Population Control Politics

When researching this topic, I focused on the development of discriminatory policies in the US, specifically the use of sterilization by dominant forces in society to control the fertility of minorities and the lower class. There is a significant difference between birth control and population control. Birth control allows individuals to freely control their fertility while population control preserves institutional interests. Three movements shaped attitudes toward fertility control of a population, including the women’s movement, the eugenics movement, and the population control movement. The women’s movement stressed reproductive freedom while the eugenics movement attempted to suppress the growth of racial and ethnic groups. Likewise, the population movement sought to control the fertility of the lower classes. Before the mid-1960s, nearly all control activities were managed by private organizations comprised of the elites in society. Since then, the government’s part in population control has continued to increase vastly. Therefore, population control activities have become more centralized, planned, and universal. As these characteristics may seem better for equality, the laws were created in an opposite manner. On account of the transformation being primarily managed by the Population Council, the dominant class was able to manipulate public opinion and appoint the power of the government to advance toward the goal of the elites which was to control the fertility of the lower class. Essentially, the elites created a welfare state beneficial to their vested interests. Clearly, this is shown by the sterilization abuses that took place among various welfare recipients. Overall, it seems that discriminatory promotions of sterilization were directed toward the lower class and unwanted ethnic groups of the elites the most.