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Between Progressivism and Institutionalism: Albert Benedict Wolfe on Eugenics

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 November 2013

Luca Fiorito
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Abstract

Albeit concerned with the biological element in social evolution, Albert B. Wolfe was among the very few economists of the progressive era who openly expressed their concerns about certain implications of eugenic rhetoric for the social science. Specifically, Wolfe questioned the strong hereditary boundaries that more extreme eugenicists suggested about human beings. A careful examination of Wolfe’s writings reveals that his reaction was rooted in the belief that many of the social problems that eugenicists attributed to hereditary limitations were actually imputable to the influence that the social, economic, and physical environment exercised on the individuals.

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Journal of the History of Economic Thought , Volume 35 , Issue 4 , December 2013 , pp. 449 - 469
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Copyright © The History of Economics Society 2013 

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