Origin of the Word Moron: Eugenics, Racism and Henry H. Goddard
The modern popularity of the word moron belies its dark and somewhat disturbing origins, springing from the mind of American psychologist and eugenicist Henry H. Goddard. At the turn of the 20th century Goddard was one of the foremost American researchers in the study of "feeble-mindedness" and the introducer of the Binet system of intelligence testing to the English language.
In the 1910's Goddard became world-famous for his ideas about "feeble-mindedness" particularly his belief that it was a hereditary trait. His seminal work, The Kallikak Family, studying two strains of the same family (one strain considered normal, the other considered "defective") became an international bestseller and became extremely popular in Germany under the Nazi regime. He personally instituted a testing system at Ellis Island in order to keep these "feeble-minded" people out of the United State used to reject an estimated 80% of potential immigrants and forcing them to be deported back to their home country.
It was in the midst of Goddard's work on intelligence testing that he coined the word "moron." He created a classification system for those on the bottom end of the intelligence scale: people whose IQ was between 0-25 would be classified as idiots, people with an IQ between 25 and 50 would be imbeciles and those with an IQ between 50 and 75 would be classified as Goddard's own invention: morons. He derived the word from the ancient Greek moros meaning dull or foolish.
Goddard believed that morons and the feeble-minded in general were a threat to America, and believed that an America filled with the feeble-minded was unfit for democracy. Aside from his work limiting immigration of the so-called "feeble-minded" into the United States, Goddard hoped for a plan of sterilization of the retarded, believing this would ultimately remove mental defects from the American population. Realizing that such a view would not fly in the world of public opinion, however, Goddard advocated what he felt was a more benign option: the segregation of the feeble-minded into specially designed colonies. This of course never happened.
Beginning in the 1920's Goddard had a change of heart and began to recant many of his most prominent theories. Going so far as to state that his most popular work, The Kallikak Family, was completely obsolete. He claimed that their were numerous errors in his research and claimed it could no longer be used as valid. The damage had already been done, however, and his work would be used to defend racism across the world for decades to come.
Few of us who use the word "moron" think much on where it comes from. It comes from a dark period in America's past, and while we have progressed beyond such racist and unscientific notions today, think about where moron comes from the next time you want to call a person one.
Published by Allen Butler
Allen Butler is a freelance writer and tutor living in Austin, TX. View profile
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- The word moron was invented by psychologist Henry H. Goddard in 1910
8 Comments
Post a CommentGuess the experiment didn't work. There are plenty of "feeble minded" poeple in the USA. They even had one as President for 8 years.
Can any of you Imbeciles tell me how it got into the New Testament when Jesus called the Masses MORONS? Clue: Was Jesus a French man or a ?
YOU are all a bunch of MORONS. All of the above is false and the truth will keep you in the funny farm. Do some intellectual research before you post such idiotic articles and comments!
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definitely falls into that category. I think the author expected the reader to extrapolate a bit, and have some pretty basic knowledge to build upon. Don't lay into him because you didn't get it.
To Guests 1 and 2 (particularly "Get a Life"): The author didn't really go into detail when it comes to how Goddard contributed to ideas of racism and eugenics, but he definitely covered it.
"Aside from his work limiting immigration of the so-called "feeble-minded" into the United States, Goddard hoped for a plan of sterilization of the retarded, believing this would ultimately remove mental defects from the American population. Realizing that such a view would not fly in the world of public opinion, however, Goddard advocated what he felt was a more benign option: the segregation of the feeble-minded into specially designed colonies."
Limiting immigration contributed to ideas of racism for obvious reasons, certain ethnic groups were looked at as inferior when they were deemed "feeble-minded" and not allowed into the United States.
And as eugenics is essentially the process of selective breeding, sterilizing the mentally challenged and separating them from the rest of society
It has nothing to do with racism you idiot, and yes you seem to be dumber than an imbecile or moron...
The word moron is an archaic diagnostic term, defining a person of a specific IQ range. Has nothing to do with race or eugenics.