Definition of eugenics
: the practice or advocacy of controlled selective breeding of human populations (as by sterilization) to improve the population's genetic composition
- In 1883 Francis Galton, in England, coined the term "eugenics" to encompass the idea of modification of natural selection through selective breeding for the improvement of humankind …
- —Jeremiah A. Barondess
- A half-century ago, eugenics became associated with Hitler, genocide and master-race theories, and its reputation has never recovered.
- —Dan Seligman
- After the Second World War, "eugenics" became a word to be hedged with caveats in Britain and virtually a dirty word in the United States, where it had long been identified with racism.
- —Daniel J. Kevles
- The new advocates of biotechnology speak approvingly of what they term "free-market eugenics."
- —Dinesh D'Souza
