Page "Human variability" Paragraph 29

The extreme exercise of social valuation of human difference is in the definition of " human.

" What difference is great enough to assign an individual " nonhuman " status, in the sense of withholding our identification, charity, and social participation?

This can change enormously between cultures and over time.

For example, nineteenth century European and American ideas of race and eugenics culminated in the attempts of the Nazi-led German society of the 1930s to deny not just reproduction, but life itself to a variety of people with " differences " attributed in part to biologic characteristics.

Western society's revulsion to this contributed to a considerable readjustment of valuation of differences.