When the industrial revolution was in full flower and society was in the process of quick and radical change, the upper classes and old families were susceptible to a counter movement to reverse the perceived decline and decay of humanity and civilization. One of these responses to accelerated social change was the eugenics movement.

This was a conservative movement that hoped to reestablish preindustrial values and regain past and "superior" societies under the authority of science. Eugenics was a movement that began in Britain in the mid-nineteenth century and reached popular acclaim in the United States during the first three decades of the twentieth century. Ultimately, it was brought to wide repudiation by its radical implementation in Germany during the mid-1930s through the mid-1940s.