num_pages: 294
description: In 1997 Eugenics and the Welfare State caused an uproar with international repercussions. This edition contains a new introduction by Broberg and Roll-Hansen addressing events that occurred following the original publication. The four essays in this book stand as a chilling indictment of mass sterilization practices not only in Scandinavia but in other European countries and the United States--eugenics practices that remained largely hidden from the public view until recently. Eugenics and the Welfare State also provides an in-depth critical examination of the history politics science and economics that led to mass sterilization programs in Norway Sweden Denmark and Finland; programs put in place for the betterment of society and based largely on the junk science of eugenics that was popular before the rise of Nazism in Germany. When the results of Broberg's and Roll-Hansen's book were widely publicized in August 1997 the London Observer reported Yesterday Margot Wallstrom the Swedish Minister for Social Policy issued a belated reaction to the revelations. She 'What went on is barbaric and a national disgrace.' She pledged to create a law ensuring that involuntary sterilisation would never again be used in Sweden and promised compensation to victims. Ultimately the Swedish government not only apologized to the many thousands who had been sterilized without their knowledge or against their will but also put in place a program for the payment of reparations to these unfortunate victims.
language: English
title: Eugenics and the Welfare State: Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and Finland
publisher: Michigan State University Press