Eugenics supplied scientific legitimacy but no racial typology to nativism

Evidence

Obviously the eugenics movement had crucial importance for race-thinking at a time when racial presuppositions were seriously threatened in the intellectual world. But basically the importance of eugenics was transitional and preparatory. It vindicated the hereditarian assumptions of the Anglo-Saxon tradition, it protected and indeed encouraged loose talk about race in reputable circles; and in putting race-thinking on scientific rather than romantic premises it went well beyond the vague Darwinian analogies of the nineteenth century. — John Higham, Strangers in the Land, 911

Categorization

• SEED: Contrast: eugenics gave hereditarian prestige yet scientifically could not name whole races — so pseudo-race categories had to be imported from anthropology. The actual ‘science’ worked against the nativist project, showing manufactured enemies borrow legitimacy that their own tools discredit.
• XREF: connects to: Science followed race-thinking; it did not create it; US immigration restriction laws were explicitly justified by eugenic racial science — Sahar F. Aziz, The Racial Muslim: When Racism Quashes…, 241; Racial typing drew scientific legitimacy from downwards-directed species categories. — Edward W. Said, Orientalism, 584 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• US immigration restriction laws were explicitly justified by eugenic racial science #corroborates (0.78) — Sahar F. Aziz, The Racial Muslim, 241
• Science followed race-thinking; it did not create it #corroborates (0.75)
• Racial typing drew scientific legitimacy from downwards-directed species categories. #qualifies (0.72) — Edward W. Said, Orientalism, 584