Social body, racial body, woman's body

Abstract: "This article compares the responses to the declining birthrate by three very different regimes in Wilhelmine, Weimar and Nazi Germany. In their intent these policies were markedly different: just before and during the First World War a declining birthrate symbolized national decline, sapping national progress and military power and the central aim was to boost fertility almost at any price; eugenics was not yet a major influence on official Wilhelmine policy. In the wake of the devastation reaped by the lost war and also influenced by the depression at the end of the 1920s the democratically elected governments of the Weimar Republic attempted to 'rationalize' reproduction to suit the prevailing socio-economic circumstances and the belief in modernity in industry and everyday life. They favored 'fewer but better children' but their policies remained fragmented and heavily contested; lawmakers tried to balance individual rights and collective interests, welfarism and eugenic concer

Object Details

• Alternative title: Geburtenpolitik in Deutschland, 1912-1945: Diskurse, Politik und Praxis
• Location: Deutsche Nationalbibliothek Frankfurt am Main
• Extent: Online-Ressource
• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Social body, racial body, woman's body ; volume:36 ; number:2 ; year:2011 ; pages:140-161 ; Veröffentlichungsversion ; begutachtet (peer reviewed) ; Historical social research ; 36, Heft 2 (2011), 140-161

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Sozialwissenschaften, Soziologie, Anthropologie ; Geschichte

Contributors, Places and Time

• Creator: Usborne, Cornelie

Further information

• DOI: 10.12759/hsr.36.2011.2.140-161
• URN: urn:nbn:de:0168-ssoar-342236
• Rights: Open Access; Open Access; Der Zugriff auf das Objekt ist unbeschränkt möglich.
• Last update: 14.08.2025, 10:45 AM CEST