Eugenics and the Campaign for Voluntary Sterilization in Britain Between the Wars

Abstract

Recent historians of the British eugenics movement have explored the link between eugenics and ‘progressive’ thought, implying that eugenics was highly influential in inter-war debates on social policy and social problems While there is some validity in this analysis, it fails to account for the fact that pressure by eugenists produced very little in the way of tangible policy outcomes This is powerfully illustrated by the campaign for the voluntary sterilization of mental defectives (and, ultimately, others in the ‘social problem group’) which developed in the 1920s, and reached a peak in the early 1930s Voluntary sterilization was the principal issue in the eugenics movement, and its implementation in legislation was seen as the key to the success of the movement generally. Thus the Eugenics Society (and Dr C P Blacker in particular) expended a considerable amount of time and effort trying to convert public opinion and persuade the Ministry of Health and Board of Control to sponsor legislation. The campaign was unsuccessful, however An hereditanan analysis of mental defect never attained a firm enough constituency of support in the scientific community, eugenists were divided on whether sterilization or institutional segregation was the better approach, there were legal problems, such as the validity of consent to the sterilization operation given by the patient. Most of all, strong opposition came from the Labour Party Indeed, the campaign for voluntary sterilization shows that the principal reason for the failure of eugenics in inter-war Britain was the opposition to it from the labour movement Thus one must be cautious of overstressing the links between eugenics and ‘progressive’ thought

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