Lecture 33 Flashcards
What was the eugenics movement? How did it work?
A social and political movement of the 20th century which aimed to improve the human species by controlling breeding. Most importantly through discouraging breeding by those with “bad” traits (known as negative eugenics), but also by encouraging breeding by those with “good” traits (known as positive eugenics).
What was the mendalian justification for the eugenics movement?
Many traits were considered as recessive traits: e.g pauperism, alcoholism, delinquency and feeblemindedness.
What was the kallikak family?
A family which had a father with good children and bad children, all of the bad children came from one mother and all of the good children came from another mother. A widely accepted model for eugenics at the time.
What was Henry H. Goddard’s genetic model? How was this utilised?
NN = normal, Nn = normal carrier, nn = feebleminded.
The eugenicists idea was to prevent feeblemindedness from breeding, creating artifical selection against n and hence reduction in feeblemindedness, delinquency and pauperism.
What did the hardy weinberg equation mean for the eugenics movement? What was punnetts argument for this?
if the frequency of N is p then the frequency of n = q (= 1 - p) and as such if n is rare nn will be very rare, most would be carriers, making eugenics difficult (selection against rare recessive alleles is inefficient). Punnett argues we should test for carriers and select against them.
What did Ronald Aylmer Fisher show?
He was a brilliant statistician who showed that approximately a 10% reduction in incidence of undesirable traits could be done in one generation. He also modelled Feeblemindedness as a complex trait which could be removed at a rate of 7% per generation.
What was the general concensus of textbooks against eugenics?
That eugenicists didn’t understand polygenic traits or the Hardy weinberg equation.
Why was eugenics and science badly linked in 1910-1930?
Some data was shonky and environmental effects were often ignored. The scientists agreed on data and models largely due to societal views.
What was a common method of eugenics? Give three examples of countries which had sterilization laws.
Sterilization was a common method. America, England and nazi germany all did some work towards eugenics at some point. Not all used sterilization though.
What was a large cause of the death of the eugenics movement?
After world war II eugenics was associated with naziism, however it did still continue for a short while. Emphasis shifted to genetic counselling and increasing criticism using social and political arguments occured. (e.g where do you draw the line with eugenics? Or the problem is with society and not the individuals).
What modern values is eugenics against?
Medical rights, privacy, reproductive autonomy and disabled rights. This is due to eugencics lowering peoples ability to choose and involving the state in reproductive decisions.
What is a major example of medical genetics? What kind of tests are run and why is this a grey area?
Huntington’s disease, a disease which strikes in middle age and is autosomal dominant. The genetic tests are run to let people know if they will have it in middle age but are not one hundred percent accurate. If testing a fetus and the test shows increased risk you must have an abortion, this test can be refused if the mother is not willing to abort if the results suggest huntington’s.
It will also reveal if a parent has huntington’s if not already known.
