Lec #9: Eugenics Movement, Migration, & Racial/ethnic Discrimination

Question 1

What is the Eugenics Movement? and who created it?

Answer 1

• Francis Galton

- the selection of desired heritable characteristics aimed at improving the genetic composition of the human race

Question 2

What was the Eugenics movement like in the USA? who did it target? what was this an example of?

Answer 2

• during the 20th century, 33 states had sterilization programs in place
• this program targeted: mentally ill people, feeble-minded people, criminals and alcoholics, people in poverty
• this was an example of direct and indirect violence and structural violence b/c of the policies and procedures

Question 3

How was the USA immigration policies and reproductive rights affected by the eugenics movement?

Answer 3

• A new immigration law was passed in (1924) that restricted individuals coming from other countries
• immigration policy (political structural violence) was used to control eugenically the reproductive stock of a country
• b/w 1920-1938 more than 30,000 ppl were involuntarily sterilized which resulted in direct violence b/c they were forced to do this

Question 4

Was there any element of eugenics ideologies in earlier immigration policy of canada? (hint: 4 of them)

Answer 4

• gender, health, sexuality as determining factors
• people who were tough and desperate enough to do physically hard labour jobs
• if you were “mentally defective” or “physically defective” you couldn’t come into canada
• concerned with racial mixing

Question 5

do you think the idea of genetics can be considered racist? why?

Answer 5

yes b/c they are selecting certain races they want to breed and they are casting out the ones that will make society less

Question 6

what is the definition of migration?

Answer 6

moving between or within countries

Question 7

Why do people migrate?

Answer 7

the decision to migrate and the chosen destination are often shaped by push and pull factors

Question 8

what are the push and pull factors of migration?

Answer 8

Push Factors: people leave for negative reasons

• poverty and famine
• natural disasters
• war, ethnic, or political violence, genocide
• some sort of oppression

Pull Factors: people leave for positive reasons

• better job opportunities
• possibility of higher wages
• educational opportunities
• better access to healthcare

Question 9

who are the middlemen minorities? and what are some examples?

Answer 9

they are trades people and small business owners who have immigrated to a nation to serve as intermediaries b/w ruling and subordinate groups
- examples include: jews in europe, chinese in southeast asia, and indians in africa

Question 10

why were middle men created?

How did they get to other countries?

Answer 10

• they were created as social categories by the british colonizer in order to serve economic and political interests
• the british empire purposefully brought some middlemen minorities from one part of the world to another