Grand Valley State University ScholarWorks@GVSU Honors Projects Undergraduate Research and Creative Practice 2012 The Role of Eugenics in the Restoration of The Nuclear Family Post-WWII Amanda Jurczak Grand Valley State University Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/honorsprojects Recommended Citation Jurczak, Amanda, "The Role of Eugenics in the Restoration of The ucleN ar Family Post-WWII" (2012). Honors Projects. 159. http://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/honorsprojects/159 This Open Access is brought to you for free and open access by the Undergraduate Research and Creative Practice at ScholarWorks@GVSU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Honors Projects by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@GVSU. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. RUNNING HEAD: Eugenics and the Nuclear Family Post-WWII The Role of Eugenics in the Restoration of The Nuclear Family Post-WWII Amanda Jurczak Grand Valley State University Eugenics and the Nuclear Family Post-WWII 2 Very few social movements have had as long and murky of a path in United States as the eugenics movement. The concept itself is by no means unusual in human history; some evidence suggests that eugenic thinking patterns emerged as early as the time of Plato (Frost, 2012). The beginning of eugenics’ “modern movement”, developed in 1865, received a new definition by Sir Francis Galton and promoted the progression of desirable traits throughout human heredity lines. Hand-in-hand with this explanation is the underlying assumption that undesirable traits are defined as “unfit” for the success of the human race, and that these traits should be limited.