Nazi eugenics followed mainstream American and European scientific practice, not fringe research

Evidence

Measuring racial differences in intelligence is just one of the projects in this history; scientists have sought racial classification of human differences also in shapes of skulls, lips, noses, foreheads, pelvises, or sexual organs, in sensitivity to pain, in genetic or hormonal makeup, in skin color, hair texture, and yet other traits. It is disturbing to discover that such projects have been pursued by some of the most distinguished scientists using state-of-the-art methods for their day. Nor were these scientists disproportionately racist; many were among the most politically progressive figures of their day on race and gender issues. As historians have pointed out, Nazi eugenics programs were only following the lead of mainstream scientific research in the USA and elsewhere in Europe (Proctor, 1988). — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 1563

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to Gould’s The Mismeasure of Man and Proctor’s Racial Hygiene, and complicates the common framing of Nazi science as anomalous. — connects to: American eugenics served as a model for Nazi Germany — Lawrence M. Friedman, A History of American Law, 4293
• DEEPTHINKING: The claim that progressive, distinguished scientists pursued racial classification with the best methods of their day — and that Nazis followed mainstream science — upends the comforting belief that bad science is done by bad people.
• SEED: Essay angle: the honest scientists were not ‘racist outliers’ — the tools of legitimate science themselves served racial hierarchy, which reframes how we assess contemporary scientific consensus.