Conflict Theory and the Revolution of Eugenics - Research Paper Example

Conflict Theory and the Revolution of Eugenics s The paper presents the social perspective on Eugenics in the United States of America for the past decade. The paper looks at the development that has happened in the last century through a conflict theory. The theory takes the perspective on Margret Sanger. Introduction Margret Sanger was the founder of a leading organization in the United States of America that advocates for abortion. She was one of the pioneers of Planned Parenthood organization that one of its mandates is to advocate for abortion. Her main ideology in supporting Eugenics was to bring down the population of the inferior and less fortunate races. She was concerned with reducing the races of these people she considered inferior (Engs, 2005). Most of her life she supported the revolution that radically changed our lives. Her views of the other races she considered inferior and less fit in the society depicts her as a racist. Most people do not understand the meaning of the word Eugenics but certainly, they have come across it in the US. The term means good birth. The history of the US is full of influences from the Eugenics. The Eugenics has had influence in the American society for a century from all perspectives ranging from environmental, social, and cultural areas. This paper aims at looking the general conflict of theory that engulfed the century as the Eugenics tried to fight for human rights. The Eugenics hometown is California where most of them congregated. The eugenics sterilized 60,000 people in 1909 while at the same time barred some people from marriage. The eugenics received their donations from Rockefeller foundation, Carnegie Institution, and Harriman railroad fortune. The Eugenics also experienced success due to the organization they had with some of the best scientists from prestigious Universities such as Wales, Yale, Stamford, and Princeton. Most of these scientists spiced the theories of science to assist the eugenics in their quest to reduce population growth (De Marco, 2004). The role of Harriman railroad in the Eugenics was to deport Jewish and Italian races back to their country. The Carnegie Institution helped in establishing laboratories where scientists did their research work. The Rockefeller foundation helped in foundation of the German eugenics. Francis Galton is one of the proponents of the eugenics and insisted that their social upper class was due to superior genes that they possessed. Margaret Sanger Margaret Sanger categorically falls as a racist, Eugenic and as a Darwinist. This woman had an influential role in advocating for modern birth techniques. She is the founder of Planned Parenthood and had an organization that continues to advocate for abortion in US (Grant, 2001). Her mother was a devoted Irish catholic and her father was a drunkard that had problems in making ends meet for his family. Margret Sanger father was a skilled tombstone curvier and a Masonite. Despite these skills, he had a strong political affiliation and did not differentiate his job from the politics. Mr. Higgs had strong political sediments and alienated many of his customers based on radical politics of the time. The rational behavior made him have difficulties in feeding his family. At her early teens, she left her home only to return latter to pursue a course in nursing at a local co-educational boarding school. She was a poor student who frequently skipped classes and did not honor her part-time job. She was forced to quit school and help her ailing mother. She later moved to her older sisters place and worked there as a grade one teacher for the immigrants. She only worked for two terms alone and left the job. She later married William Sanger an Architect in the year 1902 and they had three children. According to Charles Darwin, there is a law of survival of the fittest and Margaret interpreted this Law rightly and brought it into human life by advocating for abortion (Gray, 1979). Margaret Sanger was born in 1879 and died in 1966. Her Christian mother teachings do not support eugenics. There is contra version for her support for the eugenics since she is from a Christian background. Margret came from a humble background and experienced all the hustles and pressures of life (Douglas, 1975). She is the founder of free love movements that advocated free sex without consequences. History indicates that Margaret led a disorganized life right away from child hood. When she bore children, she could not take care of them. She dropped out of school and did not even finish her initial career, which was nursing. Her characteristics concerning sexual contacts led to the free love movement (Cox, 2005). She used her husband’s wealth to fund most of her political career. Sanger was concerned about the increasing population and referred to calamities such as drought as means of wiping out the competition. With that, she came up with the ideology of abortion. In most of her magazines, she requested and prompted that the government fund sterilization methods in order to reduce population increase. In her defense for the Eugenics, Sanger considered that the only way the human race could improve