More handpicked essays just for you.
Environmental influences on child development
Environmental influences on child development
Theories about the nature of human behaviour
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Environmental influences on child development
In 19th century Sweden, the concepts of Darwinism were further developed to explain the human social construct. The degeneration theory and the idea of eugenics are extensions of the theory of evolution by Darwin which attempted to explain the origins and causes of an individual’s traits, particularly in humans. During this time period, gender also played a significant role in determining a person’s characteristics and traits, as there were contrasting expectations for men and women. It was also believed that some abnormal characteristics in females could be attributed to hysteria, a disease specific to women. Despite a person’s environment and upbringing, these biological determinants themselves can be used to explain an individual’s character
The eugenics movement was a period of time when it was believe that the genes of your father and mother gave rise to any and all traits, whether it be physical, mental, emotional, behavioral, and moral. Essentially, eugenics established that all of a persons appearance, skill, and potential was rooted in your genes.
...socially directed hormonal instructions which specify that females will want to have children and will therefore find themselves relatively helpless and dependent on males for support and protection. The schema claims that males are innately aggressive and competitive and therefore will dominate over females. The social hegemony of this ideology ensures that we are all raised to practice gender roles which will confirm this vision of the nature of the sexes. Fortunately, our training to gender roles is neither complete nor uniform. As a result, it is possible to point to multitudinous exceptions to, and variations on, these themes. Biological evidence is equivocal about the source of gender roles; psychological androgyny is a widely accepted concept. It seems most likely that gender roles are the result of systematic power imbalances based on gender discrimination.9
The actual term ‘Eugenics’ was developed by Darwin’s cousin, Sir Francis Galton (1822-1911) and who is credited with coining the term ‘nurture vs. nature’ - the heart of what later came to be known as ‘scientific racism’ (Bradshaw). This was perhaps unsurprisingly a direct outworking of the ‘new’ Darwinian evolutionary philosophy prevalent at the time, and now widely held in society and academia.
The concept of eugenics was originally advocated by scientific and religious leaders at the beginning of the twentieth century. It was considered utopian and was driven by rhetoric of social reform. At this time, this form of eugenics was not connected to genetic testing but rather used methods such as sterilization, immigration restriction, family planning promotion schemes, and anti-miscegenation laws (Paul, 1995). In the United States, such methods were mostly directed towards immigration and focused on racial issues, whereas in the United Kingdom, class-oriented eugenicists were driven by the fear that if the “lower classes” outbred their social superiors, this would lead to evolutionary regression (Mazumdar, 1992).
Introduction The topic of gender differences must understandably be approached with caution in our modern world. Emotionally charged and fraught with ideas about political correctness, gender can be a difficult subject to address, particularly when discussed in correlation to behavior and social behavior. Throughout history, many people have strove to understand what makes men and women different. Until the modern era, this topic was generally left up to religious leaders and philosophers to discuss. However, with the acquisition of more specialized medical knowledge of human physiology and the advent of anthropology, we now know a great deal more about gender differences than at any other point in history.
in addition to the previous example of biological factors can be changed due to sociological factors s this can affect not only how we view the world and how we interpret it and enjoy the society but how this is molded into us at a very early age by our parents and their social class background. 'The idea of what constitutes culture can be affected by class: for example, consumption of high culture such as opera or theatre need a disposal income not enjoyed by everyone. Class will influence the way in which parents socialize their children. Even such things as whether one is breastfed or smacked as a child are often a reflection of the social class one is born int. '(brown, K.et al 2009) Although sociology has mounted a powerful attack its opposition has a powerful defense that of science, Biological factors such as genders, age and disability play roles' While many scientists have hard evidence that human life is solely affected by biology, there is a very compelling counter argument all around us: nature vs Nurture. Giddens acknowledges gender socialization as an approach to gender studies. Gender socialization is "Learning of gender roles within help f social agencies such as the family, state and mass
Industrialization was wide spread during the early 19th century largely due to the advancement of the railroad system. A system put into place that allowed businesses to transport their goods throughout the countryside. Unfortunately, the wrought iron that was used for the rails couldn’t hold up long enough under those extreme conditions. For this reason, another alternative was needed to keep everything functioning as it should. Andrew Carnegie, an immigrant from Scotland who started in the textile industry couldn’t let that opportunity slip by and with the use of the Bessemer process he was able to make a stronger metal out of pig iron.
