Our Own Master Race

Eugenics in Canada, 1885-1945

Nonfiction, Health & Well Being, Psychology, History, Canada, Social Psychology
Cover of the book Our Own Master Race by Angus McLaren, University of Toronto Press, Scholarly Publishing Division
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Angus McLaren ISBN: 9781442655874
Publisher: University of Toronto Press, Scholarly Publishing Division Publication: December 15, 1990
Imprint: Language: English
Author: Angus McLaren
ISBN: 9781442655874
Publisher: University of Toronto Press, Scholarly Publishing Division
Publication: December 15, 1990
Imprint:
Language: English

Was Canada immune to the racist currents of thought that swept central Europe in the 1920's and 1930's? In this landmark book Angus McLaren, co-author of The Bedroom and the State, examines the pervasiveness in Canada of the eugenic notion of "race betterment" and demonstrates that many Canadians believed that radical measures were justified to protect the community from the "degenerate." The sterilization of the feeble-minded in Alberta and British Columbia was merely the most dramatic attempt to limit the numbers of the "unfit." But in the decades prior to World War Two, eugenic preoccupations were to colour discussions of immigration restriction, birth control, mental testing, family allowances, and a host of similar social policies.

Doctors, psychiatrists, geneticists, social workers, and mental hygienists provided an anxious Canadian middle class with the reassuring argument that poverty, crime, prostitution, and mental retardation were primarily the products of defective genes, not a defective social system. In explaining why biological solutions were sought for social problems McLaren not only provides a provocative reappraisal of the ideas and activities of a generation of feminists, political progressives, and public health propagandists but he also explores some of the roots of our not-so-latent racist tendencies.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Was Canada immune to the racist currents of thought that swept central Europe in the 1920's and 1930's? In this landmark book Angus McLaren, co-author of The Bedroom and the State, examines the pervasiveness in Canada of the eugenic notion of "race betterment" and demonstrates that many Canadians believed that radical measures were justified to protect the community from the "degenerate." The sterilization of the feeble-minded in Alberta and British Columbia was merely the most dramatic attempt to limit the numbers of the "unfit." But in the decades prior to World War Two, eugenic preoccupations were to colour discussions of immigration restriction, birth control, mental testing, family allowances, and a host of similar social policies.

Doctors, psychiatrists, geneticists, social workers, and mental hygienists provided an anxious Canadian middle class with the reassuring argument that poverty, crime, prostitution, and mental retardation were primarily the products of defective genes, not a defective social system. In explaining why biological solutions were sought for social problems McLaren not only provides a provocative reappraisal of the ideas and activities of a generation of feminists, political progressives, and public health propagandists but he also explores some of the roots of our not-so-latent racist tendencies.

More books from University of Toronto Press, Scholarly Publishing Division

Cover of the book Constructing Neoliberalism by Angus McLaren
Cover of the book Relics and Writing in Late Medieval England by Angus McLaren
Cover of the book The World Won't Wait by Angus McLaren
Cover of the book Political Tourism and its Texts by Angus McLaren
Cover of the book The Traffic in Babies by Angus McLaren
Cover of the book Against the Draft by Angus McLaren
Cover of the book Fiscal Adjustment and Economic Development by Angus McLaren
Cover of the book Chronic Alcoholism and Alcohol Addiction by Angus McLaren
Cover of the book Medieval Monasticism by Angus McLaren
Cover of the book Judeans and Jews by Angus McLaren
Cover of the book Victorian Jesus by Angus McLaren
Cover of the book The Intellectual as Hero in 1990s Ukrainian Fiction by Angus McLaren
Cover of the book The Research Compendium by Angus McLaren
Cover of the book Measuring the Mosaic by Angus McLaren
Cover of the book Encyclopedia of Ukraine by Angus McLaren
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy