PERILS OF DEGENERATION: REFORM, THE SAVAGE IMMIGRANT, AND THE SURVIVAL OF THE UNFIT.

The article discusses the intellectual history of progressivism, eugenics, and social work in the late 19th-century, specifically focusing on the work of settlement houses in the U.S. Details are given mapping the integral role which evolutionary thought played in the ideology of social reform workers of the era, highlighting goals of social preservation through guarding against social or genetic degeneracy. The application of neo-Lamarkian social scientific theory to urban charities is particularly explored.