their lives is by controlling birth rate. Mostly she suggested charity organization as a means of helping the less fortunate people in the society declaring that it was their only chance of survival. Her intense sexual desire and motive led to the development of birth control and sterility in life. She is quoted comparing the Australian aboriginal who is considered as the lowest category of human species of humanity as being a step ahead of chimpanzee where our development originated and therefore human’s ability to control our sexual motive is not perfect. For this reason, she advocates for means of reducing births, which are most likely the results of sexual intercourse. She equates a rapist to an animal, which does not understand any law just because the rapist is on heat (Gordon, 1976). Sanger and the Eugenics Sanger’s Eugenics conversion came from the influence she received from Thomas Malthus a man who inspired Charles Darwin to conceptualize the theory of evolution. According to Malthus, the western civilization had minimum chances of survival if they continue to be physically unfit, spiritually diseased, if they had no material wealth and if they continued to be racially discriminated and accepted these demeaning conditions. In addition to this, Malthus suggested that even the mentally incompetent people be eliminated from the society if not being isolated or suppressed (Flynn, 2004). During the 5th International Neo-Malthusian and birth control conference, her main contribution was that as the human race continues with the evolution, it should be aiming at producing a superior race which is able to adapt to changing environmental conditions and challenges. She further suggests that segregation just like Darwin proposed is one of the means of attaining this motive. Other method mentioned includes sterilization and abortion. The conference played a significant role in initiating the program and States like California, Virginia and Kansas led the innovation of segregation, sterilization, and abortion. Havelock Ellis is also one of the Eugenics who advocated for abortion and birth control. He constantly wrote in his published magazines about the doctrine of unfit parents who are not able to provide proper parental care to their children hence the children end up being unfit for the next generation. He is quoted condemning eugenics that failed to embrace the ideology of abortion, sterilization, and birth control. He refers to women as important people in the society (Olsen, 2003). This is because of the role they play in producing and nurturing babies to the next generation. According to Elvis birth control and sterility is a logic that makes the policy of the eugenics. In one of her public speech in favor of the eugenic movement, Sanger declared that birth control is the only way to reduce and eliminate diseases in the society, make the jails free and empty the orphanages. In support of the Eugenics and the birth control policy, Margaret opened her first clinic in 1916, which aimed at controlling births. The two-room clinic opened in Brooklyn where she targeted the slaves, Latin and Jews who lived in degraded places (Engelman, 2003). The two-room clinic is an ironical expression of her lavish house but since her target, audience was the poor she had to get herself out of comfort zone (Marshall, 1991). She continued offering her services to the community and opened more clinics within the communities mainly targeting the poor and the minority due to their inability to access medical services because of their social class. In 1930, it was her time to give her full attention to the Negros due to their poor living conditions. This prompted her to open another clinic in Harlem where she exploited the black stereotypes to achieve her goals (Washington, 2006). Sterilization laws use and cases Sterilization law passed in Indiana in 1907 and lasted to 1974. Close to 2500, people were sterilized between that duration. It is also evident that the sterilization was done to both males and females nearly at the same ratio of 1:1. 1933-1938 is the period where most of the sterilization took place with 443 people sterilized. The great depression is the reason as to why most people turned to sterilization due to economic challenges. Sterilization averages at 98 per tear in Indiana state. The first law of sterilization came in in 1907 and it aimed at the people in jail, rapists, and mentally retarded people. Oscar McCulloch discovered the Ishmaelites back in 1876. He described them as parasites who refused to change their ways even when they received help. The group followed strict traditions and sterilization and abortion were regarded as taboo in their tradition. For his reason they were a target group for sterilization and abortion. Due to resistance of the black Negros, Sanger employed black people in the clinic in order to win the trust of the back people. Most of her employees were either sociologists or eugenics to ensure the continuity of the eugenics. To strengthen her motive, Sanger composed a birth control league, which also contained members of the eugenics and sociologist in addition to radicals who fought for human rights. Her approach was not biased in anyway in terms of race and