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EUGENICS AND SOCIALIST THOUGHT IN THE PROGRESSIVE ERA: THE CASE OF JAMES MEDBERY MACKAYE

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 June 2018

Luca Fiorito  and
Tiziana Foresti
Luca Fiorito
Affiliation:
Università degli Studi di Palermo
Tiziana Foresti
Affiliation:
Bocconi University.
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Abstract

The aim of this essay is to assess James Medbery MacKaye’s contribution to socialist thought during the Progressive Era. Largely forgotten today, MacKaye proposed a special version of socialism, which he called “Pantocracy,” based on a peculiar blend of utilitarian and eugenic assumptions. Specifically, MacKaye held that biological fitness mapped to the capacity for happiness—biologically superior individuals possess a greater capacity for happiness—and saw the eugenic breeding of “a being or race of beings capable in the first place of happiness” as a possibility open by the advent of Pantocracy. Incidentally, this essay provides further evidence that the influence of eugenic and racialist beliefs upon the American Progressive Era political economy was so deep-rooted and pervasive that it did cut across traditional ideological boundaries.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of the History of Economic Thought , Volume 40 , Issue 3 , September 2018 , pp. 377 - 388
Copyright
Copyright © The History of Economics Society 2018 

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Footnotes

We wish to thank Mary Furner, David Levy, Sandra Peart, and Malcom Rutherford for advice and criticism. The usual caveat applies.

References

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