释义 |
geneticism, n.|dʒɪˈnɛtɪsɪz(ə)m| [f. genetic n. pl. c + -ism 2 b.] In early use, the theory that the form and behaviour of an individual could be explained in terms of the history and origins both of the individual and of the race; later used spec. to denote the belief that human characteristics are more or less entirely determined genetically. Usu. in a derogatory sense.
1934in Webster. 1941M. W. Barnes (title of Ph.D. thesis, Univ. of Illinois) Geneticism and the concepts of educational psychology. 1959P. B. Medawar in Listener 10 Dec. 1028/1 The idea that a man's genetic constitution is not merely important but all-important, and that genetic knowledge is so far advanced that we can make nice judgments about our past or future genetic health, together add up to the doctrine or state of mind which, to be in the fashion of these things, should be called geneticism. 1977P. B. & J. S. Medawar Life Sci. iii. 38 Geneticism is a word that has been coined to describe the enthusiastic misapplication of not fully understood genetic principles in situations to which they do not apply. 1984Nature 19 July 255/2 The political incentive to cultivate geneticism would be hard to rebut, associated as it is with the more virulent kind of racism. 1985Anthropol. Today Apr. 24/1 Geneticism was markedly absent, though most contributors accepted a genetic substrate to xenophobia, as to all kinds of human activity. |