gender (Kennedy, 1970). She placed clinics in places she considered worthy just by conducting a survey on population growth and level of education conditions in addition to social class. It is important to note that this work was not an easy task and Sanger received help from radicals and sociologists who made good foundation for these programs. Most of the churches were a hindrance to Sanger’s birth control campaign mainly because she convinced the society about sex without consequences. To date most churches consider abortion as a sin while in some institutions abortion is a crime. As a Catholic she was raised by St. Mary’s Sisters. Sanger informed the community that she was not fighting against the church but she was only advocating for human rights (Sanger, 2003). The Catholic Church was against every scientific evolution and the eugenics was their common enemies. In a mid to solve the situation Sanger invited the church to discuss the situation. However, the church insisted that the poor, weak, diseased, black, or white, less intelligent people were equal in front of God and had to be given a chance and not discriminated or wiped out from the society. In response to this, Sanger declared that as ignorance and informed the church of the prevailing and changing economic and environmental conditions that the human race should face. In addition to this, she declared the church as just part of the society facing similar problems (Sanger M. , 1980). The debate continues to date but Sanger progressed with positive eugenic informing people of the side effects of increased population. Sanger did not only work in the US but her passion led her to further her works to the rest of the world. Most of the eugenics works on sterilization and birth control were exported to other parts of the world such as Europe. While the government watched her progress, Sanger earned a lot of people’s confidence in her work. General Motors came in as sponsors and supported the organization to continue with the campaign. The impact was not only felt in Europe but populous countries like China, Singapore, Japan, and Korea received her services. To date, Planned Parenthood saves billions of dollars to the American society (Grant G. , 1988). The Marie Stopes is an organization that originated from the Eugenics and is still viable to date offering its services worldwide. Planned Parenthood By 1960, Planned Parenthood was a vocal factor for advocating for women’s rights. Domestic and international funding increased during this time as women increasingly accessed birth control and family planning services. Gregory Pincus received an award from Planned Parenthood for developing a pill used in birth control and officially approved, by US Drug and Food Administration in 1960. However, this did not go well for a long time when Planned Parenthood received report that women gave birth to abnormal children after administration of thalidomide drug in 1956-1962. The government has also played a role in advocating for these services. In 1963, the State began offering family planning services to the society. The State also provided family education and health care services. Republican and Democratic leaders support family panning services.in 1971, an international program offers Planned Parenthood in the world. In 1973, women had the choice of choosing whether to abort or not. In 1981, the program-targeted teens after researched data indicated that teenage pregnancy was on the rise. In 1993, Clinton awards low-income women with the right of accessing counseling, referrals and abortion services. References Cox, V. (2005). Margaret Sanger: Rebel for Women’s Rights. Philadelphia PA: Chelsa House. De Marco, D. a. (2004). Architects of the Culture of Death. San Francisco, CA: Ignatius Press. Douglas, E. (1975). Margaret Sanger: Pioneer of the Future. Garret Park: Garrett Park Press. Engelman, P. (2003). Foreword to Margaret Sanger’s The Pivot of Civilization. Amherst, NY: Humanity Books. Engs, R. (2005). The Eugenics Movement: An Encyclopedia. Westport: Greenwood Press. Flynn, D. (2004). Intellectual Morons: How Ideology Makes Smart People Fall for Stupid Ideas. New York: Crown Forum. Gordon, L. (1976). Woman’s Body, Woman’s Right: A Social History of Birth Control in America. New York: Gross man Publishers. Grant, G. (1988). Grand Illusions: The Legacy of Planned Parenthood. Brentwood: Wolgemuth and Hyatt. Grant, G. K. (2001). A Short Biography of Planned Parenthood’s Founder, Margaret Sanger. Nashville: Highland Books. Gray, M. (1979). Margaret Sanger: A Biography of the Champion of Birth Control. New York: Richard Marek Publishers. Kennedy, D. (1970). Birth Control in America: The Career of Margaret Sanger. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. Marshall, R. a. (1991). Blessed are the Barren: The Social Policy of Planned Parenthood. San Francisco, CA: Ignatius. Olsen, T. (2003). Margaret Sanger, and American eugenics. Danvers MA: Rosemont Publishing. Sanger, M. (1980). What Every Girl Should Know. New York: Belvedere Publishers. Sanger, M. (2003). The Pivot of Civilization. Amherst, NY: Humanity Books. Washington, H. (2006). Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present,. New York: Doubleday. Read More