6533b7dbfe1ef96bd1270cd5

RESEARCH PRODUCT

BETWEEN PROGRESSIVISM AND INSTITUTIONALISM: ALBERT BENEDICT WOLFE ON EUGENICS

Luca Fiorito

subject

ProgressivismEugenicsGeneral Arts and Humanitiesmedia_common.quotation_subjectEnvironmental ethicsCriminologySocial issuesEugenics; Institutionalism; Social Evolution; Progressivism; Wolfe Albert Benedictjel:B15History and Philosophy of ScienceSettore SECS-P/04 - Storia Del Pensiero EconomicoInstitutionalismEugenicsRhetoricEconomicsjel:B1Progressive eraElement (criminal law)Social evolutionGeneral Economics Econometrics and Financemedia_common

description

Albeit concerned with the biological element in social evolution, Albert B. Wolfe was among the very few economists of the progressive era who openly expressed his concerns about certain implications of eugenic rhetoric for the social science. Specifically, Wolfe questioned the strong hereditary boundaries that more extreme eugenicists suggested about human beings. As I will attempt to show in paper, a careful examination of Wolfe’s writings reveals that his reaction was rooted in the belief that many of the social problems which eugenicists attributed to hereditary limitations, were actually imputable to the influence that the social, economic, and physical environment exercised on the individuals.

yearjournalcountryeditionlanguage
2013-11-13
10.1017/s105383721300028xhttp://hdl.handle.net/10447/101612