81. The Re-emergence of Eugenics and How to Fight Back with Science, with Rebecca Sear

"I used to think eugenics had died out after the Second World War. I no longer believe that, unfortunately." — Rebecca SearMost of us think of eugenics as a horror confined to the past. It isn't. This episode examines the worrying re-emergence of eugenics and scientific racism, from discredited claims about race and intelligence to the far-right money funding them, and asks how we defend good science against bad-faith actors. Along the way, Rebecca overturns another myth, that the isolated nuclear family is "traditional", and explains why demographers are far calmer about falling birth rates than the headlines suggest.Our guest is Professor Rebecca Sear, an evolutionary behavioural scientist and demographer at Brunel University London, where she directs the Centre for Culture and Evolution. She is co-founder of the European Human Behaviour and Evolution Association and a Fellow of the British Academy.In this conversation we cover:The re-emergence of eugenics and biological essentialism, and how old ideas are being repackaged for a modern audienceRichard Lynn's discredited national IQ database, the far-right money behind scientific racism, and how to spot bad-faith scienceWhy cooperative childrearing is the human norm, and how "population panic" over falling fertility has been used to justify real human rights abusesIn this conversation we cover:Why cooperative childrearing is the human norm, and what the "male breadwinner" nuclear family gets wrongWhy demographers are not panicking about falling fertility, and how "population panic" has been used to justify real human rights abusesThe modern resurgence of eugenics and scientific racism, from Richard Lynn's discredited national IQ database to how to spot bad-faith scienceLINKS & REFERENCESRebecca SearBluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/rebeccasear.bsky.socialLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rebecca-sear-8183551Sear, R. (2021) The male breadwinner nuclear family is not the 'traditional' human family. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B 376: 20200020. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2020.0020Sear, R. (2021) Demography and the rise, apparent fall and resurgence in eugenics. Population Studies 75(Suppl 1): 201-220. https://doi.org/10.1080/00324728.2021.2009013Samorodnitsky, Bird, Carlson, Lingford, Phillips, Sear & Townsend (2024) Journals should retract Richard Lynn's racist 'research' articles. STAT. https://www.statnews.com/2024/06/20/richard-lynn-racist-research-articles-journals-retractions/Mentioned in this episodeSarah Hrdy (2009) Mothers and Others: The Evolutionary Origins of Mutual Understanding. https://www.hup.harvard.edu/books/9780674060326Quinn Slobodian (2025) Hayek's Bastards: Race, Gold, IQ, and the Capitalism of the Far Right. https://press.princeton.edu/books/ebook/9781890951931/hayeks-bastardsThe Guardian / Hope not Hate investigation into a US-funded 'race science' network (October 2024). https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/oct/16/revealed-international-race-science-network-secretly-funded-by-us-tech-bossSend us Fan MailSupport the showSupport Humanism Now & Join Our Community!Follow @HumanismNowPod | YouTube | TikTok | Instagram | Facebook | Threads | X.com | BlueSkyHumanism Now is produced by Humanise Live a podcast production agency based in London, serving charities, companies, and individuals across the globe.Contact us to get starting in podcasting today at humanise.live or [email protected]: Blossom by Light PrismPodcast transcripts are AI-generated and may contain errors or omissions. They are provided to make our content more accessible, but should not be considered a fully accurate record of the conversation.