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Eugenics--medical or social science?

Eugenics is the paradigmatic case of the conflict between biology and medicine over social influence. Commenting on an essay by Debora Kamrat-Lang (1995), the paper reconstructs the historical roots of eugenics as a form of preventive medicine. A comparison between the development of some crucial aspects of eugenics between Germany and the United States reveals that the prevalence of the value placed on the individual over hereditary health of a population ultimately determined the outcome of the conflict but collective concepts may be revived by a new biological knowledge.