6533b851fe1ef96bd12a9a5b

RESEARCH PRODUCT

EUGENICS AND SOCIALIST THOUGHT IN THE PROGRESSIVE ERA: THE CASE OF JAMES MEDBERY MACKAYE

Luca FioritoTiziana Foresti

subject

Eugenics060106 history of social sciencesmedia_common.quotation_subjectRace (biology)EugenicHistory and Philosophy of Science0502 economics and businessEugenicsJames Medbery MacKaye Socialism Eugenics Progressive Era0601 history and archaeologySociology050207 economicsmedia_commonGeneral Arts and HumanitiesBiological fitness05 social sciencesSocialismEnvironmental ethics06 humanities and the artsJames Medbery MacKayeSocialismSettore SECS-P/04 - Storia Del Pensiero EconomicoHappinessProgressive eraIdeologyProgressive EraGeneral Economics Econometrics and Finance

description

The aim of this essay is to assess James Medbery MacKaye’s contribution to socialist thought during the Progressive Era. Largely forgotten today, MacKaye proposed a special version of socialism, which he called “Pantocracy,” based on a peculiar blend of utilitarian and eugenic assumptions. Specifically, MacKaye held that biological fitness mapped to the capacity for happiness—biologically superior individuals possess a greater capacity for happiness—and saw the eugenic breeding of “a being or race of beings capable in the first place of happiness” as a possibility open by the advent of Pantocracy. Incidentally, this essay provides further evidence that the influence of eugenic and racialist beliefs upon the American Progressive Era political economy was so deep-rooted and pervasive that it did cut across traditional ideological boundaries.

yearjournalcountryeditionlanguage
2018-01-01Journal of the History of Economic Thought
https://doi.org/10.1017/s1053837218000019