Dysgenics
the study of factors producing the accumulation and perpetuation of defective genes /traits
Dysgenics refers to any decrease in the prevalence of traits deemed to be either socially desirable or generally adaptive to their environment due to selective pressure disfavouring their reproduction.
In 1915 the term was used by David Starr Jordan to describe the supposed deleterious effects of modern warfare on group-level genetic fitness because of its tendency to kill physically healthy men while preserving the disabled at home. Similar concerns had been raised by early eugenicists and social Darwinists during the 19th century, and continued to play a role in scientific and public policy debates throughout the 20th century.
More recent concerns about supposed dysgenic effects in human populations were advanced by the controversial psychologist and self-described scientific racist Richard Lynn, notably in his 1996 book Dysgenics: Genetic Deterioration in Modern Populations, which argued that changes in selection pressures and decreased infant mortality since the Industrial Revolution have resulted in an increased propagation of deleterious traits and genetic disorders.
Despite these concerns, genetic studies have shown no evidence for dysgenic effects in human populations.
The public source identifies “Dysgenics” as the study of factors producing the accumulation and perpetuation of defective genes /traits. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Dysgenics, study and factors.
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The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 22, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1269262. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1915 and 1996.
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This entry incorporates text from “Dysgenics” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.