Havelock Ellis, eugenicist

Stud Hist Philos Biol Biomed Sci. 2008 Jun;39(2):187-94. doi: 10.1016/j.shpsc.2008.03.002. Epub 2008 May 16.

Abstract

This article examines the contributions made towards eugenic thought in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries by Havelock Ellis (1859-1939). Ellis was a significant social reformer who worked on the problems of sexuality from a scientific-naturalist secular perspective. In the later phases of his work, after he had completed much of his writing on sexuality, Ellis concentrated on issues of feminism and eugenics--problems he thought were interlinked. In this paper, I integrate his ideas about these subjects, and consider the ways in which Ellis and other liberal social reformers created a 'eugenic subject' in order to frame their arguments about social problems.

Publication types

  • Biography
  • Historical Article

MeSH terms

  • Eugenics / history*
  • Feminism / history
  • History, 19th Century
  • History, 20th Century
  • Humans
  • Philosophy / history*
  • Politics*
  • Sex Education / history
  • Sexuality / history*
  • United Kingdom

Personal name as subject

  • Havelock Ellis