Charles Darwin’s theory of natural selection is viewed by many as one of the most significant and influential ideas ever conceived. However it took Darwin 20 years to publish his book ‘the origin of species’, one of the primary reasons for this was that he feared the implications his theory would have on the world. Although the theory of evolution greatly enhanced and progressed science as well as deepen human understanding of nature, it came at a cost. The theory led to the development of Social Darwinism, which further created a variety of different sociological and political ideologies. One of the most prominent of these was the idea of eugenics, which emphasized improving the genetic quality of a race through artificial selection. The eugenics
The socio-biological theory suggests gender appropriate behaviour has evolved to allow humanity to survive. There is supporting evidence in the composition of the human body; men have a larger lung capacity and greater physical strength than women in order to better equip them for protecting their family. In contrast, women are born with child-bearing capacities and are therefore biologically predetermined to care for their children, thus ensuring the human race survives.
The link called Social Origins is a short paragraph describing how in the early 20th century scientists tried to explain social problems with scientific explanation and that one gene was responsible for mental illness. The next link is scientific origins of eugenics and this link describe how the term eugenics was first coined by Francis Galton, who encouraged healthy people to have more children. Galton’s form of eugenics is called positive eugenics, since it did not involve culling people. Negative Eugenics is the process to improve humanity by culling undesirables. The eugenics movement in the US, Germany and Scandinavia favored negative eugenics. The next link is research methods, this describes that eugenics at its core was research to apply Mendel’s laws to the inheritance of human traits. Eugenic researchers attempted to trace an inheritable trait through a family tree or pedigree and then used Mendel’s laws to those
Lykken, D.T (1992). Emergenesis: genetics traits that may not run in famioies. American Psychologist, 47, 1496- 1502.
Eugenics, the belief in the possibility of improving the qualities of the human species or a human population, is one that is still used to this day. The issue with this belief, as with many other beliefs, is that it is very flawed for more reasons than one. One of the issues that can be found with the eugenics theory can be found through its data. The other issues can be categorized in either interpretation or in the overall outcome of eugenics. Although this belief began long before Hitler, possibly in the Victorian age, it became very popular during his time in power. During this time the seemingly perfect person had blue eyes, blond hair, and was white, all others were deemed unfit for the Nordic race and were likely killed as a result of it. The eugenics movement began with great observation of family trees from many families. Ant families that had diseases of defects of any type were shunned and taken away so that there would be no more generations to come.
Eugenics refers to the science of regulated breeding to increase the occurrence of favorable traits, decrease that in undesired ones and overall, improve a species. During the years 1890- 1930- known as the progressive era, the science sparked a movement of groups in Britain and the US who supported this controlled reproduction to achieve an improved human race in their society. During this time it was highly supported as it was believed to be a method to eliminate the increasing criminals, poor and incapable workers in society. The progressive era was a time of strong desires for reform to rid of industrial and social problems in society. The sudden influx of scientific
The belief of eugenics was well-known in the 20th century and the set of its ideals were adopted by many societies across the nation. Eugenics is a study of improving human species by keeping all of the desirable races or breeds. It developed a controversial science regarding to human heredity and personal traits such as positive and negative eugenics. For example, it stated that in order to improve the genetic quality of human race, the society should encourage individuals with superior genes to produce more offspring and discourage reproduction who are considered as socially unfit. These biased eugenics ideas were inspired by Darwin’s theory of natural selection and as well as Galton’s theory of hard heredity. Even in today’s society, people
Sexologist are indecisive between gender explanations based on nature and culture. John Money’s he claimed, to divide pre- ad postnatal influences and attribute them to biology and culture respectively, since social influence enter the brain and are therefore also physiology.