Vetenskap och ideologi. Kommunismens reaktion på genetiken

Abstract

[Science and ideology. Communism’s reaction to genetics] In a forthcoming book in English, the experienced geneticist Bengt Olle Bengtsson tackles the development over time of the relationship between the science he represents and the most important political ideologies. How conservatism, liberalism, communism, Nazism and social democracy have reacted to the revolutionary genetic research results which, since 1900, have often placed themselves at the centre of public debate. Here, we publish a Swedish translation and a slightly revised version of the chapter on communism’s tense relationship with genetics. From initial curiosity, if hesitant, to the complete disassociation when Lysenkoism, Stalinism’s own unscientific doctrine of heredity, replaced genetics in the Soviet Union. Bengtsson draws particular attention to the harmful effects of Lysenkoism on genetics’ own development as a science. At the end of the article, we also encounter an early example of the transition from a left-wing ideological position to environmentalism. Publication history: Published original. (Published 20 December 2022) Citation: Bengtsson, Bengt Olle (2022) “Vetenskap och ideologi. Kommunismens reaktion på genetiken”, in Arkiv. Tidskrift för samhällsanalys , issue 14, pp. 53–88. https://doi.org/10.13068/2000-6217.14.3