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Page last updated at 09:10 GMT, Saturday, 19 November 2011

Modern welfare system's 'eugenic roots'

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The English academic Francis Galton, often described as the father of eugenics, wrote a novel based on the idea 100 years ago that has only just been published for the first time.

Dr Matthew Sweet, who has written an introduction to the book, titled Kantsaywhere, explains that there is a "direct link between Galton's ideas and many of the things that we continue to enjoy today" such as the welfare state, the NHS, the IQ test or even the NHS.

He says that these ideas are "rooted in the Galtonean idea" of measuring the population, looking at its health and subsequently seeing how it can be improved.


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