Society for Biodemography and Social Biology
Formation | 1922 |
---|---|
Location | |
President | Hans-Peter Kohler |
Website | http://www.biodemog.org |
Formerly called | The Society for the Study of Social Biology;[1] The American Eugenics Society[2] |
The Society for Biodemography and Social Biology, formerly known as the Society for the Study of Social Biology and the American Eugenics Society,[1] is dedicated to "furthering the discussion, advancement, and dissemination of knowledge about biological and sociocultural forces which affect the structure and composition of human populations."[3]
History
The Society formed after the success of the Second International Conference on Eugenics (New York, 1921). The founders included Madison Grant, Harry H. Laughlin, Irving Fisher, Henry Fairfield Osborn, and Henry Crampton. The organization started by promoting racial betterment, eugenic health, and genetic education through public lectures, exhibits at county fairs etc. Under the direction of Frederick Osborn the society started to place greater focus on issues of population control, genetics, and, later, medical genetics. In 1930, the Society included mostly prominent and wealthy individuals, and membership included many non-scientists. The demographics of the Society gradually changed, and by 1960, members of the Society were almost exclusively scientist and medical professionals. Consequentially, the society focused more on genetics and less on class-based eugenics.[2] After Roe v. Wade was released (1972), the Society was reorganized and renamed The Society for the Study of Social Biology.[2] Osborn said, “The name was changed because it became evident that changes of a eugenic nature would be made for reasons other than eugenics, and that tying a eugenic label on them would more often hinder than help their adoption. Birth control and abortion are turning out to be great eugenic advances of our time."[4][5] The name was most recently changed to Society for Biodemography and Social Biology.[1]
List of presidents
- Irving Fisher 1922-26 (Political Economy, Yale University)
- Roswell H. Johnson 1926-27 (Cold Spring Harbor, Univ. of Pittsburgh)
- Harry H. Laughlin 1927-29 (Eugenics Record Office)
- C. C. Little 1929 (Pres., University of Michigan)
- Henry Pratt Fairchild 1929-31 (Sociology, New York University)
- Henry Farnham Perkins 1931-34 (Zoology, University of Vermont)
- Ellsworth Huntington 1934-38 (Geography, Yale University)
- Samuel Jackson Holmes 1938-40 (Zoology, University of California)
- Maurice Bigelow 1940-45 (Columbia University)
- Frederick Osborn 1946-52 (Osborn-Dodge-Harriman RR connection)
- Harry L. Shapiro 1956-63 (American Museum of Natural History)
- Clyde V. Kiser 1964-68 (differential fertility, Milbank Memorial Fund)
- Dudley Kirk 1969-72 (Demographer, Stanford University)
- Bruce K. Eckland 1972-75 (Sociology, University of North Carolina)
- L. Erlenmeyer-Kimling 1976-78 (Genetic Psychiatry)
- Gardner Lindzey 1979-81 (Center for Advanced Study, Behavioral Sciences)
- John L. Fuller 1982-83 (Behavioral genetics)
- Michael Teitelbaum 1985-1990 (US Congress staff; US population policy)
- Robert Retherford 1991-1994 (East-West Institute, Hawaii; funded by AID)
- Joseph Lee Rodgers 1994, 1995 (family influences)
- Current: Hans-Peter Kohler
See also
References
- 1 2 3 Eugenics, Encyclopedia of Critical Psychology, (2014, pp 619-626) ISBN 978-1-4614-5583-7
- 1 2 3 American Eugenics Society, Controlling Heredity,https://library.missouri.edu/exhibits/eugenics/aes.htm
- ↑ The Society for Biodemography and Social Biology, Homepage (Last retrieved Nov 26, 2014)http://www.biodemog.org
- ↑ Messall, Rebecca (Fall 2004). "The Long Road of Eugenics: From Rockefeller to Roe v. Wade". The Human Life Review. 30 (4): 33–74, 67. PMID 15856597.
- ↑ American Eugenics Society, Inc. (1931). Organized eugenics: January 1931. pp. 3, 65.
External links
- The Society for Biodemography and Social Biology
- Biodemography and Social Biology The academic journal.