remains that of a mechanical, ideologically neutral, possibly even anti-racist theory. Eugenicists’ adoption of Mendelian thinking is often seen as dogmatic, overtly simplistic and pseudo-scientific. The moral and analytical benefit of using the label "pseudo-science" when discussing eugenics/racial-hygiene and racial science is, however, greatly limited. Mendelism was a sound and rich theory, and the attempts to apply it to the human domain were genuine and serious. It was also a theory with clear social and political implications, which changed its function as the decades passed and as it was appropriated by scholars working in different scientific realms (anthropology, psychiatry, genealogy) and as it moved between the social and the political domains. It strongly imprinted Nazi sterilization and antisemitic policies and had lasting impact well after 1945.

Type
Chapter
Information
Social Mendelism
Genetics and the Politics of Race in Germany, 1900–1948
, pp. 1 - 21
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

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  • Introduction
  • Amir Teicher, Tel-Aviv University
  • Book: Social Mendelism
  • Online publication: 03 February 2020
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108583190.001
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To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

  • Introduction
  • Amir Teicher, Tel-Aviv University
  • Book: Social Mendelism
  • Online publication: 03 February 2020
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108583190.001
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Introduction
  • Amir Teicher, Tel-Aviv University
  • Book: Social Mendelism
  • Online publication: 03 February 2020
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108583190.001
Available formats
×