A emboscada dos paradigmas deterministas nas políticas curriculares: a Eugenia ‘americana’ e a transformação dos concursos de ‘better babies’ em competições para ‘fitter families’ nos anos 20 [The trap of deterministic paradigms in curriculum policies: American eugenics and the transformation of 'better babies' contests in 'fitter families' competion in the 1920's]

Steven Selden

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Abstract

In this article, the use of deterministic interpretations of genetics within social policy discourse is analyzed, a reality that is not contained to the beginning of the 19th century. The author extensively analyzes how the eugenics movement in the US was profoundly important in the promotion of a highly segregated social arena that persists to these days. Supporters of the movement use biology metaphors to shape social policies restricting immigration, segregating society's "inapts", and promoting programs to control human reproduction. The author advocates fighting the genetics' reductive interpretation in which schooling has a determining role.