Antievolution and the Transormation of American Social Science

For more than half a century, scholarly studies of the antievolution movement have been concerned almost exclusively with its influence on the teaching of the natural sciences, especially biology. Yet from its inception in the 1920s, antievolution agitation has been aimed not only at the natural sciences but also, and almost as often, at the social sciences. Moreover, although antievolution campaigns had only limited impact on the natural sciences in the United States, it can be shown that they played a significant part in the development of the early twentieth century social sciences. This paper tells this previously untold story. Using public writings and private papers of antievolution activists, academic social scientists, and university officials from the 1920s, it examines how antievolutionism contributed to the creation of a set of characteristics—secular, scientific, and professional—that came to define the emerging social sciences. In concluding, the paper describes how antievolutionists have carried out campaigns aimed at the social sciences since that time, and it suggests that their efforts continue to influence the disciplinary identity of social scientists even today. [APSA Meet 2010 Paper. Refer to author for citation.]