Article ID: CBB589101710

The Emergence of Genetic Counseling in Sweden: Examples from Eugenics and Medical Genetics (2015)

unapi

This paper examines the intertwined relations between eugenics and medical genetics from a Swedish perspective in the 1940s and 1950s. The Swedish case shows that a rudimentary form of genetic counseling emerged within eugenic practices in the applications of the Swedish Sterilization Act of 1941, here analyzed from the phenomenon of “heredophobia” (ärftlighetsskräck). At the same time genetic counseling also existed outside eugenic practices, within the discipline of medical genetics. The paper argues that a demand for genetic counseling increased in the 1940s and 1950s in response to a sense of reproductive responsibility engendered by earlier eugenic discourse. The paper also questions the claim made by theoreticians of biopolitics that biological citizens have emerged only during the last decades, especially in neoliberal societies. From the Swedish case it is possible to argue that this had already happened earlier in relation to the proliferation of various aspects of eugenics to the public.

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https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB589101710/

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Authors & Contributors
Reza Asadollahi
Barmpouti, Alexandra
Nakachi, Mie
Mattson, Greggor
Weiss, Sheila Faith
Tutton, Richard
Concepts
Medical genetics
Genetics
Eugenics
Biopolitics
Human genetics
Medicine
Time Periods
20th century, late
20th century
19th century
21st century
20th century, early
18th century
Places
United States
Australia
Great Britain
Sweden
Greece
Germany
Institutions
Royal Society of London
American Eugenics Society
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