Troy Duster is a famous sociologist who has studied and conducted research in many fields of sociology. In his book Backdoor to Eugenics, he discusses the science of eugenics and how it is influencing modern science and the social aspect of society. Although we usually interpret progress as a good thing, there is still a fear that even the best intentions of world-renowned doctors and scientists can be corrupted. Especially since the technology behind eugenics is becoming much more powerful, the idea of eugenics is becoming more widely accepted and is much more practiced than ever before. I believe this is the essential idea of Tory Duster's thesis in his book: Say No to Plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Eugenics is a set of beliefs and practices aimed at improving the human race. It is the experimentation of manipulating genes to reproduce only desirable traits and eventually eliminate all undesirable traits. Eugenics aims to genetically improve the quality of human beings to form the “fittest” race in order to create the strongest society known to humanity thus far. In his book Backdoor to Eugenics, Troy Duster uses many examples to show the role of eugenics in US history. Such as when certain health and social policies were adopted due to the study of eugenics, such as sterilization laws that were in effect until 1972. These laws mandated the sterilization of all unfit members of society. For example, criminals and the mentally handicapped have been sterilized by the fear of reproducing and passing on their undesirable traits to their offspring, causing an inefficient life cycle. People then assumed that to form the most suitable society it was necessary to eliminate these members of society seen as a burden. Therefore, the Supreme Court upheld the ruling in the Buck v. Bell sterilization case in 1927. Following this ruling, twenty states passed sterilization laws in which fifty-eight Americans were unjustifiably sterilized. Another way eugenics played a role in U.S. history was the IQ tests given to soldiers after World War I. These intelligence tests were unfairly biased and the results of these tests showed that white soldiers scored the highest and Southern and Eastern Europeans scored the lowest. These findings were published immediately before the Immigration Act of 1924, which resulted in the rejection of many Southern and Eastern Europeans in the United States. There are obvious problems we can define in these situations, but there are many hidden problems with eugenics. For example, regarding problems with efforts to explain race and IQ levels through eugenics, the first would be that the pursuit of the ideal scientific study of race and intelligence would specify the empirical referent for each concept in independent ways from culture. and this is almost impossible to achieve. The second problem was posed when Duster argued that the empirical referent for “intelligence” would have to demonstrate an example in an appropriate and relevant situation. On the other hand, the problem with appropriating the genetic explanation for mental illness is that there are variations in the definable entity, for example American psychiatrists are twice as likely to diagnose schizophrenia as European psychiatrists. Duster also stated that there are no real “IQ genes” to measure intelligence, although there are genes.
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